Indian Ocean Invasion - 22. IOI Chapter 22

Once the twins were onboard, I noticed that one of them was holding a long black torch, “The officer kindly loaded it to us, as you need to get the generator started to get the power on” one of the twins said, and I nodded my head as I accepted the torch.

Well where do we go first, forward or aft of the ship?” I asked the twins, who were both dressed almost identical, so it was once again hard for me to know which twin they are, until I spotted the different watches they were wearing, one work a leather strap, while the other wore a metal one, and pointing one of them, “You choose…” I stated, and they both chuckled.

“Ok, so you can’t tell us apart, but you spotted the watches, very well done, I hate wearing metal bands, while Joachim likes it, so that is how you can tell us apart from now on, and let’s go aft, so we can see if we can get power on” Louis said to me.

Firstly, we went up onto the helm deck, to check it out, and there is a rudder arm, as well as a large wheel, for steering the ship, with a compass secured to a stand near the balcony rail. I leaned over the back to look down at the back of the ship, where I could just see some large windows and the top part of the rudder. Going back down onto the main deck, we went through the central door, into a short passageway.

In the hallway, there was a door on either side, about 2 metres down, and I opened one of them, and found a cabin, with a single bunk bed, a desk, chair, wardrobe, and overhead storage above the bed.

“Same as the opposite side, an officer’s cabin” Joachim said as we closed the doors, while Louis opened the first of two doors to the left just before the end door. “Bathroom in here, toilet, shower and small sink, and a store room next to it” Louis said as he closed the door, before opening the door opposite, “this leads to stairs going down to the next deck” he added before he opened the end door and walked in, with Joachim and I following.

In front of us we saw four large windows, with solid wooden framing in between each window, looking out to behind the ship, where we could see the sand dunes and the ocean. “Wow, what a view” Joachim commented, when he walked in, and I gasped in amazement as well.

Inside was a Captain’s cabin, that is the full width of the ship, that being about 9 ½ metres, and about 4 ½ metres deep, under the windows is a large double bed, with side tables, and small lamps.

On one side there is a leather lounge suite, consisting of a two-seater and a single-seater chair, and a coffee table. On the other side there is a wooden table and four chairs, with a large bookshelf with railings part way up to stop books from falling out of the bookshelf, and near the corner is a door, which leads to a private bathroom, the same size as the bathroom opposite.

“Well that covers the senior officer’s cabins, I wonder what is next?” I asked, as I lead the way out of the cabin and through the door to the stairs. Once on the next deck down, we stepped into a very long passageway, that looked like runs nearly the full length of the ship.

At the back, directly below the captain’s cabin, is a large lounge room, identical in size, and it has 4 tables, each with four chairs, on the sides there are bookshelves, for the full width of the room, but only 1 ½ metres high, with port windows allowing daylight into the room.

Towards the back of the room, there are 16 leather lounge chairs staggered in two rows, facing towards the back of the room, where there is a large white screen on the back wall, and a slightly raised floor area as a stage.

Leaving the aft lounge, we headed down the passageway, checking out a couple of cabins, which appear to be guest cabins, each with a bunk bed, a wardrobe, a desk and a chair.

Between every second cabin there is a bathroom, similar in size to the officer’s bathrooms upstairs, and we counted a total of 8 cabins and 4 bathrooms on each side, making the guest maximum number 32 guests.At the end of the passageway, we found a door on the left is a store room, while the door to the right leads to stairs, going up and down.

Before going any further up or down, we checked the door at the end, which lead to a good size galley, with all the modern facilities, with a servery bench included, and some food storage rooms.

Outside the galley, we took the stairs up, which leads to the forward dining room and a second lounge area, which is about double in size to the captain’s cabin, and a centre door on the back wall, leads directly out onto the main deck, with stairs on each side leading to the forecastle deck.

From there we looked up the forward mast, seeing a look out crow’s nest near the very top. Are you going to go up there?” Joachim asked me, “I will do but not now, not until we get this ship properly secured into place with supports to keep it upright” I replied, “Good thinking, I hadn’t thought of that, we better get onto that as soon as possible” Louis responded.

Heading back inside, we went through the door and down the stairs to the lower deck, where we found short passageway, with two more cabins located forward of the stairs, with each cabin having twin bunks with one shared bathroom. After a bit of a gap with no doors on either side, there is a single door at the end, that opens into a what looks like a compact crew lounge and dining area, with seating for 8 in each area.

At the other end of the room, is another single door, that leads into a passageway, with three lots of doors on each side near the end, that are two cabins and a bathroom on each side, with each cabin having triple bunks. At the end of the passage, there is a central door, that leads into a large store room, with a set of stairs on one side leading up to the other decks, and at the end is one door that leads into a small engine room.

Heading back up to the main deck, we came outside and looked around the outer deck once more. “I would like to have a look at those layout plans again, there are some areas on the lower deck that have no access to them” I commented, as we walked over to the side, and began to climb back down, and stepped into the cold creek water.

“So, what do you think of her, quite an impressive ship isn’t she?” the CALM officer said, when we reached the shore again, with torch and ladder in hands. “You have had a look?” I asked the officer, “Yes, I was with the quarantine officer, when we inspected the ship to see if it is free of pests and diseases, he gave the all clear, so there is no need to destroy the ship for safety purposes” the CALM officer replied.

“I guess we had not considered that as a possibility, thankfully we are able to keep it” I responded. “As soon as we get back to the resort, we need to get a security firm organised to guard the ship, until we get a decision by the government, plus we need to speak to the local Government as well” Joachim said, and we thanked the officer for the use of the ladder and torch, and we found the taxi waiting to take us back to town.

When we reached the bitumen road again, one of the twins called out, “Stop, can we go and check out Red Bluff please” Louis said to the taxi driver, “No problems sir, it is less than a kilometre down the road” the driver said, as he turned and headed the opposite direction, before slowing down and taking a right hand turn down a sealed road.

“What is this place on the left-hand side” I asked as we passed a large property close to the road, “that use to be a caravan park, but it only opens for long weekends and summer holidays now, as there is too much competition for better quality accommodation in town” the driver replied, as we kept driving.

Stepping out of the taxi, we looked out to the Indian Ocean, “Wow this is some view, and you can see the masts of the ship easily from here” Joachim said, “Yes, a very impressive location, and lots of open beaches too, we could do well with this project, maybe have kayaks, surf-cat boats and snorkelling as some of the activities for the guests” I added.

After a little bit longer on the beach, we returned to the taxi and began the trip back into town, but Joachim asked the driver to stop at the old caravan park. All three of us approached the main building, which looks like and office as part of the house, and Louis knocked on the door. There was no answer, so I decided to go down the driveway, where a Toyota ute was parked near a large shed.

“Excuse me sir, are you the owner of this property?” I asked politely, “Yes I am, but we are no longer open” the man who exited the shed and stopped when he saw us. “My name is Lewis Shaw, I represent Wagner Family Corporation, and I am enquiring if you would consider selling your property to us, at say 15% above an independent valuation of the property” I said to the owner.

“Well I would have to discuss it with my wife, where can we get in contact with you?’ the owner replied, after a few moments of thinking, “You can find us at the Starboard Views Apartment, we will be here for a week at least” I replied, “Ok, well I will let you know in a few day’ time” the owner said and I thanked him for his time and headed back to the taxi.

“So, what is your thinking on this place Lewis” Joachim asked, “A home base for me and any extra staff if they don’t have permanent accommodation in town” I replied, that sounds like a plan, but the house looks fairly basic, are you sure about this” Louis asked, “It may be basic to your standards, but it will be fine by me, once it has a bit of paint added and is furnished nicely” I replied.

“Ok, let’s go and get a real estate agent, and see if we can get an independent evaluation on the property” Joachim added, as we kept travelling north towards town. “There are two Real Estate offices in town, do you want me to take you to them?” the taxi driver said, “No, just back to the resort for now, as we have other things to do first, thanks” I replied.

We entered the apartment and sat down in the lounge area, “Ok, bro, can you call Seb, as he will be wanting an update on what is happening, wait, no cancel that it is the middle of the night over there, we will have to wait till this afternoon, lets’ get this security issue sorted first, then we need to get a building company to put in some support struts, to keep the ship upright, when the water level drops” Joachim said to us.

I grabbed the yellow pages directory, and looked up security companies, and there were two in the Geraldton area, which is the closest there is to Kalbarri. The first call went straight to voicemail, so I just ended the call.

With the second call, they answered, and I gave a rundown of what we wanted, with a suggestion of having four guards, on 6- hour shifts, to guard the ship, and that we would cover motel accommodation plus lunch and dinner for seven days, for each of the four guards.

I was given a quote, which I thought was a bit steep, but the twins indicated for me to accept the quote, before asking the security company representative, if he can come up to finalise the deal and to inspect the location, with the guards to start as soon as 4pm this afternoon. This was agreed on, and that he would bring the first two guards with him with an extra vehicle, for the guards to use.

Once the issue was sorted, I looked in the directory again to look for building companies, and only found two that would be possibly ideal for the job required to keep the ship upright. This time the first business did answer the call, and informed him that I represent the company, that recently bought the stranded tall ship, and that I wanted the ship to shored up, so it won’t fall over.

The gentleman said that he did have some time for a short job, and I suggested meeting sometime today to discuss the matter, and maybe go out to the ship. I asked the builder to call into the resort to discuss the matter, and we would decide then, if we need to go and inspect the ship, and he suggested a meeting at 1pm today, which I agreed to.

“I think, I will need to be a bit longer than 8 days, how about when we travel back to Perth, that I buy a vehicle, and drive back to Kalbarri to make sure that the ship is ok, and I will monitor the situation with getting the project moving” I said to the twins after completing the second call.

“That sounds like a good plan, we will stay in Perth for a bit longer, just in case you need to discuss anything with us, and while we are in Perth, we can get you set up with a company credit card, and also get some business cards printed up for you to use” Louis said. “Oh, why is that” I asked sounding a little shocked by all this generosity.

“Louis and I discussed this before our cancelled breakfast, as you are now a valuable part of the team” Joachim informed me, “Besides, we are very wealthy, so we can afford to splash out a bit” Louis added. “Ok, I guess I can’t argue with my bosses, can I now” I said in a defeated tone.

“Right lets’ see if we can get an appointment to see the town planning officer of the local council” Joachim suggested, and I grabbed the local directory once again, and soon found the correct number to call. A few minutes later, after a very brief discussion, I had set an appointment for four days’ time in Kalbarri.

After the call, I suggested to the twins that we travel to Perth early, with a stop in Geraldton, so I can get a vehicle and any other supplies, and drive back to Kalbarri, as I would be able to get everything I need without having to travel so far.

The twins agreed with me, and so we contacted the jet charter company, and organised a charter for tomorrow morning, from Kalbarri to Perth, with a two-hour stop-over in Geraldton, this would allow me to make the two-hour drive back to Kalbarri, before sunset tomorrow. After lunch, we decided to rest for most of the afternoon, knowing that we would have the trip in the morning, plus a meeting with the security firm at 3pm.

After having alight nap after lunch, I showered and changed, before heading outside to take a short walk, but that was cancelled as soon as I saw the two security vehicles pull up in the resort’s carpark, and I retrieved my mobile and called Louis, to let him and his brother know that the security people had arrived.

Once the twins had appeared, we went to greet them and introducedourselves, and I let them know that I had booked two units for the four security guards, at the Riverfront Budget units on Grey street. I accepted to ride with the security manager, and we went to the accommodation first, so the guards could check in, before we went out to where the ship is located just south of town.

When we arrived, the Calm officer was still posted there, but there was also a work truck parked nearby, and I could see some builders busy securing the ship in an upright position, by driving three steel pickets into the ground underwater, and wedging the 6 x 8-inch seasoned planks of wood from the bottom of the steel pickets, and up against the side of the ship, with thick pits of rubber between the support struts and the ship to reduce any marking or damage to the ship.

There was one person on the forecastle with a long spirit level making sure that the ship remains as level as possible, while the support struts are put in place. The security manager gave instructions to his two guards, before he and I drove back in his vehicle, and during the short trip, I was informed that the other two guards would be travelling up from Geraldton this evening.

It was as we arrived at the apartment, that it occurred to me that the security manager was driving back to Geraldton, and I asked if he would mind taking me to Geraldton, as I have some business to do down there, and he agreed to take me, so I raced into the apartment, told the twins of the change of plans, grabbed an overnight bag.

Before rushing out the door again, one of the twins handed me a credit card and told me the pin number for it, and he said to use it to buy the vehicle and whatever else that I need, and that they will still take the flight to Perth in the morning, without the stopover in Geraldton.

About half an hour before sunset, we entered the outskirts of Geraldton, and my mobile rang which made me jump a little, and the screen said it was Louis calling, to let me know that I was booked into the Gerald Apartment Hotel in the centre of town, the security manager nodded his head to say he knew where that is, and I thanked Louis for organising it, as I had totally forgotten about finding a place to stay.

Once I had checked into my premier apartment on the 4th floor, I quickly showered and changed, and headed downstairs to have some dinner in the restaurant, which ended up being an excellent feed. After dinner, I went to the hotel reception, to enquire about the location of the car dealerships in Geraldton, and I was told that the Holden dealership is just across the road.

I decided to go and have a look at some of the vehicles on display, even though I would have to wait till the morning to make the purchase, and after just ten minutes of looking at the different models, I had decided on getting a Holden Trailblazer, as it had plenty of storage space with the back seats folded down, plus it was diesel and has 4wd.

I nearly hit the sky, when a man said “G’day, can I help you with anything” and once my heart had returned to a normal rate, I turned to face the man dressed in a suit, with a Holden shirt and jacket on. “Oh hello, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here tonight, I was just looking at the vehicles, trying to decide which one I will purchase tomorrow” I said to the car salesman.

“My name is Paul, senior sales rep, I can help you right now if you have made a decision” the man said to me, “Well, I don’t want you to be delayed with getting to your home and dinner” I said as I prepared to walk back to the hotel. “No that is fine, I am a single man now, so just an empty house to go to, you are not from these parts” Paul replied.

“I am moving to Kalbarri, and came down this afternoon, to buy a new vehicle and a few other things that I need, before driving back tomorrow” I responded. “So what sort of vehicle are you looking for?” Paul asked me, “Well I like the looks of this cloud blue Trailblazer actually, can you gift wrap it, to take home to Kalbarri tomorrow?” I replied, which made Paul laugh.