Ocean Research - 5. IOR Chapter 5

“Joshua and I did it when we thought the cyclone were going to hit us, we only completed half of the main shed roof, when the threat was downgraded, so we didn’t finish it,” I replied smiling. “Awesome idea, I will have to remember that for home, have a good time, and see you when you get back,” Flynn said, as I climbed into my vehicle.

“Take care bro, and see you soon,” I replied, and soon I was on my way back to Warambie, where Mum drove me to the airfield so that my vehicle will remain safe at the homestead. When the plane landed at the airfield, I saw that it was a twin-prop, Beechcraft King Air, and as it came to a stop, Mum drove towards it, stopping near the back tail, just as the side door opened.

I said goodbye to Mum, kissing her on the cheek, before climbing out of my vehicle and heading for the plane, which I saw has 6 passenger seats, when I climbed inside. “Take a seat and strap in please Mr Ashburton, the trip will take 1 ½ hours, so just relax and enjoy the flight,” the pilot said to me before securing the door and heading for the cockpit.

The flight was uneventful, and a taxi was waiting to take me from the airport to town which is a fifteen-minute drive away, and I was delivered to the marina, where there are a number of yachts, but there was only one monstrous ship in the group, which I expect to be Joshua’s ship, with the transom reading – MV Researcher.

“Welcome to Kalbarri, come on board, we are ready to be on our way,” Joshua called out from high up, where I was surprised to see a small helicopter parked on the deck. As I approached the back of the ship and stepped onto the dive platform, a crew member in uniform smiled.

“Welcome onboard Mr Ashburton, I am Natalie the ships chief steward, please follow me, and I will take you to Mr Alliston,” the lady said to me, as I kept hold of my luggage, and followed her onboard, and up some stairs, to where the spa pool and outdoor dining is located.

“This is the main deck, we have a helicopter pilot and two Parks & Wildlife officers also with us,” Natalie said to me, as we entered a large saloon lounge, then a passageway, before going ups some spiral stairs to the next deck, where we went back to another lounge area, where Joshua was seated with three other people.

“Here he is, welcome onboard my research ship, Kipling Ashburton, please meet the two Parks & Wildlife Officers – Marine branch, Karen and Nicholas, and charter chopper pilot Dave, who will assist us with a survey of the damage of all the island in the Abrolhos group,” Jacob said making the introductions, as I felt the ship's engines start-up and we were soon on our way.

“It is about 42 nautical miles to the northern end of the group, so we should be there in about 3 and a half hours’ time, so we may as well just relax and enjoy the ride. The Captain informed me that we may come across a bit of rough weather the further we go out, but once inside the reefs, it should be dead calm,” Joshua said as Natalie arrived.

“Would anyone like some drinks?” she asked us, and we all ordered orange juice. “My chopper only carries three passengers, so we will have to make two trips when you need to be on the islands,” the pilot informed us, “That will be fine, for today, we may just survey the northern islands, including the fishing settlements on Beacon, Little Penguin and Penguin Islands for today, and check out the Wallabi Islands tomorrow,” Karen announced.

“How many shacks are there on the settlements?” I asked, “In the Wallabi Group, North Island has 70 huts, plus one jetty, Beacon had 12 and three jetties, Little Penguin had 13 plus a community centre, and 7 jetties, while Penguin had 47, a community centre and 12 jetties,” Nicholas responded, “162 huts in total, with most of the population being on Penguin Island,” Karen added.

In the Easter group of islands, Rat has 59 huts, a community centre and 15 jetties, Little Busby has two huts and one jetty, Little Rat has 35 huts and 12 jetties, Roma has 8 huts and 4 jetties, making a total of 104 huts and 32 jetties, and all in total there are 266 huts,” Nicholas said.

“Well, that is a lot more than I expected for such a small area, what happens with the rock lobster season if there are no huts on the islands?” I asked, “We will have to assess the damage and clean up the mess before we can make any decisions in regards to that, and we have till early March before the season begins,” Nicholas said.

As this was being said, I was thinking of ideas for alternative accommodation, which Joshua noticed. “I think my friend here has some ideas on the accommodation situation, by the looks of his expression,” Joshua said, and I blushed a little at this.

“I do, but I need to have a look of these islands, to get an idea of the size of them,” I responded, and Nicholas opened his briefcase and retrieved a large map, that opened up to be an enormous detailed topographical map of the island, which clearly showed the buildings on the three islands mentioned.

I spent a few minutes scanning the map before I spoke, “If we can get ministerial approval, I would like to recommend that we have the rock lobster fishermen based on one island, but one a little bigger than the islands currently used, maybe this one here,” I said pointing to a long narrow island in the Easter Group.

“This could give the fishermen plenty of space between cabins, and there is a sheltered bay on the western side, which can be reached from the north end of the island,” I said, and I waited until the others had looked at the area that I had suggested.

“What would you suggest for replacement accommodation, Mr Ashburton?” Karen asked me, “Call me Kip please, and I would suggest what is trending a lot on the mainland, they are very tough, and can withstand all kinds of weather, and climates,” I began.

“I like what you are thinking my friend, and if I am guessing correctly, you are suggesting 40-foot converted shipping containers,” Joshua said, and I nodded my head yes. “I would also recommend having a proper desalination plant installed, with poly tanks to store the fresh water, solar power panels on every container, and waste storage tanks, to store all waste products, to protect the reef system,” I suggested.

“With them being metal, don’t you think that the containers will get too hot in the summer months?” Karen asked, “Not if they are insulated properly, and we can have two containers per boat, with one container consisting of two bedrooms and a bathroom with compact laundry, while the other has a kitchen diner and lounge area, and at the kitchen end, will be the power room for the solar power.

I recommend that you reduce the number of rock lobster fishermen who can camp here, to reduce the environmental stress of the islands, and have a small admin team on the islands during the lobster season and during parts of the off-season, to monitor fishing in the area,” I said.

“I would listen to his recommendations, that was his specialty when studying at university,” Joshua said to the two Parks and Wildlife officers. “We will take it under advisement, and in regards to the alternative accommodation, I agree with you that the containers would be a great way to replace the huts, and keep every building the same, I also agree with you about using Suomi Island as a replacement location for the settlement, especially with the safe anchorage area,” Nicholas said in reply.

“I would like to add that we own a 24 - flat barge, that would be useful for removing any remains of the settlements, which is currently in Port Hedland, but we can have it sent down right away,” Joshua announced, which caught me by surprise a little. “I would like to set up a workroom, for this project. Josh, can you show me where it can be, so I can get started setting up,” I said.

“Sure, not a problem, maybe I should give you a full tour of the ship too,” Joshua replied, and picking up the map and carefully folding it, I followed Josh out of the room, and along the passageway for a short distance. This is a staff office that will be ideal as your space, since you will be managing most of the projects, and the two large boat lockers have been converted into Research workrooms, which are the two doors we just passed,” Joshua informed me, as I sat down at the deck.

I found the room to be fairly narrow, with a long work desk, with no window, and on the desk, there was a desktop computer, a printer/scanner, plenty of shelving, a telephone and a radio. I sat down on one of two seats in the room and started up the computer, with the screen displaying a message, which made me laugh.

“Welcome Dr K.F Ashburton” the screen read and I hit the enter button to show what programmes were installed, and I was pleased to see that it was well stocked with all the necessary programmes that I need. “I thought I might still find you in here,” Joshua said when he walked back in smiling.

“This looks great mate, I look forward too many hours in here and next door,” I replied, as Joshua sat down. “While we at sea, let’s get started on some of your ideas, so we have something to present to the parks and wildlife officers when we get there,” Joshua suggested. The sound of the radio made me jump, after two hours in the office.

“Captain to Mr Alliston, over,” the voice said over the radio, and Jacob picked up the mic to reply, “Receiving you Captain, I am in the research office, over” he replied. “Just letting you know we are about to enter into some rough weather, over,” the captain said, “Thanks for the warning, Alliston out,” Joshua said before replacing the microphone to its place.

After we had done some research on shipping containers, we had come up with a recommended plan for accommodation for the fishermen, consisting of two twenty-foot containers and one ten-foot container, which joined together would create a small courtyard in between the two larger containers.

The ten-foot container between them, would be the laundry, bathroom, power room, and storeroom, while one of the large containers will have a kitchen diner, and a lounge room, while the last large container will have two good-sized bedrooms, and a domed shape cover over them will provide shaded shelter over all three containers and the small courtyard space.

We had scanned the map of Suomi Island, and printed it out, to assist us with planning a layout of the fishing village on the island. Near the north end of the island, where there is a large basin suitable for an anchorage, we proposed having the fish storage facility, a floating main jetty and an administration area at that location.

The floating main jetty would be 250 metres down from the northern tip of the island, and going out 220 metres to just beyond the edge of the basin, for safe unloading of the fishing boats, and having a jetty run along the edge of the basin in a south-westerly direction, for 600 metres, to provide safe mooring space for a total of 92 fishing boats, which is the maximum number of container homes I would recommend.

At 3.2 kilometres long and on average 50 to 70 metres wide, we suggested placing a community centre, that includes an indoor recreation space and two meeting rooms plus an outdoor recreation space, be built near the main jetty, along with the fish storage facility and admin centre.

We also suggested that each accommodation unit be spaced out 25 metres apart, with one access track running the full length of the island, and that licenced quad bikes be the only form of transport on the island, plus a second community space, that consists of a school supply store, and post office, be located in a wide section of the island, near the centre of the island, close to a small internal lake.

We also recommended that Campbell Island, which is just to the north, would be suitable for the location of a 500-metre long emergency airstrip, and the suitable location for a research station.

After coping with the rough weather for half an hour, we decided to have a break from the work, and head upstairs to relax for a while. I decided to go and settle into my cabin. Can you show me where I am sleeping so I can get settled in please?” I asked Joshua, “Sure mate, I guess we forgot to do that didn’t we, would you like a crew cabin close to here, like on this deck, or a more comfortable cabin further up, like on the bridge deck?” Josh asked me.

“I think closer to here would be best, and a smaller number of stairs too, so just forward of here I guess,” I replied, and Josh laughed at my reply, before leading the way down the hallway.

“This is your cabin mate, it is a twin cabin, just for your use, and there is a smaller cabin opposite, which I have decided to keep aside for family members, like your brother for instance,” Joshua said and I nodded my head in understanding.

The cabin has a two king single beds bed with a walk-in wardrobe and a good size bathroom, four-seater lounge and a large desk, which I thought are a little bit too comfortable to my liking. “Don’t complain Mr, it is your assigned cabin, so get used to it,” Joshua said, as I placed my luggage on the floor, just inside the door, before following Joshua around the corner and up the spiral stairs.

“Apart from your office, we have the decompression chamber and scuba locker, and storage space for two 6-seater rib boats. We also have eight kayaks, two sea-bobs and 4 surfboards, plus a water slide, which can be set up on the sundeck,” Joshua informed me, “Wow that must be some side then, I might check that out some time, now you mentioned before that you have six permanent crew and we can get by with just 12 casual crew,” I queried.

“That’s right, at the moment, we have Captain James, 1^st Officer Adam, Chief Engineer Patricia, Chief Steward Natalie, who you have already met, Bosun Luke and Chef Andrea, and once we are anchored, I will arrange for a meeting with them all,” Joshua said to me, as we entered a passageway, that was a Y shape, and we took the door to the right.

“Holy smokes, is this one of the guest suites?” I said surprised as we walked into pure luxury. “Nope, this is my suite, pretty outrageous eh!” Joshua replied, “that is an understatement,” I said.

“In the passageway there are two doors, to the other two cabins on this deck, I was hoping that you would take one of them, but that is ok, I know you are not used to such extravagance, but that is fine, and you are welcome to come here any time to talk to me,” Joshua said, as he led me out of the suite and up the stairs once more, to the next deck, and in the short hallway, we entered an office before exiting out onto a narrow passage, that led to a good-sized deck.

“This is the best place on the ship, my own private deck,” Joshua said when we arrived. “Wow, what a view,” I said stunned at seeing absolutely nothing but open oceans with plenty of swells, and looking around the back of the deck, there is a bar and a small lounge area. “We can get to the top deck from here, which has a better view,” Joshua explained as headed up the steps to find a place with even more amazing views.

“I think it might take me a day or two to remember where everything is, especially when it has so much more than I expected,” I commented, “Yes, I guess it will, and it is one special ship eh!” Joshua replied smiling.