Aquaria - 9. Aqu Chapter 9

I stared at the credit card for some time, before putting it into my wallet, before retrieving my laptop computer, and checking for flights to Johannesburg, South Africa for early January.

Once I had found a direct non-stop flight, leaving Perth at 11.40pm and getting in at 4.50am local time, I booked a business class seat for January 3rd, so I can get to Cape Town in time to meet up with the Aquaria.

Next, I looked up flights to Cape Town, and I booked a seat for the 7am flight, giving me two hours after I arrive, and hopefully I won’t be delayed at customs to catch that flight. When I had both flights confirmed, I sent a text message to my father.

“Booked on flights from Perth to Johannesburg and onto Cape Town, to meet up with the Aquaria there, arrive in the Cape on January 4th at 9.10am, Trent”.

Soon after I received a text reply, “Ok, I will let Captain Glen Hunter know. You can have the executive suite on deck 6, next to me, as I will be joining the Aquaria at Cape Town also. Dad”.

I spent the rest of the day tidying up the cottage, including doing a load of washing, until I had the place spotlessly clean. When done, I spent the rest of the day just relaxing, and reading a book, and as I was preparing dinner that evening, I stopped for a few minutes to check my emails.

“Capt. G Hunter, RS Aquaria to Mr T Blackthorn. Sir, I have been informed by the company Managing Director that he and you will be joining us in Cape Town on January 6th this coming year. The port side Executive suites have been assigned for your use, and we look forward to your arrival.

Once in Cape Town, the remaining new crew members will be joining us, to make a full complement of crew, which will include 8 families with 16 children aged from 5 to 11 years old.

We will be in Cape Town for a period of 3 days to restock with supplies, welcoming new crew and discharge all the waste, before setting off for Fremantle”.

I was a little surprised at all the additional information in the email, and I knew that we didn’t have a full complement of crew, since setting off on the maiden voyage earlier in the year.

After dinner, I decided to head to bed early, as I wanted to be up at a reasonable time, to double check that the cottage was clean, and ready for Mitchell’s arrival tomorrow afternoon.

Just before I went to bed, my phone dinged to indicate a new email, so I opened it on my phone instead of doing it on the laptop. “Trent, just letting you know, that when we leave Cape town, we will be heading north in the Atlantic Ocean, as we have been granted permission to do some scientific research on the Brazilian Island of Trindade.

The island is 1,100 km’s east of Brazil and 2,100 km’s south west of the Ascension Islands, where we will be stopping later, as well as St Helena Islands, before heading to Bermuda. Regards your Father.”

I had not heard of this Brazilian Island before, so I did a google maps search of it, and was surprised at how far away it was from anywhere. Later in the day, I headed down the hill and to the airport, to collect Mitchell, after checking that his flight was due on time.

I had to wait for 45 minutes, before he appeared from the customs area, and as soon as he saw me, his smile grew bigger, and he rushed towards me and gave me a huge bear hug.

“Ok, you great big bear, enough of that, let’s get to the Landrover, and get you home” I said to him as I stepped back from his embrace. “Actually, the cottage is not my full-time home, it is more of a place to get away from everything” Mitchell announced to me, which was a bit of a shock.

“Ok so where do you really live?” I asked, “I have an apartment in East Perth, overlooking the Swan river and the new stadium” Mitchell replied, as we headed outside. “It used to belong to an uncle of mine, who bequeathed it to me, when he passed away a few months ago.

I have only had time to clear out all of his clothes and personal effects and give it a bit of a clean, the garden is a mess and needs a lot of work done” Mitchell added.

“I see, well while I have been at the cottage, I have done a fair amount of weeding and pruning, so it doesn’t look so wild now” I said to my friend. “Well you didn’t need to do that, but thanks, so what are you plans now?” Mitchell said to me.

“I am going back to the research sub Aquaria in early January, meeting up with it in Cape Town, then we are heading north into the Atlantic” I replied.

“Well at least I get to spend Christmas with you, which will be great. How about we take the Landrover for a drive up the coast and have a camping Christmas?” Mitchell suggested.

“That will be great, I look forward to it, so where do you think we should go?” I replied, “I don’t know maybe you can suggest a place?” Mitchell answered.

“Well I fly out on January 3rd, so it will have to be just one week that we are away, so how about Denham at Shark Bay? It is about 9 hours of driving, so it would be a long day, but it is quite nice there, or we could go somewhere a little cooler like Esperance, on the South East coast” I replied.

“I think Esperance sounds better, and I have heard it is a beautiful place, even in the middle of summer, and if you like we may be able to get earlier accommodation and spend Christmas there” Mitchell replied, and I agreed with that idea.

Once we arrived at Mitchell’s apartment, I had a quick look around, while Mitchell retrieved his lap top computer and got it going, so we could search for somewhere to stay.

After some searching, and several phone calls, we were able to get 9 days of accommodation starting from tomorrow, which is from the December 24th till the January 2nd, allowing us a day to get back to Perth, so I can pack ready to fly out the next day.

Mitchell did a load of washing and use the dryer to get the clothes dry, so he could use some of it for this trip, and meantime I just relaxed, as we both planned to stay at the cottage in Darlington and leave from there early tomorrow for the trip to Esperance, which will take about 7 ½ hours.

During the long drive south east the next day, we happily chatted away about everything, and when the subject of our relationship came up, there was a long period of silence.

“Look Mitch, as much as I would like to be with you, it will be difficult to have a relationship when you are here in Western Australia, and I will be goodness knows where around the world onboard a research submarine.

I think it would be best that we just stay as good friends and look at it again sometime in the future” I said to Mitchell.

“I know that what you are saying is the best thing to do, but it still doesn’t stop me from missing you, and wanting to be with you” Mitchell said, as he fought away tears.

The last two hours of the journey was mostly in silence, with me having taken over driving at lunch time, at about the half way mark of Hoyden, and from the corner of my eye, I could see Mitchell just staring out the side window, looking miserable.

We arrived in Esperance just after 5pm, Christmas eve, and we checked into our 2-bedroom accommodation unit on the foreshore. Once we had settled in, we went looking for a place to have dinner, and we talked very little during the meal, even though I tried to get Mitchell to talk to me.

Once back at the accommodation, Mitchell retreated to his room, and left me wondering what to do, as I had hoped for an enjoyable Christmas, but it was not looking like it would end that way.

Early on Christmas morning, I went for a long walk along the beaches and foreshore, thinking about what I should do, and reluctantly I decided that it would be best for me to fly back to Perth.

When I returned to the accommodation, there was no sign of Mitchell, so I presumed that he had also gone out for a walk, then it suddenly hit me, that I didn’t see the Landrover parked out the front, so I checked his room and found it empty, with none of his belongings anywhere. I spotted a piece of paper on the pillow, which I picked up and read.

“Trent, I feel miserable and can no longer stay here with you, so I have managed to find alternative accommodation, let me know if you want to head back to Perth earlier than planned. Merry Christmas, Mitch”.

Now I was starting to feel miserable, as this trip has now turned into a disaster, so I walked back to my room and retrieved my mobile phone.

A few minutes later, I had found a flight for tomorrow morning, leaving at 10.15am, and I booked a seat for that flight, before retrieving the one book that I had packed for the trip, and I lay on my bed to read.

I ended up being so fascinated by the book, that I ended up skipping lunch, and only realised the time, when my stomach rumbled, letting me know that I needed food.

Looking at my watch and seeing that it was after 4pm, I headed outside and walked down the street, to get some takeaway dinner, which I planned to eat back at the accommodation unit, but I ate most of it while walking back.

After a quick shower, I lay down once more and continued to read until about 8pm, before sending a quick text to Mitchell, “I am flying back to Perth tomorrow, enjoy your stay in Esperance, Trent”, then went to bed.

The next morning, I slept in till 8.30am, and once I had a quick breakfast at a nearby café, I packed my suitcase, checked out and called a taxi to take me to the airport, arriving about 45 minutes early, so I just sat down and continued to read my book. Just after 10am, I received a text from Mitchell.

“Where are you, I want to talk, my phone battery went flat yesterday, and I only found the recharger this morning, Mitchell”, and I sighed when I read this, and wondered if I should ignore the message, or pretend that I hadn’t read it yet.

Just as the call over the PA announced boarding for the flight to Perth, I sent a quick text in return. “Just boarding my flight to Perth, see you when you get back in the new year, Trent” before shutting off my phone, as per regulations. When the plane landed in Perth, I turned on my phone as I entered the terminal and a heap of messages came through.

“Trent, please don’t go, I am sorry, I want you to stay in Esperance, so we can talk”, “Hello… Have you caught the flight?”, “Please call me when you get these messages”.

I didn’t know what to do, as I caught a taxi back to the cottage in Darlington, but by the time that I arrived there, I had made up my mind, that I would fly out of Perth as soon as I could, and spend a few days relaxing somewhere, whereabouts I was not sure just yet.

Once I had packed up all of my luggage, that I had with me from when I travelled back to Australia, I cleaned up the house, and emptied the fridge, before sitting down and looking for motel accommodation close to the airport, once I had found a place and booked a room, I called a taxi and locking up the cottage, I waited outside for the taxi to arrive.

During the trip to the motel, I looked up on my laptop computer, at possible locations that I could fly too, and I found that there was a flight for tonight to Johannesburg, that had some business class seats available, so I telephoned the airline and had my ticket changed from Jan 3rd, to tonight’s flight, leaving at 11.45pm, which gave me enough time to get to the motel and freshen up, before heading back to the airport.

When I checked into the motel, shortly after 2pm, I explained that I needed the room only for 7 hours, as I was catching an overseas flight later tonight. Once checked in, I set my alarm for 8.30pm, before laying on the bed, and falling asleep soon after.

When the alarm went off, I took me a few moments to remember where I was, as I shut of the alarm and dashed into the bathroom to take a shower and dress into so fresh clothes and called for a taxi to take me to the airport, with me arriving there 2 ¾ hours before the flight was due to leave.