All Alone - 10. Alo Chapter 10

Once he has gone, I need you to go down to Carnarvon, and see the accountant, and review those development plans, I will leave it up to you on what the best options are for improvements, stay a couple of days so you can get things started on planning for replacement buildings, and get another sat phone, as we will need it for a while” Jem said to me, “Ok boss that’s not a problem. This might be a good chance to get some stronger, good quality guest accommodation established if the insurance pay-out is reasonable. Staff accommodation we can worry about later down the track” I replied.

“Ok, I will leave it up to you” Jem replied, just as his sat phone began to ring, and he climbed out from under the loader. “Hello, Jeremy speaking” he said into the phone as I headed out of the maintenance area of the shed, and climbed into the buggy, grabbing a pair of work gloves from the workshop. I was about to start up the buggy, when I saw Jem approaching.

That was the insurance assessor, he is at Minilya roadhouse, on his was out here, can you jump into my vehicle and go and unlock the front gate so he can get in, close but don’t lock the gate when he comes through, we will get him to lock the gate when he leaves” Jem said to me, “Ok, is it ok, for Angus to come with me in your vehicle?” I asked, “yes that is fine, there is a set of gate keys attached to the ignition keys, including for the new padlock” Jem replied.

Twenty-five minutes later I arrived at the front gate, and the insurance guy was there waiting, so I unlocked and opened the gate for him, and closed it behind after he drove in, leaving the padlock open. “Follow me in, and don’t go to fast as the road is still a bit slippery from all the rain” I said to the insurance guy, as I made my way to Jem’s vehicle.

Back at the homestead paddock, I lead the insurance guy directly up to the two houses next to Jem and Angela’s house, where were still scattered all over the place, and both bosses were there starting to clear it all up, with the help of the front-end loader. “Two houses, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and three living areas, with wrap around veranda’s, used for guest accommodation, built to cyclone code two years ago, after the previous cyclone, I explained, having the information in a folder of all the station’s buildings, that Jem had left in the car for me.

Next, we travelled in Jem’s car south, along the station track, to check the fences that had been flattened, and had not been repaired yet, and I once again gave the insurance guy the information about how much fencing had been destroyed or damaged. Back at the homestead paddock, after some morning tea in the visitor’s centre, we looked at the damage in the centre, including the two external and one internal glass windows.

From there we went and looked at the shearing shed, and its roof, that was some three hundred metres away, before going to the site of the old shearing shed, backpacker’s accommodation, staff quarters, and the guest cottage, all which are now just heaped piles of rubbish. We inspected the old homestead, which we used for group guest accommodation, the burnt down power generator shed, what is left of the wind turbine and tower, plus the solar power panels, and the two satellite communications dishes, which we located down in another paddock.

In all, the insurance assessor estimated that there was approximately $1.9 million of damage, a lot more than I expected, he assured me that he would talk with his manager and get back to us on the final pay-out for the claim. As he was leaving, I asked him to close the gate behind him and lock the padlock onto the chain, as the station was still closed to visitors, which he agreed to do, as he waved goodbye.

I reported back to Jem and Angela on what the insurance assessor had said, before I headed back to the visitor centre to prepare for a few days in Carnarvon. The lads had arrived for lunch, as I was finishing up packing, and I let them know that I was heading to Carnarvon for business for a few days. Matt mentioned that a car was going way to fast past them as it was heading towards the main gate, when they had just finished checking the water point near the driveway.

“I will go to the insurance office and have a few words with them while I am in town” I said to Matt, “We saw the padlock unlocked and left it like that, thinking you had a visitor come in, so he should have been fine to get out of the property” Greg added. Once I had the luggage and Angus’s supplies loaded up, I picked up Angus and put him into my vehicle, before attaching the borrowed trailer, and setting off towards the front gate.

When I arrived there, I was not impressed, when I saw it wide open, and seeing only the set of car prints from one vehicle, I was happy that no one else had entered the property, as I closed and locked the gate, and turned onto the sealed road heading south for Carnarvon, with my first stop to be the insurance company.

Nearly three hours later, I finally arrive in Carnarvon, and I pulled into the carpark of the insurance company, and I went inside, and asked the receptionist, to speak to the manager of the business. A few minutes later, I was guided into a small meeting room, and another ten minutes later the manager finally arrived, “Sorry to keep you waiting, how may I help you” the lady said as she closed the door and sat down.

“Firstly, I do not appreciate having to be made to wait for 15 minutes or more, as I am a very busy person, and secondly, I am a senior staff member of Coral Coast Station, and we had a visit from one of your staff members earlier today” I started, “Oh yes, that would have been Mike, let me go and get him” the lady said.

“No, this is nothing to do with the claim, this is an official complaint, your staff member was witnessed by two of our station workers, driving at an unsafe speed on a slippery road, which he did when advised to drive slowly because of the dangerous conditions. He also left the property with the main gate left wide open, when he was asked to close and lock the gate on his departure, because the station is closed to all visitors.

Your staff members behaviour on these two events, are reckless and dangerous, and he is no longer welcome to enter the station again. Any business regarding the station’s claim are to be handled by another staff member, and not Mike” I said to the manager.

“Oh, I see, well I do apologise for my staff members behaviour, I will speak to him about it, in regards to the claim, he has been assigned this case, so he will continue to handle it” the manager replied, “In that case he can continue dealing the claim from a distance, as he will not be permitted to enter the property again, good day to you” I snapped and I stood up and left the building.

I went and booked into the motel that Angela had organised for me, and I gave Angus some food and water, and I turned on the television, where the late afternoon news was on. “The tropical cyclone that devastated a station in the Gascoyne, and eventually crossed the coast a second time, south of Carnarvon, has been downgraded to category one, as it continues to travel south approximately 75 kilometres from the coastline, south-east of Kalbarri”.

The phone in the room rang, which made me jump a little, and Angus growled as he jumped up onto the bed, and I patted him softly to calm him down, as I answered the phone. “Hi mate, I hear that you had a chat with the manager of the insurance company” I heard Jem say, “Yes, I’m sorry, I guess I went overboard a little” I replied.

“No, don’t be sorry, the lads told me about the assessor speeding down the driveway, and when the manager rang me to complain about you abusing her for the behaviour of one of her staff members. I asked her what you had said about her staff member, and she replied by saying it was something silly about speeding, and leaving some gate open, and he was trying to ban him from entering the station.

I informed her, that my senior staff member had every right to complain to her about her staff members behaviour, that it was reckless and dangerous to drive at high speeds on a slippery gravel road, and in regards to the gate, it is to remain closed and locked until we are fully operational.

I told her that I fully support my senior staff member, and that the ban from entering the property is in force and is extended to all members of the insurance company, and that if they delay the claim, that I would deal with it at head office in Perth, and I ended the call at that point” Jem informed me.

“Wow, thanks for that, I thought maybe I had stepped a little bit over the line in regards to my authority” I replied, and I heard Jem chuckle, “Not at all my lad, not at all, now I will let you relax, and we will see you in a few days’ time” Jem said and he ended the call. Once the news was over, I took Angus for a long walk, before returning him to the room, and I went to the restaurant to have some dinner.

The next morning, after breakfast, Angus and I walked into the centre of town, to attend the meeting with the accountants of the station. “Good morning Lloyd, it is good to see you again, and who is this?” the accountant said as I entered the office, “This is Angus, my mate. Angus, this is Mr Hutchinson, be nice to him ok” I replied, and Angus stepped forward, wagging his tail, yapped once then sat down and held up his paw”

The accountant laughed, before bending down to shake his paw, “such a well-behaved young man, hello Angus” the accountant said, as he led us into his office. “I presume Jeremy has informed you, of the amount of damage that we received from the cyclone” I said to start the discussions, “Yes, he has, and from what he told me, and what I saw on the news, you are very lucky to have survived, do you have an estimate on the cost the claim?’ the accountant asked me.

“Yes, he said about $1.9 million in total, but I have had an issue with the insurance company regarding their behaviour, so I am not sure if that will happen or not” I replied.

“They will have to pay up, if the claim is valid, and I don’t see any way of them denying the claim, from what we have seen on the news” the accountant said. “Mr Hutchinson, I think the station has a huge opportunity to benefit from this devastation, with the money from the claim, we could rebuild guest cabins, that are cyclone proof, like the two main buildings that survived this time, and even I am prepared to put own money into the project, but at the moment only you know of this offer.

I have inherited a fair amount money and properties in the past few months, and I am prepared to put $ 3.25 million, into this project, lets’say as a silent project partner” I stated. “Well that is something that I had not expected, I am not sure we could do that without Jeremy and Angela knowing” the accountant stated. “Ok, so without breaking any client privilege or anything like that, is there is any loans that they have, which is within that price range?” I asked, and Mr Hutchinson chuckled.

“Now that is a little sneaky, but I can see where you are getting at, and that maybe a way to get around the client privilege matter, so yes if you pay off their large bank loan, which funny enough is $3.2 million, then all the repayments, will go to you, which I presume is what you want” Mr Hutchinson said. “Yes, that is perfect, and takeaway any interest repayments, as I am not interested in any profit from the loan” I stated.

“Well that is very unusual, and you are being very generous, but I am sure we can sort it out that way, I will just have to let them know that I have found a loan company that has a better repayment interest rate, and hopefully they will trust us and won’t ask which company, and that loan is approximately ½ of the value of the station” Mr Hutchinson said. “Great, I will get you a bank cheque later today, for the amount, that I offered.

Now back to changes to improvements, as you know, the visitor centre and the bosses house, are both made of rammed earth and concrete, and survived the category five cyclone that we had the other day, I would like to suggest that some rammed earth and concrete cottages be built 4 kilometres north of the main homestead paddock, there is a spot that I think would be perfect for the cottages.

The area is just 250 metres off the main station access track, and 350 metres from the beach, with unlimited view of the Indian Ocean, and it is close enough to connect the buildings to the main desalination water system for fresh water, solar panels on the roofs, can provide all the power they need, and we can use biodegradable sewerage systems to waste treatment, I think we could build six cottages at that location, at 150 metres apart, maybe 4 - one bedroom cottages and 2 – two bedroom cottages” I suggested.

“That sounds good, so do you think it would be best to keep guests away from the homestead area?” Mr Hutchinson asked, “Yes I do, and with the backpacker’s accommodation, I think that if we build a rammed-earth backpacker, 4 kilometres south of the homestead, just 100 metres off the access track, and 200 metres from the beach.

We will do the same as the cottages, with a total of 16 ocean view twin rooms, and 4 quad bed rooms at each end, with a kitchen and dining area in the centre, with an ocean view balcony coming off the dining room.

Ten metres further back, there will be an ablution block, providing a laundry, 4 male and 4 female individual bathrooms, this building will provide a partial enclosed area from the wind, as an outdoor recreation area” I suggested, “That sounds fantastic, and what about the camping areas?” Mr Hutchinson asked.

“Well I think the previous plans sound fairly good, a large gazebo BBQ picnic area, with gas BBQ’s, a kitchen sink and benches, solar panels to provide lighting, and a water tank to provide water for the sink for the visiting guests, and for the seasonal caretakers, we could have a concrete slab for their caravans, and a smaller gazebo with solar panels for lighting, for extra shelter, a bio sewerage tank and a water tank for their own use” I replied.