Indian Ocean Drama - 7. Orc Chapter 7

I ended up spending just a week in Perth, before flying to Christmas Island, and I was shocked at how bad things looked in regards to tourism and the condition of the island since last leaving the island, and I spent a good week looking around Christmas Island, before flying to the Cocos Keeling Islands to do the same thing, and taking note of everything that I had seen, and taking plenty of photos, before combining it into a report, and sending it to Sebastian, to ask him if he would consider restarting assistance to the Indian Ocean territories, and restarting the air flights from Darwin and Broome to the islands.

A few days later I received an unexpected reply from the twins. “Dearest Brother in law, we are sorry to be the ones to tell you, of our delayed notice, that Sebastian was killed in a high-speed car accident in the Swiss Alps just over a week ago. As per his wishes, he was buried next to our cousin – Huon, on the Falkland Islands a few days ago, where we still are, as we are in process of winding up the sale of Douglas Farm, and the MV Southern Explorer, which has been based here for the past few years.

We are sorry to have not informed you earlier of Sebastian’s death, we realise now of our mistake in not informing you, or Reverend Davies and her son Kyle. When we have concluded business here, we will be returning to Switzerland, to wind up most properties and ships that the company own, and we will be remaining there from then onwards.

You shall receive correspondence from our company lawyers soon, as you were still legally married to Sebastian, and his will states, that he has always wished to ensure that you lived very comfortably for the remainder of your life. Regards, Louis and Joachim”.

I was shocked to learn that my ex-husband was no longer alive, and I sent a message to Kylie. “I have just received news from the twins that Sebastian was killed in a high-speed crash in Switzerland last week, not sure how I feel about this” I typed before pressing the send button.

A reply came back soon after, “Yes I know, I saw it in the Business news online a few days ago, I am terribly sorry for your loss, and sorry I didn’t check on you as soon as I saw it online, do you want me to come over to the island?” and I paused for a few minutes, rereading the message, before sending a reply.

“No, I am fine, and the funeral was held a few days ago on FI, so there is no need for me to rush off anywhere”, “Oh ok, it’s a shame the twins didn’t inform you last week, take care and talk soon” Kylie text back, and I went for a walk along the beach to try and process all of this news.

Nearly a week later, I received an email from the twins. “Dearest brother in law, it has been decided that all assets owned by our company, located in Australia, will be transferred to you, as your share of Sebastian’s estate.Those being, the main house on Grey Road, Kalbarri, the Tall ship tourism venture on corner of Grey and Cotworthy Streets, Kalbarri, the properties at 24-26 Grey and 23-25 Hackney Streets, Kalbarri, and 16-unit holiday apartment block on Coghlan Street, Broome, Lot 1 Fowlers Bay, Shark Bay Road, Denham, Bay Lodge, Shark Bay and Oceanside Village, Denham.

Also the Christmas Island Resort, with the 113 acres of land that it stands on,been made freehold land. Oceania House Estate on Cocos Keeling Islands, the lifetime lease of the house on Rottnest Island, the 20-year domestic Aircraft Hanger leases, located in Broome, Darwin, Diego Garcia Island and Christmas Island, ownership of the fleet of 6 aircraft, that are IOA - Indian Ocean Airlines, and the IOA administration building, on Coghlan Street, Broome.

As well as what is listed above, you shall also receive an operating budget of $3.2 million Australian for three years, to assist with restarting and operating costs of IOA, plus $1.5 million Australian, each year for three years, to be shared between the three Indian Ocean Territories, to assist with getting tourism boosted again, on Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands and the Chagos Archipelago. Good luck in your future, regards Louis & Joachim Wagner.”

I was a little surprised by all this sudden person wealth, and I was not sure what to do about it. Eventually I decided to make a visit to Kalbarri, to have a look, and refresh my memory of what I have there.

Arriving on a chartered flight from Perth, after flying back to the mainland, I went to the main house in Kalbarri, where the cleaning lady had been keeping it looking fresh, and having informed her of my impending arrival, she thoroughly cleaned the house and restocked the fridge of food.

After a good night’s sleep, I organised a hire car, and went for a drive around town, and I stopped at the new tourist accommodation that replaced the budget accommodation cottages, and the land behind it was now full of shady trees, and has a swimming pool and tennis court for guests to use, and I decided to keep these properties, as it was a good money earner and investment.

Next, I went to the tall ship tourist venture, and I found that it was looking very good, and after doing an online check, I saw that it was available for accommodation, as well as tours during week days, and I decided to donate this land and the tall ship to the community.

After three days in Kalbarri, and with the charter jet on standby still at the Kalbarri Airfield, I packed up and closed up the house, dropping off the keys to the housekeeper, and returning the hire car, before catching a taxi to the airport, where I asked the pilots to fly me to Broome, where I had booked one of the executive apartments that I owned.

When I stepped onto the plane, for the flight to Broome, there was a fresh copy of the West Australian Newspaper on the side table, and the front-page headlines caught my attention. “Former Indian Ocean Territories Administrator cleared of any wrong doing”, and reluctantly I picked up the paper to read the news article.

“Former administrator, Sir Lewis Shaw, Baron of Rottnest, was recently cleared for any wrong doing regarding an incident in Singapore, and he has had is knighthood and life peerage reinstalled. Sir Lewis, who was married to the late Swiss Billionaire, Sebastian Wagner, who was killed in a high-speed crash in Europe recently, has returned to Australia, and has been spending some time on Christmas Island, until he flew to the mainland the other day.

It is believed that since his husband’s sudden death, that Sir Lewis has inherited a 1/3rd share of the Swiss private company, which his twin brothers in law, have the controlling 2/3rd share, and that Sir Lewis now has a personal wealth of over $974 million Australian. Sir Lewis is believed to be travelling to parts of Western Australia, to visit his properties”.

“Fasten seat belts and prepare for take-off please” came the voice of the pilot over the PA, and soon the plane was in the air, and heading north to Broome. Once the plane had landed, he caught a taxi to the apartment block, and he checked into his booked accommodation, and as soon as the receptionist saw my name on the registration card, her eyes went wide, and she walked to an office behind reception, returning a few moments later with a man following her.

“Sir Lewis, welcome to Broome, since you own the property, you will not be charged for your accommodation or meals. Do you wish us to make available, one of our company vehicles?” the man said, who I presumed to be the manager. “Yes please, if that is not any inconvenience” I replied, “That is not a problem, we will have the BMW X5M made available for you during your stay. It is one of 2 BMW cars that we have for VIP guests” the manager stated.

“That sounds a little bit excessive, who decided on these cars?” I asked, “Your late husband did sir, after he bought the property two years ago” the manager replied, “I see, well I think I will be making some changes in regards to that, I think just one BMW will be enough, and we can add a Holden vehicle” I stated, “Err, we also have four of them, two Trailblazers, and two Colorado’s” the manager stated.

“Well, I suggest that we keep one BMW and one each of the Holden vehicles, and sell the rest” I announced, “Yes sir, I will arrange that for you” the manager replied, as the receptionist handed me my keys for my accommodation. Once I was settled in, I spent an hour just relaxing, before setting off to the IOA administration building, which was just a block away from the accommodation.

The door was locked, so I rattled the door, to see if anyone was inside, and a woman appeared, and after a short frown, she smiled as she approached and unlocked the door. “Sir Lewis, I have just got off the phone with the manager of the accommodation, informing me of your arrival in Broome, please come in” the lady said.

Once the door was closed and locked behind me, I was led to a large conference room, where there was a lot of files scattered over it. “My apologies for the mess, I am trying to get in contact with the former airline pilots and stewards to return to us, as per the instructions I received from Mr Louis and Joachim Wagner.

My name is Sarina De Cagnino, I have been the Administration Manager of the airline, when your late husband first established the company as Wagner Air, my condolences on the recent loss of your husband” the lady said to me once we had seated.

“Thank you, I presume from your surname that you have Italian ancestry, and that you are fluent in Italian?” I asked, “Yes Sir Lewis, as well as German, French and Spanish” Sarina replied smiling. “That is good to know, now can you tell me what you have been doing since my husband’s death?” I replied.

“Well sir, I have secured the return of the 4 medium and 2 executive aircraft, which have been leased out to another company, until later this month, when we take control of them again, and they will be flown here, for a full service and flight test, before we begin flights from Broome to the Chagos Archipelago, and from Broome to the Cocos Keeling Islands, both with stops at Christmas Island.

It was the Wagner twins suggestion that we base all aircraft in Broome, and not start flights from Darwin, until 3 months later, so as not to over spend too quickly” Sarina stated, “I agree with that suggestion, and I would like to add, that the two aircraft flights from Broome, be via Kununurra, in the top of Western Australia, and that the flights be just those destinations, with linking flights to the Indian Ocean Territories, using the other 4 aircraft” I said.

“Very good sir, I will do that. So far, I have been able to re-employ the aircraft engineers and ground crew that we had before, and they will be joining us in Broome, before the end of the month, in time for the arrival of all 6 aircraft. I have also secured, long term leases, on a small apartment block, to accommodate all IOA ground and flight crew, here in Broome” Sarina said.

At the end of our meeting, satisfied that everything was on track to restart the flight to the Indian Ocean Territories, I headed back to the accommodation, and started up my laptop computer, to send an email. “To the Administrator of Indian Ocean Territories of Australia and Shire Councils of Christmas, Cocos Keeling and Chagos Islands.

Sir/Ma’am, I am emailing you today, to inform you that I will be restarting the flights to all three Indian Ocean island territories of Australia, departing from Broome, and commencing at the start of next month, to improve tourism back to the region.

Furthermore, I have a gift of $500,000 for each island region, to help pay for infrastructure improvements to the islands, to make them more appealing to the expected increase of tourists to your regions. I hope that this meets your approval, and I look forward to hearing from you all regarding this matter. Kind Regards, Commander Lewis Shaw VC, SC, DSC.”

Once I had sent the email, I retrieved my phone and made a call to Kylie. “Hello Lewis, how are things going, I believe you are back on the mainland” Kylie said when she answered the call, “Yes I am back on the mainland, I’m in Broome now, having spent a few days in Kalbarri” I replied. “Oh good, it is good to hear that you are keeping busy” Kylie said.

“Ky, I thought I asked you to tell the GG that I would not accept back the knighthood and life peerage, after what they did to me” I said in an annoyed tone. “I did, by Her Excellency, flat out refused to accept that, and reinstated them to you anyway” Kylie replied.

“Very well, I will accept the knighthood, but not the life peerage, you can tell her that as a counter demand, and that is final, I will be notifying the Rottnest Island Board and the Western Australian Government, of that decision, so they Rottnest Island Board to decide on what to do with the house” I responded.

“Ok, I will pass that on, but she will not be very happy about it, she literally chewed my ear off last time I spoke to her by telephone, and I know that the IOTA Administrator position is vacant, and she may be thinking about asking you to take it on” Kylie said, which made me chuckle, before I frowned about the last part of what she just said.

“Well you can tell her Excellency that I will refuse to accept that position ever again, and that she can throw me in jail if she likes, but I will not do that job again” I said sourly, “Ok, I hear you and I will pass that information onto her, but she won’t be very happy about it” Kylie responded.

“Well that is tough cookies, that is that last time I wish to discuss that matter” I said, “Ok my friend, please don’t shoot the messenger, I must go, I have just been paged, take soon, bye” Kylie said, and she ended the call.