Deception - 32. Dec Chapter 32

“This is certainly a very big house you have here” Mrs. Atherton said as she stepped off the veranda and looked around the house and garden. “Yes, it was built in kit form, transported here by barge, lowered down the central hole, and put together inside, please feel free to have a good look around” I stated to her.

Mrs. Atherton headed in the direction of the kitchen, she checked each of the rooms downstairs with great detail, before making her way upstairs, where she poked her head into the bedrooms, and she found Bryce reading when she arrived in the library.

“I spend a lot of my spare time in here, as I like to read” Bryce commented as she appeared, then disappeared back down stairs, where I was in the office checking for emails. A knock on the open door made me look up to see Mrs. Atherton standing there, “Where is this other area, where the extensions will be happening” she asked me, and I stood up and walked towards her.

“Let me direct you to that place” I said as I walked by her and back down the main entry tunnel and up the stairs. Halfway up I stopped and waited for Mrs. Atherton to catch up, before I stepped into the other tunnel that leads to the pond cavern.

“Goodness me, this is not what I was expecting at all” she said when she arrived on the ledge section of the cave, “Yes, it’s quite a sight, of course you will have the best view, as your suite will be upstairs” I commented with a smile, as I spotted the head of a seal appear from the water, then disappear with hardly a splash.

“Mr Langton, I like the idea of the island being a wildlife reserve, I commend you on what you have done so far, especially with having raised boardwalks to protect the flora and fauna, the house is very big, but I am sure I will cope as long as I have everyone’s cooperation, so yes I will accept the job” Mrs.Atherton announced to me.

“That is wonderful, the house extensions should be completed in a month, if you would like to start once they are completed and it’s all furnished” I stated happily, ‘Yes that will be fine” she replied as we headed back to the main house, were most of the team were either in the library or main living area. “Mrs. Atherton has accepted the position everyone” I announced loudly, and cheering came from both levels of the house.

“Would you like to stay for some lunch, before returning to Tumby Bay?” I asked once the cheering had stopped, “Yes I would thank you, but let me prepare it, so I can get use to the kitchen” Mrs. Atherton replied and I nodded my head and let her go to the kitchen, Tom and Ethan appeared and I asked them to set the table for lunch, while I did some work in the office until it’s time to eat.

Moments later Mrs. Atherton appeared at the office door, “How many am I feeding for lunch?” she asked me, “Nine including you Mrs. Atherton” I replied, and she returned to the kitchen. We had a wonderful meal and we were sad to see her leave, when Bryce returned her to Tumby Bay.

We were all kept very busy for the week, with finishing the last three tent platforms and linking boardwalks, and on the Friday afternoon, I was informed that the Eco Tents had arrived at Louth Bay, so Jack and his boys took the already loaded barge to the mainland to collect the Eco Tents.

When they arrived they also found all of the flat packs of the house extensions there, so after a lot of rearranging of the furniture, they loaded on the Eco tents, with the house extensions loaded on top and tied down, and they made their way back, with Jack giving me a call, to let me know of the extra deliveries that had been made.

The following morning, it was all hands-on deck as we unladed the barge, using the quad bikes and trailers to get the house extensions moved to the cave roof hole above the pond. Using the building tripod and a block and tackle, each section was carefully lowered down the hole, and from inside a rope was used to guide the sections of the house to the beach, without touching the water.

This took all morning and half of the afternoon, till all sections were safely on the beach, and the dome cover returned to its place, the rest of the afternoon was spent putting the eco tents together, and we finished it just before sunset, making 9 Eco tents now available for guests for two days’ maximum.

The following day, Bryce, Tom, Ethan and Jacob spent the day setting up each of the Eco Tents with the living area and the sleeping area, and Jack and his boys and I spent the day getting the ground floor and external walls of the house extensions up to the ledge and put together.

When the eco tents were all fully furnished and ready for use, Tom and Ethan returned to the classroom to catch up on the school work they had missed on Saturday, while Jack and his boys and Jacob kept on going getting the extensions of the house built, and Bryce and I had a meeting in my office to discuss plans for the Eco Camping business.

During this meeting, we decided not to have eco tents along the western beach, so there is a maximum of 18 guests on the island at any time.

Bryce also suggested that the southern boardwalk continue, once the house extensions are completed, with a number of lookouts evenly spaced out, but no boardwalks through the middle of the island, so as to keep the solar power station and house a secret, and I fully agreed with this suggestion.

I mentioned that I would soon travel to Adelaide to make some changes to the banking, so there is a separate account which gets 25% of the income from visitors transferred, to deal with wages for Jack and his boys, as well as wages for Mrs.Atherton, Bryce and Jacob, plus all expenses for running the Eco Camping, including the running of the barge and the hovercraft.

Bryce stated to me that he was very happy with taking on the role of hospitality manager, and I was happy for him to take over the running of the hospitality business.

For the remainder of the week, most of the team were busy helping with getting the house extensions completed, with Tom and Ethan doing their school work in the morning, and spending the afternoons on the quad bikes transporting the wood from the shed to the construction area, on the new boardwalk, Bryce spent mornings going through every Eco tent checking that everything is perfect, and making any adjustments that are needed.

What he did look at changing was having half walls installed at each living and dining tent, to provide some protection from the weather, when it suddenly changes, and he also strongly recommended that we get the 6-seater golf buggy, to be able to transport the guests, and I agreed to get two when I make the trip to Adelaide.

On Saturday evening, I let everyone know that I would be making a trip to Adelaide, to make some purchases, also to have a meeting with my lawyer and my bank as well, and I asked Tom if he want to come with me or to stay home with everyone else, and Tom elected to stay at home, as he doesn’t like going to the city any more.

I had spoken to Sam earlier in the day and organised a meeting for late Sunday evening. The next morning, I drove to the airport and caught the morning flight to the capital, taking my passport with me for identification purposes at the bank, and I had chosen to stay at a cheaper motel room, since I was by myself.

I spent the remainder of the day just walking around the city looking at some museums and I went to a tavern for an early dinner before meeting with Sam. At the tavern, I met a group of young men similar in age to me, who are on their last days of holidays in Australia, before heading home to Canada. Hugh, Marcus and Rhys are best of mates since primary school, coming from the same country town of Blue Ridge in Alberta.

It is 160 km’s drive north west of Edmonton, Alberta, and 11 hour’s drive north east of Vancouver, British Columbia, or a 1.5-hour flight from Vancouver to Edmonton. Hugh and Marcus are cousins, with neighboring farms, and their best mate Rhys lives in town and all of them are 22 years old.

I enjoyed their company that evening, and they were disappointed that I had to leave early, but I promised to meet them the following afternoon, which will be their last day in South Australia, before they fly to Sydney and onto Vancouver via Tokyo, Japan.

With the meeting with Sam, I had changed my will, so that if anything happens to me Sam will become Tom’s guardian, I also set up a Trust for Tom and had ownership of Louth and Grantham Islands changed to Tom’s Trust, and Boston island would remain in my name.

Once business was completed, Sam invited me to stay for dinner, and I updated Sam on all that has happened on the island in the past few weeks. When I returned to my motel room later that evening, I rang home to say goodnight to Tom, and let him know that I would be back on Wednesday evening.

I felt very happy as I lay on my bed preparing to sleep, and I wondered why, and soon realized that it was my new friends, who surprisingly I got to like and know very quickly.

The following morning after a light breakfast, I set off in search of some golf buggies for the island, and after visiting the second place I purchased a 6-seater and a 4-seater buggy and arranged for them to be transported to Louth Bay, for collection with the barge.

When I walked into the tavern, nearly two hours earlier than planned, I was pleased to see the lads where already there, and we ordered some drinks and an early lunch.

By the time they had finished their meals, we were all fairly full of booze, and the lads had decided that I should have a holiday and come back to Canada with them. Not thinking very clearly, I accepted the offer, and I was convinced to withdraw enough money to pay for a flight to Sydney and on to Canada via Japan.

With cash in hand we arrived at a travel agency in the middle of the afternoon, and I managed to get tickets for the same flights as the lads are on, and with tickets in hand we returned to our accommodations to grab our luggage, and rush to catch our flights to Sydney.

We arrived with plenty of time, and we all managed to get some food into us, to reduce the effects of all the alcohol, so we are permitted to travel, as airlines are a lot stricter on behavior on all flights domestic and international.

When we finally arrived in Sydney we gathered our on-board luggage, and made our way to the international terminal, to check in for our flight to Canada, getting to the check in desk with fifteen minutes to spare.

I wanted to ring home and let them know that I was going on a holiday for a few weeks, but the lads convinced me to wait till we arrive at Vancouver or their home town of Blue Ridge, Alberta.

Although I didn’t have a visa to enter Canada, I was assured by the travel agents that since I will only be in Canada for two or three weeks, it should not be a problem, and once we had passed customs and immigration, we waited to board our flight to Canada via Japan.

The lads had economy seats for their trip home, but to get on the same flight, I had to be upgraded to business class, which cost me a lot more, but I didn’t mind.

The flight from Sydney to Tokyo would take 9 ½ hours, with a 3-hour transfer time, while the flight to Vancouver would take 9 ¾ hours to complete. At Sydney, I had purchase a couple of books to read during the flight, and between reading and sleeping for a few hours, time went by fairly quickly, especially with me being in business class, where I had a lot more leg room for sitting and laying back to sleep.

In Japan, I met up with the lads in the transit lounge, and it was then that they suggested that I get some more suitable clothing for Canadian weather, as we were going from a late warm Australian spring, to a late cool Canadian Autumn, and the luggage I had with me was definitely not suitable with Canadian weather.

Originally planning to stay in Adelaide from Sunday through to Wednesday, with the first two days for business and the last two days for relaxation, now on the Monday evening Australian Eastern standard time, I was in Japan about to board a plane for Canada.