Aquaria - 7. Aqu Chapter 7

The next morning, I was in no mood in doing more gardening, as I still ached all over, so I decided to take a drive and do some exploring of the city, which I had visited only a few times, while in the Navy. After a long walk through Kings Park, I decided to explore more of the rivers in Perth, so I headed across the bridge to South Perth, and stopped by to look at the river and its surrounds.

I decided that I needed to have a closer look, since environmental science is one of my specialties, so I looked up camping stores on my phone, and although most of the stores are a fair distance away, I decided that it was worth the travel, so I headed towards the southern suburb of Myaree, to check out their selection of kayaks, which I found to be the most suitable.

I came out of the store with an excellent fishing kayak, with double paddle, a PFD vest, with a comfortable seat, and plenty of storage space onboard, costing just under $900, which is a good-sized chunk of what savings I still have.

I also gained some information on where the best places to check out the rivers, including visiting the Canning River Eco Centre in Cannington, which will be my next stop. Using the navigation tool on my phone, I arrived at the centre, where the carpark was nearly full, and I managed to find a spot close to the centre.

When I walked inside, there was displays everywhere, set up for educational purposes, and it looked well set out and informative. “Can I help you at all sir” a lady said bringing me out of my daydream. “Oh, err, I’m not sure, I just came to check this place out, I heard that it was quite a good place to get information about the ecological background on this river system” I replied.

“Sounds like you have done some science training, sometime recently” the lady responded smiling to me. “Yes, I guess I have, if you call a double degree in Marine Science and Ocean Navigation as that, then yes I have” I replied, not mentioning the double master’s degree that I also have.

“Well then, in that case, let me show you around, Mr…” the lady said to me, “It’s Trenton, Trenton Blackthorn, and I studied at ANU while at Duntroon” I replied, “Ooaa, a Navy man, I like a man in uniform” the lady said to me, which made me blush a little, and chuckle a bit.

“Sorry, but I am not available, Miss…” I responded, “Beatrice, Beatrice Morrison, come along then Trenton, I will give you the inside tour of our facilities” Beatrice said to me as she led the way through a set of doors, with a sign saying, “Authorised Persons Only”. A few minutes later, we stepped into a large room, with a couple centred tables.

“This is our team work room. Dr Lane, this is Mr Trenton Blackthorn, an ANU Duntroon graduate in Marine Science and Ocean Navigation. Trent, this is our Eco Centre Director, Dr Peter Lane” Beatrice said making the introductions. “So, what brings you to our humble centre, then Mr Blackthorn?” the Director asked me after shaking my hands.

“Well I am taking some time off from my current job with Lloyd International Corp, so I am just looking around Perth’s rivers, I guess you could say, that I can’t stay away from water” I responded. “Lloyd Corp, is'nt that the company that owns that huge new research submarine” another member of the team said as he approached, “The Aquaria, yes that is right, one enormous floating city and research facility” I replied.

“Wow, you are one lucky son of a gun to be able to work onboard that, oh, I am Dr James Sherika, by the way, a pleasure to meet someone from the Aquaria” the other team member said as he shook my hand, “Well now, this is a big honour, I have been reading all about that vessel in the latest Science Magazine, it sounds incredible” Dr Lane said, as he indicated for me to sit, and the others in the room did also.

“The vessel is 432 metres long, 72 metres wide, with a draft of 6 metres when surfaced, and is 24 metres high, with 9 levels, and can go at a speed of 22 knots, and a depth of 420 metres. She has a total of 180 Permanent Crew, 28 Officers in single cabins, 20 science and medical crew in twin cabins and 132 general crew in twin cabins, plus accommodate 42 cadets in twin cabins, plus there is single cabin accommodation for 18 VIP Guests and twin cabins for 22 regular guests

The Aquaria is equipped with eight - 5 person - research mini subs and four - 21 person - transport mini subs, and four - 42 person - emergency evacuation capsules, all capable of depths of 300 metres, plus there are 8 sea bobs and twenty sets of SCUBA equipment. I am senior research officer, and on our maiden trip, we spent some time off the coast of Rottnest doing a whole lot of research, before we set off to Heard Island, which was an incredible experience.

We restocked in Cape Town, South Africa, before heading for Rio de Janeiro, which is where I left the vessel, which should be arriving in the Falkland Islands any day now, after picking up a team of students, teachers and parents, from a private school here in Perth.

They will be spending the next 8 days onboard the vessel, and participating in a series of science projects, during their stay, before flying back to Perth via Santiago in Chile, and Auckland” I said to those gathered, which now numbered a dozen.

“If you are a senior science officer, then you must have more qualifications that you have mentioned?” Dr Lane said to me, “Well yes I do actually, I have a Double Master’s degree in Environmental Law, and Marine Biology, also gained from the ANU” I replied.

“Can you tell us some more about the vessel please?” one of the staff members asked, “Well, we have just about everything that we need on the vessel, including a 12-shop mini shopping mall, that has everything from newsagency, post office, a café, clothes and shoes stores and a hair dresser, sorry no McDonald’s or Hungry Jacks there, the owner won’t allow it.

Guests have access to parts of 4 of the 9 decks, and the science area is spreads over three decks at the aft of the vessel, that’s the back of the boat, for those who don’t know” I added, which received a few light-laughs from those gathered. “There is a total of 10 research laboratories, with all the required and best research equipment, plus there is an Aqua Pool, that is pressurized with airlocks to get in and out of it, which is the place for scuba divers to go in and out, at a maximum depth of 40 metres.

We have a fully equipped and staffed medical centre and hospital, including a decompression chamber, and the crew have many lounges, recreation and sporting facilities, including a gymnasium, and a movie cinema, a library and the great hall is big enough for basketball games” I said to the group. “Well that sounds like an incredible place to work, now we better get back to work everyone” Dr Lane announced.

Once the group had disbanded, with just Dr Lane and Dr Sherika remaining. “Tell me young Trenton, how long are you planning to stay in Perth for?” Dr Sherika asked me, “Well I am not sure really, I am uncertain when I will be called back to the Aquaria, so maybe a week or two, I just bought a kayak today, so I was planning to explore the Canning river for as far up as I can go” I replied.

“Well at this time of the year, you should be able to get as far as Hester Park, just after you go under the Nicholson Road Bridge, beyond that you soon come across a lot of trees over the river, as it gets fairly narrow after that” Dr Lane announced, “That sounds good enough for me, thank you for your time today, it is very much appreciated” I responded.

“Thank you for the information talk about the Aquaria, I hope that you will come and visit us again soon, maybe we can get you interested in some of our projects” Dr Sherika said, “Thank you, I will consider it, Bye for now” I replied and I made my way back to the front of the Eco centre. I quickly changed into my board shorts and t-shirt, before unloading the kayak, paddle and PFD vest, and made my way to the river.

Once on the water, it wasn’t long before I was enjoying some peace and quiet, as I paddled upstream, with very little river flow, making it reasonably easy. When I eventually came up to the first main road bridge, I decided to go a bit further, so passing the park on the right-hand side, I kept on going, even when the river was starting to get quite narrow, until I reached another road bridge, this one was a lot wider than the first, with power lines in between the bridges.

Seeing that it was going to be too difficult to go any further, I rested for a little while, had a drink and a snack, which I had brought with me, before starting the return trip back to the Eco Centre and the weir. It had taken me over two hours to reach the second road bridge, but only 90 minutes to get back to where I started, with a slight river current in my favour.

It was nearly 3pm, when I arrived back at the weir, and I carried everything back to the vehicle and started loading it back on and strapping it all down. “Well, that must have been an enjoyable paddle, you were gone for over three hours, I was starting to get worried that you may have got caught up somehow” Dr Sherika said as he approached.

“No nothing drastic like that, I managed to go further up the river, to the second road bridge, that has power lines there also, before I stopped to rest and have a meal break” I replied. “Wow, I didn’t think you could get up as far as the Roe Highway Bridge, that is fantastic” Dr Sherika responded.

“It wasn’t easy, there were a few spots where trees made it hard to get through, maybe you could suggest to whoever controls the rivers, to clear away some of the over handing trees, so as to allow a better river flow, it would also be beneficial for the birdlife that live and breed on the river” I replied.

“I could do that, but it would be better if it came from an independent marine scientist like you, especially since you are part of the Lloyd Research Project” Dr Sherika suggested, and I smiled when I heard this, “Very well then, I will write up a report on my observations, and make some recommendations, and submit them to your centre for a review, before you pass it on” I replied.

“That would be fabulous, I look forward to reading it, good day to you” Dr Sherika said as he headed towards his vehicle. Once I had finished loading up everything, I climbed into my vehicle and made my way back to the cottage in Darlington. Once I had washed down the kayak, vest and paddle, I stored them away in the garage, and went inside to have a late lunch, and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

The next morning, I pulled out my laptop computer, and began to write up a report on the Canning river, and managed to write five pages, when I realised that I really needed to take some photographs of the river, to support my findings, so I saved the document, and made myself a packed lunch, with snacks and bottled water, before locking up, and loading the kayak and gear into the Landrover.

I had decided to start from a little further downstream that yesterday’s trip, and I parked the vehicle at Centenary Park, in the suburb of Wilson, just down from the Leach Highway bridge, about 4 km’s down from the Eco centre. With a note pad and pencil, camera and my mobile phone as tools for the job, I set off upstream, stopping every now and then to jot down some notes, and take some photos.

When I reached the weir, I stopped just down from it, and had some lunch and a drink in the park, before carrying the kayak past the weir, and continuing upstream. This time when I reached the second traffic bridge, I kept going to see how far I could reach, and I soon passed under some railway bridges, and when I came to a small road bridge, I decided that was about the limit for kayaking up the river, as it was getting to difficult getting around and under so many tree branches.

I took a good half hour rest, before I took down some more notes and some photos of the bridge and the area, before heading back down stream once more, reaching the weir, just before 4pm. As I was pulling my kayak out of the water, to get around the weir, Dr Sherika appeared once again. “My word you are very keen” he said to me smiling.