Unexpected Journey - 9. UJ Chapter 9

By the time we arrived back at Ocean Reef, it was after 9 pm, and there were no crowds around at all, which we were pleased about, and after saying goodnight to our guests and staff, Mum and I headed over to the giant shed so we could have a look inside.

Once Mum had unlocked the passenger door, she turned on some lights and stepped back to let me go inside, where I found a wide and short passageway going down one side of the building, and a short passageway along the front to the left.

I walked down the hallway on the side of the building, that was only about 5 metres long, and I cautiously opened the door, and felt around till I found the light switch. Inside, looking around the corner, on the left, I found a large reception area, with a reception office and a door, and Mum leads the way to the door and keyed in a code, which clicked loudly, indicating the door was unlocked.

I followed her down a passageway, where there was a door into the reception office, with a storeroom directly behind it, followed by a meeting room, a staff lounge, with kitchenette, and two bathrooms. Near the back, there is two large offices and a large conference room on the left and a locked door at the end.

“What’s behind the locked door Mum?” I asked, and she smiled, as we walked up to the door, and Mum keyed in a code, to unlock the door. “Follow me, and we will both see, I have only seen the layout plans, so this will be my first time to see it too,” Mum said, as we entered a short passageway, with both a lift and a spiral staircase leading upwards.

Taking the stairs, we arrived another hallway, changing direction again, and now I was not sure which way we were heading, as we walked down to the end of the hallway, where there was a double glass door on the right, and once again entering a code, we stepped into a large open area, and I could feel a cool breeze.

“Where are we Mum?” I asked, and she flicked on a light switch, that was not for overhead lights, but floor lights that reveal a very large indoor garden, with tall palm trees, ferns, and shrubs, and there were a small waterfall, stream and a pond, with a winding footpath through it all to another door, on the other side.

“The shed is 50 metres long, 20 metres wide and 7 metres high, with the roof being at the same level as the top of the sand dune hill, as I understand it, we are now at the front of the residence, directly behind the shed, and we are 4 metres below the top of the sand dune hill.

The residence consists of two accommodation wings, and a main living area, which we are about to enter” Mum said to me, as she unlocked the door, and pushed the door open, and some lights automatically came on, revealing a very spacious fully furnish lounge room, with a dining room, and a kitchen at the back, which Mum and I checked out thoroughly.

To one side of the lounge area, we discovered behind a half wall, a library, with two walls of bookshelves, full of books, and a study. Following a passageway heading back towards the front of the building, we found two large bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, and a small lounge room between the two bedrooms.

Behind the kitchen, we found a large laundry and linen room, and Mum knocked on another door, before stepping into a small residence, where a lady was seated in the lounge reading a book.

“Hei Ms Madsen on Mr Matias, har du en god kvelds seiling?” she asked, and I looked over to Mum, as I didn’t understand one word of that, “Ja Takk, Hilda. Dette er en fantstik bolig! Hva vi har sett av det sa landt” Mum replied, and I frowned in frustration.

“Matias, this is our housekeeper, Ms Hilda, who had been minding the house, since Uncle Jakob has passed away,” Mum said to me. “I am sorry Mr Matias. I did not know you didn’t understand Norwegian” Ms Hilda said in good English.

“That is fine, and nice to meet you, we will leave you to your book, and see you tomorrow” I replied, as I turned and left the room, feeling like an intruder in this area of the house, and Mum followed, closing the door behind her. “Thanks, Mum, you could have warned me that we had a housekeeper here already” I complained.

“Sorry dear, with everything that has happened today, I totally forgot to mention it” Mum replied, as she led the way to the other side of the lounge area, where another passageway, leads to two more bedrooms with separate bathrooms and a small lounge room.

Having seen the whole house, we headed back to the yacht, as I was getting very tired, and I needed to get some sleep since it has been a very busy day.

“Madsen Sailing Adventures puts a spanner in the works” was the headlines of the statewide newspaper the next morning, which had been delivered to the yacht by Ms Hilda, who was sitting down in the dining mess chatting to Chef Anna when I arrived for breakfast, shortly after 7 am.

“How did this get here so early?” I asked when I spotted the newspaper and read the headlines. “Good morning to you too Mr Matias,” Chef Anna said in reply.

“Oh, sorry, Good morning Ms Hilda and Chef Anna” I responded.

“I have my car parked in the shed, so I slipped out early to go and get a copy from a newsagency that opens at 6 am” Ms Hilda responded to my question, as I picked up the newspaper, and began to read the article.

“During yesterday’s press conference with owners of the Madsen Sailing Adventures, with their magnificent sailing yacht, the Schooner Eldorado in the background, it came to light that the shed and land on the North side of the Ocean Reef Boat harbour, and beside the Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club, is freehold land, that has been owned by the family for over thirty years.

Investigations made by this newspaper, have learnt that this is indeed true, and they also own 24.46 acres of land, running 450 metres long and 220 metres wide, between Boat Harbour Quays Road, and Ocean Reef Road, near the corner of Hodges Drive, of which both would severely reduce the plans for a marina at this location. No one from the City of Joondalup, Landcorp or the WA Planning Department was not available to comment at the time of print.”

Chef Anna handed me a cup of tea, and I stared at the paper, as I thought about that had been revealed in the article, and my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coming onboard. “Good morning” a voice called out, and moments later, Grace appeared, and she too was holding a newspaper.

“Ah, I see you have already seen the article” she commented, as she sat down next to me, and accepted a cup of tea from Chef Anna. “Yes, and now I see what you meant, about revealing too much information,” I said, cursing myself for opening up my big mouth.

Grace chuckled and gave me a small nudge with her shoulder, “Never mind dear, that is what I ham here for, to fix things with the media” Grace said to me, before taking another sip of tea. “Good morning all,” Hugh said as he arrived in the Saloon, and sat down next to his wife, and he too soon had a cup of tea in his hand.

“I had a look at the Plans for the Ocean Reef Marina, which are available online, and I must say we are caught smack bang in the middle of their plans, from what I can work out, the larger back block would hardly be affected, by the plans, while the shed and residence, are right in the middle of the retail, short stay accommodations and main public carpark area” Hugh announced.

“Well in some way, I am glad that the larger block will not be a problem, but I don’t like the sounds of how the shed and residence are in the middle of the planned marina” I commented. “I will speak to some of my colleagues at work, and see what plans we can come up with to stop it from happening” Hugh replied.

“I want to have a look at the main shed, all I have seen so far is the administration area and the residence” I commented, “Ok, lets all go and have a look at it, once you Mum is up and about” Grace responded, “I am up, and good morning all, what brings you all here at this…” Mum said as she entered, and she stopped when she spotted the headlines on the front page of the newspaper.

Mum sat down, and Chef Anna handed her a cup of tea, as she began to read the article. “I suggest we get moving before we start getting the general public starting o to arrive, I have noticed quite a few surfers and a few fishing boats that are out already Hugh commented.

A few moments later, Mum unlocked the pedestrian door, and we all filed in before the door was closed behind us, and we made our way to the door that leads to the main shed, which was also locked, and she switched on the main lights, as she stepped in.

“Holy crap, oops sorry Mum,” I said as we stepped into the huge shed, and I saw a two-level building at the far end, and another two-level building along the front, which had me a little confused. “I thought this was a storage and maintenance hanger for the schooner?” I said to Mum.

“It is dear, but your Great Uncle was clever enough to plan it, so it can be multi-functional, if you look carefully, you will notice double rail tracks set in the concrete floor, with a push of a button, these front buildings, as it is split into two sections, can be rolled to the back of the shed, to make way for the schooner, if it needs to come up to dry dock, or they can be moved to different areas depending on the needs of the buildings.

As you can see at the other end there is a double level building at the other end, that is 6 metres wide and 18 metres long, which is permanently set there.

Behind this building there is another building identical to this moveable one, that is also 40 metres long and 6 metres wide, and joins up with the movable building, to make two large work areas. Together they make up a large marine research facility, which your Great Uncle hoped you would put to good use” Mum announced.

“Well, this is something that I did not expect, I guess I have some serious thinking to do, on what to do with all this space” I commented, and as a group we inspected all of the buildings, which consisted of research offices, meeting rooms and conference rooms on the upper levels, and research labs of various sizes on the lower levels.

Once back on board the Eldorado, the skipper suggested that we do trial runs of the other proposed journey’s, and I liked the idea, but Hugh and Grace said that they would not join them, as they have work commitments to deal with, and that was fine by us, and Mum said that she would like to spend some time settling into the new residence, which I was pleased with.

Once Mum had packed and said goodbye, as did Hugh and Grace, with Curtis wanting to stay on, that left just the crew remaining, and we sat down to discuss plans for the trial runs, with the two and four day cruise to try out, and we were discussing it, when I spotted through the porthole, a group of surfers standing on the beach looking at the yacht, and I smiled.

“I have an idea, be right back,” I said as I stood up and exited the saloon, heading for the main deck, and stepped onto the jetty, and walked halfway along before a group of young men walked closer to the jetty when they saw me. “G’ day, any of you guys have any sailing experience and interested in a few days of sailing, with a small wage included?” I asked the three young men, all who had surfboards under their arms.

“I don’t, but my mate Jack here does, and I wouldn’t mind giving it a go,” one of them said, and one of the young men gave the one who spoke up a light punch on the arm. “Don’t mind them, they are always carrying on, and yeah I don’t have any experience, but I will give it a go too?” the third young man said, and I smiled broadly, glad that this idea was turning out better than I thought.

“Good to hear chaps, my name is...” Yeah, we know who you are, so what is the score then?” one of the young men interrupted, “Shut up Harry, and let Mr Matias speak” the one who received the light punch interjected. “Ok, so you know who I am, how old are you guys?” I said to them.

“I’m, Harrison, this is Straton, and he is Jackson, we are all 17 and go to the local high school, and have been mates since we first started surfing” came the reply, “Right guys, it is 0820 hours, that is twenty past eight for you landlubbers. You have till noon to get home, get parental permission, get packed, and be back here, ready for a four-day cruise up the coast, and for your time you will get $50 a day each” I said to the three lads.

“Yes sir” the trio chorused, and they took off up the footpath to the top carpark, and I heard a vehicle race off soon after, as I returned to the yacht, where the skipper, Curtis and Anna were watching from the main deck. “We now have three temporary crew, to assist us with this trip,” I said to them as I reboarded the yacht.

“Bribed them more like it” Curtis commented softly, which I heard clearly, and I chuckled at him.