Survival - 10. Surv Chapter 10

The trip to Kangaroo Island was great, we explored most of it on foot, spending two nights camping out, and the rest of the time we stayed in a holiday house on the island. With just 2 ½ months till we head off to Canada, I went shopping for some clothes, in case it gets too cold where we were going, and Uncle Nat had booked us on a flight from Adelaide to Hong Kong, and onto Vancouver, Canada, leaving the day after the school holidays begin.

Leaving at 10 am, the flight stops in Sydney, before continuing on to Hong Kong, arriving 12 hours later, where we would have an overnight stop, before boarding our flight to Canada, leaving at 8 pm the next day.We both decided to stay in the hotel for the duration of our visit in Hong Kong, now that it is part of China, as Uncle Nat didn’t want to cause any diplomatic problems, because he is in the Army.

As a precaution, I discreetly recorded everything, from the time we stepped off the plane till we stepped into our hotel room. Uncle Nat even placed a chair under the door handle of the hotel room door, so no one would try to sneak in when we are sleeping.

In the morning, as we ate breakfast in our hotel room, Uncle Nat mentioned, that someone, had attempted to enter the hotel room, during the night, but because the chair was against the door handle, they failed, and he suggested that we be extra carefully and remain alert at all times, until we are on the plane and flying out of Hong Kong.

Although it was boring, we decided to remain in the hotel room, with all our meals being delivered to our room, and when the hotel staff had left the room, the door was locked, and the chair put back into place. Uncle Nat found a bugging device hidden in a small flower arrangement, when we arrived, and another one located under the trolley that delivered our breakfast, both of which were flushed down the toilet.

Before leaving the hotel room, we emptied out our suitcases and briefcases, checked them all thoroughly, before repacking them and securing padlocks onto the zippers, so they can’t be opened, with that being recorded on video on my phone. Once again, I videoed everything from the moment we left the hotel room, and checked out of the hotel, and travelling to the airport.

As we were passing through customs and passport control, both Uncle Nat and I were pulled aside for a baggage check and to ask us some questions. When escorted to an interview room, we were asked where we went during our stay in Hong Kong, and when we stated that we remained in the hotel the whole time, apart from travelling from and to the airport, the officials didn’t believe us.

When we unlocked our luggage, and found nothing illegal inside, the officials became more annoyed, and at that point, Uncle Nat gave the agreed signal to say no more, and ask for diplomatic assistance, which made the officials very angry.

The officials tried to threaten both of us with long term detention, which had me very worried, but Uncle Nat just ignored the threats and continued to request a representative from the Australian Embassy.

We ended up missing our flight, as we were continued to be questioned and threatened, but we both stuck to saying one thing, asking from an official from the Australian Embassy. It was after we failed to arrive in Yellowknife, Canada, that the alarm was raised, and we finally had a visit.

“Mr Blackwood, and Jacob, my name is Sarah Kennedy, Embassy official from the Australian Embassy, I have been informed that you are under suspicion of spying” the lady said after entering the interview room and taking a seat. “Ms Kennedy, both my nephew and I are in transit to Canada for a holiday, we are not spy’s, and we have done nothing illegal since we arrived in Hong Kong” Uncle Nat said to the lady.

“I see, they say that you left your hotel room, during the night, and spend hours looking around areas where there are government buildings, what do you say to that?’ Ms Kennedy stated, “I say that it is all fabricated lies, we have not left the hotel since we arrived there yesterday, and we remained in our room for the entire time, including eating our meals there” I said to the lady.

“Well, it seems that someone is not telling the truth, they said that from the airport, you asked the taxi driver to take you to certain places around the city before taking you to the hotel room yesterday?” Ms Kennedy announced.

“As my nephew has stated, they are all lies, we travelled directly to the hotel from the airport, with no stops or diversions of any kind, and we have proof of this” Uncle Nat said.

I was about to reach down and retrieve my phone, that was hidden in my socks, under the cuffs of my jeans, when two men barged in. “What is this proof, we demand to see it right away” one of the men demanded in broken English, “Not until Ms Kennedy has seen it first, and without you two bullies being in the room” I said in response. “You show us this proof now, or you go to prison” the other man demanded.

“Maybe you would like to explain to Ms Kennedy, why someone attempted, but failed to enter our hotel room last night, and twice bugged the room with listening devices, which ended up being flushed down the toilet” Uncle Nat said with a slight smile. “What is it you are trying to do? Is this plan to humiliate our government, because we refuse to support you on another current issue?” Ms Kennedy said to the two men, as she stared at them and they stared back, until they exit the room.

“Well, it seems that there is definitely something going on here, and it looks like they want to use you as guinea pigs” Ms Kennedy said to us.Less than a minute later, the two men returned. “You are being released into the custody of Ms Kennedy, but you are not to leave Hong Kong until we have finished the investigation” one of the men stated, and we were escorted out of the interview room, where we were reunited with our luggage, and shown to the main entrance of the terminal.

“Mr Blackwood, I have taken the liberty of making arrangements for Jacob to attend a local school, known as the United World Collegelocated in Ma On Shan, where they have boarding facilities, and he will be well looked after, while for you Mr Blackwood, I have arranged that you share an apartment, with one of our Consular staff” Ms Kennedy announced, as we walked towards a waiting car.

Once the car was moving, Ms Kennedy turned and face Uncle Nat, “Ok, we can talk more freely now, what is it that you were not able to say inside the airport, Major? Yes, I know exactly who you are and that you have a level three security clearance” Ms Kennedy said.

“Is that all that you know Ms Kennedy?” I asked the Embassy officer, and Uncle Nat chuckled, as Ms Kennedy showed a confused expression. “What my nephew is asking, is where you informed of Jacob’s background?” my uncle said. “Why no, just that you are a training officer in the Australian Army based in Adelaide” Ms Kennedy responded, “I see, well, my talented nephew here, was caught up in a high security matter last year, and as a result, he was sworn in as member of the Australian Army, with an honorary rank of Corporal, and an Australian Security clearance of level three” my uncle announced.

Ms Kennedy looked shocked and looked at me then back at my uncle then to me again, and I was smiling and nodded my head to confirm what my uncle had just said. “We better go to the embassy first, I need to make a few phone calls” Ms Kennedy said. When we arrived at the embassy, we were surprised that the offices are located on the 23rd and 24th floors, of a very tall office tower in the centre of Hong Kong.

We were directed to a conference room, while Ms Kennedy went to make a few phone calls, and when she arrived back about twenty minutes later, she didn’t look to happy, as she sat down opposite us. “I have just had a talk with my big boss in Canberra, the Foreign Affairs Minister, and she knows all about you both. I have been ordered to assist you in all ways possible, to get you out of Hong Kong, as soon as possible, so for now we will have you stay here, we have an office suite that has been converted into an emergency guest suite.

It has a lounge, two bedrooms and a bathroom, and we will arrange your meals for you. Unfortunately, you will be a bit restricted in your movements while you are here, the lounge in the suite has a selection of books and DVD’s to keep you entertained, and we will work hard to get this issue resolved as soon as possible” Ms Kennedy said to us, before standing and leading us to where we would be staying.

After two very boring days stuck in the embassy guest suite, Ms Kennedy arrived with some news. “You have been granted permission to leave Hong Kong, but it is by deportation, meaning that you will be returned to Australia, and not allowed to continue to Canada, and you will be banned from returning to Hong Kong or China for a period of five years” Ms Kennedy announced.

I was glad just to be able to get of Hong Kong, as it had been a very unpleasant stay, and a few hours later we were taken directly to the airport, and once past customs and quarantine, we had our passports returned to us, which included our flight tickets.

When Ms Kennedy handed over my passport, I found that it had two tickets inside, for flights to Vancouver, leaving from an adjoining gate, just five minutes before the flight to Australia, and I smiled and gave a slight nod to Ms Kennedy, as she said goodbye, and wished us a pleasant flight back to Australia.

After we sat down in the waiting area, I saw Uncle Nat open his passport and look at the two tickets for Australia, and I gave him a nudge with my elbow, “you won’t be needing those” I whispered, as I opened my passport and showed him the two tickets to Canada, and he smiled.

Once we had passed through the gate, leading to our plane, bound for Vancouver, I sighed softly and I saw Uncle Nat smile, and I relaxed some more once the plane was in the air, and starting to level out, about fifteen minutes later. “Thanks to Ms Kennedy, we are finally out of that mess, and we can enjoy our holiday” Uncle Nat whispered, and I nodded my head in agreement, as I put on the headphones and selected a movie to watch.

For the next 11 ½ hours, we ate, watched movies and slept, until we finally touched down in Vancouver, Canada, and I was very pleased that we had finally arrived. Once we had cleared customs, the first thing I did was to call Mum and Dad, to let them know that we had arrived in Canada.

We had a 4 hour wait for our connecting flight to Yellowknife, where Mum would be meeting us at the airport, and we spent that time looking in the Duty-Free shops in the airport terminal, and reading books, that we purchased. With it being summer in Canada, the temperature was quite mild, as we greeted Mum at the Arrivals Hall in Yellowknife, and it was great to see her again.

After a 15-minute drive, we pulled up in a carpark below an apartment block, which overlooks the small lake, situated between two larger lakes, and it was an awesome view. “We only have a two-bedroom apartment, so we have bunk beds in the other room for you both to share, if that is ok with you” Mum said to us, as we climbed out of the vehicle and retrieved our luggage.

“That’s fine, as long as Uncle Nat doesn’t snore to much” I commented, making sure that I was out of his reach, and Mum just laughed. Over the next 11 days, we had an awesome time exploring the region, and with a good clear window of weather, with a fair amount of dry weather, we decided to have a go at climbing Mount Nirvana, or Thunder Mountain as it is also known, and we had allowed 8 days to complete the task.

When we went to buy all the hiking gear that we required, we were advised against the climb, as it was a very difficult climb, that often must be abandoned due to bad weather, but we decided to give it a go, and we assured that we both had the skills and climbing experience to try.

Firstly, we had to fly into the remote community of Tungsten, which is roughly 620 kilometres West of Yellowknife, close to the border with Yukon, and after an overnight stop, it was followed by a 12-kilometre drive on a very rough mines road, which took 40 minutes to complete. From there, it was all on foot, with Thunder Mountain being 20 kilometres South East in a straight line, but we would be climbing almost straight away.

Starting at just over 1400 metres above sea level, we followed a valley in a North East direction, for about 8 kilometres. Going around a small peak close to the top, at about 2100 metres, till we entered another valley, heading back down a little way to a river, which we followed upstream for two kilometres, before entering the third valley, where Thunder Mountain stood in front of us, with a 28 kilometre climb up the valley, till we were due south of the peak.

By now it had taken us a long and hard 4 days, and as we rested for the night in our small tents, with thick sleeping bags to keep us warm, at a height of 2200 metres above sea level, Uncle Nat retrieved the Sat phone from his pack and called Mum. “Hello Anita, we are about half way up, and the peak is now in sight.

I can see now why it is a difficult climb, as there are a lot of steep cliffs, but don’t worry, your son and I are well trained, and we know when to give up if it becomes too difficult or dangerous” Uncle Nat Said when Mum answered the call.