Deception - 21. Dec Chapter 21

As the end of the school day came to a close, I was at the school to pick them up, and we quickly stopped at home, to allow the boys to change out of their uniforms, which we left at the unit, and we headed north to Louth Bay. “Where is this place we are camping at Mr Langton?” Jake asked and I looked at Tom through the rear vision mirror and smiled. “We thought we would keep it a big surprise for you, so you will have to wait and see” Tom said answering his mates question for me, and Jake looked a little disappointed.

When we finally arrived at Louth Bay, we drove straight down to the boat ramp, and straight onto the waiting barge, and once the back ramp was up, Jack started the barge and headed out into the bay. I stepped out of the vehicle and went to talk to Jack, the boys stayed inside the car, where I could see that Jake was trying to get Tom to tell him where we are going.

As we approached the island, Tom and Jake stepped out of the car and walked to the front of the barge, “Is this where we are going?” Jake asked, “Yes Jake, welcome to Louth Island” I said from behind them, and I saw Tom have a huge smile on his face. “An island, we are camping on this island?” Jake asked, “Yep we sure are, and you will need to keep this a secret, I own the island and there are three builders helping me, plus Tom, and we are building a 3-kilometre long boardwalk around the north end of the island.

We have already built a picnic gazebo and an ablution block, so visitors can come and see the island, as we will soon have some endangered mammals introduced to the island soon, which will be the main feature for visitors, as well as the sea lions and seals that regularly visit the island” I said to Jake just as we arrived on the western beach.

I jumped into the car, and drove it onto the beach, parking it not far from the slope that leads up to the top. Tom, Jake and I grabbed our luggage, and I led the way up to the top of the island. “Wow this is so awesome” Jake said as he looked around, “Over there you can see the gazebo, that looks over the eastern beach, over there in the middle is the Toilet block and shed, a boardwalk joins them together” Tom explained to his mate.

I led the way southwards away from the boardwalk, following a narrow track winding between the tall shrubs, which helped to hide most of the solar panels from a distance, a small clearing revealed the collection of solar panels, and I went straight to the gap and headed down the spiral stairs. “Woah, what the heck, where is your uncle going?” Jake said as I disappeared out of sight, laughing at what Jake said. “Just follow and you will see” Tom said.

At the bottom of the stairs, I stopped and waited for Tom and Jake, “Ok Jake close your eyes, and I will lead you for the rest of the way” Tom said and I let the boys go down the tunnel first and they stopped at the closed door to the house. “What you are about to see Jake is Top secret, it isn’t finished yet, as the boardwalk is first priority, but when it is finished, it will look a lot better” I said as I opened the door and l let the boys walk in first.

The main entry tunnel opens into the open living space of the house, and currently it is the main storage area for all of the cabinetry and furniture, outside of the house are all of the walls, floors and roof for the upper level, I sat on the living area floor, on the edge, and watched the boys.

Eventually the boys returned to where I was sitting, and I led them into the formal lounge, where our swags were located, Jack and his boys had set up their living area in the conference room next door, and Tom helped Jake to set up his swag. When they had finished, I led them back upstairs to the top, and we walked through the shrubs to the shed, where we stepped onto the boardwalk and we walked towards Jack, Amos and Lloyd.

As we were walking I heard Tom talk to Jake, “Uncle Gres and I spend most weekends here, helping with the making of the boardwalk, you can help me to get the wood for the boardwalk from the shed to here” Tom said, and I turned to see Jake was about to say something, when he spotted the two bikes and trailers, and he stopped still.

“Do I get to ride one of those?” Jake asked excitedly and I saw Tom smile and nod his head, “Yes Jake you can ride one, we just need to teach you the basics, and I’m sure Tom will help you if you need any help” I replied. Once we had the trailers and bikes turned around, I spent the next ten minutes showing Jake how to ride the bike, with the hand and foot brakes, gears and steering, before I let Tom lead the way back to the shed. The boys returned twenty minutes later with a full load of wood each, which I helped them to offload, while Jack and his sons were laying down more of the timber on the boardwalk.

An hour later, I called an end to the work day, and while the boys rode the bikes back to the shed, with all the tools on the trailers, Jack and his boys and I walked along the boardwalk back to the shed, then together we walked on to the cavern. I now had a gas BBQ and stove set up in the kitchen, where most of the cabinets had been installed, and I started to prepare dinner for the boys and I, and Jack did the same for him and his boys.

Once we had eaten and cleaned up, it was dark outside, we had basic lights set up in rooms we were using in the house, and as we stepped out to near the centre of the cavern and looked up, I could see that the sky was clear, and there were plenty of stars shining through the metal mesh of the dome. Tom and Jake joined me and Tom laid on the ground, looking up at the stars, Jake did the same and there was silence for some time.

Can we set up our swags here for tonight please Uncle?” Tom asked me, “Yes that will be fine, just don’t stay up too late” I replied, and I walked back to the house. I read my book for about half an hour, listening to the distant chatter of the boys outside, until I got too tired to read and I went to bed.

The following morning after breakfast, Tom and Jake went to explore more of the island on foot, while I joined Jack and his boys at the north end of the boardwalk, where they were finishing building the most northern lookout on the island. Once this was completed, it was a homeward stretch to the north end of the eastern beach, where the stairs are located, marking the start of the boardwalk.

Tom and Jake returned to the worksite mid-morning, on the quad bikes, with the trailers in tow, full of wood, and they unloaded the trailers, before turning them around and disappearing down the boardwalk to the shed, I could see that Jake was have a great time riding the quad bike, sometimes going a bit too fast, at least they were wearing the safety helmets, which I insisted that they wear when riding. After lunch, Amos and Lloyd got to work digging more holes and setting the support posts, while Jack and I continued with laying the wood to the boardwalk, and Tom and Jake brought up a steady supply of wood.

By the end of the day we were pleased with what we had achieved, and even Jake said that he was having a great time helping with the project. The boys spent their second night, with their swags outside, and once again they chattered for a while before falling asleep, I checked on them before heading to bed myself, noticing some cloud cover in the sky. The following morning, it was a lot cooler than previously and the clouds were still hanging around, but there was no sign of rain coming, so we got to work.

By lunch time the temperature had dropped a lot, and once we had eaten and cleaned up, I made the decision that we should return to the mainland early, as there was now a storm forecast for the late afternoon, so once we had packed up our luggage, Jack took us back to Louth Bay, and from there we drove straight back to Port Lincoln.

As we approached Jack’s home, “Mr Langton, I just wanted to say thank you for such an awesome weekend, I enjoyed it very much, and I promise not to say that you own the island, or what is being done on it” Jake said with a big smile.

“Your welcome Jake, I hope that you will be able to come again, maybe when we have finished the boardwalk and the cavern house” I replied, as we approached his house. Jake’s mother came out to greet us, and I assured her, that Jake is a well behaved and well-mannered young man, and that he is welcome to join us again in the near future.

The next week and a half went by very fast, and suddenly the day for the island inspection, was just the following day. I had been getting daily progress reports from Jack on the island, I decided not to go to the island the weekend just gone, so they could concentrate of completing the boardwalk, which they managed to do on the Monday just before lunch, and this included a one-metre high railing on both sides, with netting between the top rail and the boardwalk floor, to stop visitors from straying off the boardwalk.

They had made a gate at the shed, where there is a ramp to allow the bikes onto the boardwalk, and handrails on both sets of stairs to the beach, and the slope from the beach up to the top is so steep and rocky between the two sets of stairs, that it was an ideal barrier, to stop visitors trying to explore other areas where there is no boardwalk.

Jack informed me that he and the boys had been working on the house since completing the boardwalk, with the ceiling & floor between the two levels now completed, as is the solar power room, laundry, dining room and kitchen, which means that the house now has a steady supply of solar power to run all the lights and appliances.

This also meant that meals could be properly prepared, with a fully operational kitchen, and can be eaten in the dining room, instead of camp style. Jack let me know that he and his boys would be at Louth Bay for the day on Thursday, so as to be out of sight and not making any noise, while the inspection is in progress, and I thanked him for that.

That evening, I arranged for Tom to stay overnight at Jakes place Thursday night, as I wasn’t sure how late I would be back from the island visit, and the following morning I dropped Tom off at Jakes place early, since I had an early start at work, arriving just before 8am. Margie and Paul were busy loading up the boat with all the crates of monitoring equipment, testing equipment and food supplies for the day.

Setting off at ten past eight, it was a warm clear day with just a soft breeze, which was just ideal for the day, I took over from Paul steering the boat after half an hour, to give him a break, and fifteen minutes later we arrived at the southern end of the east beach, as was instructed.

What I had not expected, was to see someone standing in the gazebo, watching us arrive, and as he came down the stairs, I recognized that it was Sam, as he reached the bottom of the stairs, as we reached the stairs from the beach.

“Good morning, and welcome to Yoronu, which is the local indigenous name for the island, my name is Sam Yeoman, Barrister and friend of the owners of the island” Sam said to us as he shook each of our hands, giving me an extra big grin and a wink as he shook mine, and he lead the way back up the stairs to the gazebo. Margie followed him with a crate in hand, while Paul and I followed with two crates each.

Once we had reached the gazebo, we took a few moments to take a good look around, “As you can see, the eastern beach is the arrival and departure point for the island, the boardwalk was just completed earlier this week, so as to provide visitors with access to the island, without damaging the flora and hopefully soon fauna on the island. We have 5 toilets, including one disabled, over there in the centre of the island, there is also a storage shed that the owners use to store maintenance equipment” Sam said to all of us.

“The boardwalk itself is 3 kilometres long with a total of 7 lookout areas, that include benches for resting, as you see we have here in the gazebo, we have bench seating and table with a BBQ for picnics. We are keeping the southern end of the island off limits to visitors, so as to protect the numerous bird nesting places, and the main resting space for the seals and sea lions that often visit the island.

There are two areas in the northern section, where seals and sea lions can be viewed from the lookouts”, Sam continued and leaving the crates at the gazebo, we began the walk along the boardwalk. When we reached the 3^rd lookout, where Jack had installed a ramp and gate off the boardwalk, Sam unlocked the gate, and allowed us to step of the boardwalk, and walk around the low vegetation in the area, before we continued on.