Simba - 14. Simba Ch 14

“We went for a walk, and had a good look around the place, that is when I remembered about the late lectures, so we headed home to pick up Aaron’s passport for ID, and we caught a taxi here,” I replied. “I see, well while you are both here, I have spoken to our neighbours, and they are happy for us to have a 21^st birthday party at lunchtime Saturday week, and most of them accepted the invitation to attend, as have the Harding and Hammond families.

I have organised for the temporary fencing to arrive on Wednesday next week, so I will leave it up to you boys to get it all set up before the party starts, and the window shutters will be installed on Saturday this week and Monday next week,” Uncle Nat said.

“Ah now I get it,” I said when I suddenly realised what Aaron was doing earlier, and I turned to face Aaron, “You were checking the river to see if it is possible to have canal boats?” I asked my cousin who smiled and nodded his head yes. “I had an awesome time on the wide berth canal boat in the UK, and so when I saw the storm drain, which Jacob has corrected me in saying it is the Sturt River. I went back to have a closer look at it and paced out the width of it at the bottom and the top,” Aaron explained to Uncle Nat.

“Well, that is definitely something new, I wonder if anyone else had every thought of it. The only problem I see with your idea is that there are a lot of road bridges, and most of them will be too low to get a canal boat under them,” Uncle Nat said.

“Not if we use just the section of the river that has concrete lining, all we have to do is install a double lock before and after each bridge, and make it deeper in that section, so that the canal boat will just float underneath it. Once clear, and in the second lock, then you just close the gates and raise the water level in the lock and out the boat goes,” Aaron said.

“You know, that is so simple, I am surprised that no one has ever though of that before,” I said, “I will have to agree with you on that nephew, it is simple and yet it is brilliant. I wonder how far the concrete lining goes up the river.” Uncle Nat asked, “Can I use the spare computer to look it up please?” I asked, and Uncle Nat said to go ahead, as he was interested to know also.

A few minutes later, “It stops having concrete lining at the Sturt Road Bridge, just before the wetlands, about two-kilometres from here, and just before the M2 Motorway,” I replied. “What is the draft of the canal boat that you were on?” Uncle Nat asked, “Just over one-metre and it was a wide beam boat, so it was just over 3.6 metres wide, and it was 18.8 metres long,” I replied.

“Wow, that is quite a big canal boat, that would be worth looking into if we can get the approvals from the local councils and state government. “What I suggest you do, is getting a good road map, and goes and invest in a couple of good bicycles and follow the river, from where you think would be the best place to start from. Which you have already determined is near the Sturt Road bridge, and follow it all the way down to somewhere near to the last bridge that crosses over before reaching the Gulf,” Uncle Nat said.

“Thanks for that Uncle, we will get right onto the planning of that, as soon as we have had a good look at the former scout hall and sheds, thanks for your time, we better let you get back to work,” I said and we were soon out of the building. I pulled out my phone and called for another cab, to take us into the city, hoping that it is not the same driver that we had before, and once I had made the call, I began to search for a good bike store.

Once the taxi arrived, we climbed in, and asked to be taken to the bike store located on James Congdon Drive at Mile End South, which is on the west side of the city, and from there it is just 150 metres to Sir Donald Bradman Drive, which will take us to where the river meets the Gulf.

“Aaron had insisted on playing for the bikes and helmets, and I made a mental note to ask him where he got the money from, but I wanted to concentrate on this bike trip first. “Aaron had bought two wide wheeled Mountain bikes, which can go in any sort of terrain, and the tyres have thorn proof tubes in them.

The store also has a selection of hiking and biking trails around the Adelaide region, so we bout a couple of those too. About twenty minutes after leaving the bike store, we reached the bridge just before the beach, and we saw on the map that a cycle way runs along the south side of the riverbank, so we turned onto it, and started heading upstream.

Shortly after going under the Tapleys Hill Bridge, we came to a small park, which we decided would be a good spot to end the canal cruises, even if it does not have concrete lining at the moment. Using an app on my phone, I set the timer, also the distance tracker, so we can work out how far we have travelled and how long it has taken us.

In just 45 minutes, we rode from the Tapleys Hill Bridge, down to the Marion Road Bridge, which was a distance of just 7.5 kilometres with a total of nine road bridges, and we had stopped at each bridge to have a good look at it before continuing on with the trip.

“Right, do you recall how long it took us to get through each lock on our canal trip?” I asked Aaron, “On average it was about twenty minutes, which means on top of the travelling time, which was something like 3 miles an hour, it will take an additional three hours to pass through all of the locks needed to pass under each of these nine bridges,” Aaron replied.

“So, three miles an hour is just about 5 kilometres per hour, which would make the journey 1. 5 hours long and with the lock that makes the whole trip 4.5 hours long, which is not really that long, is it,” I said. “Do you have any other rivers in the area that maybe a bit longer?” Aaron asked.

“Well there is the Torres River a little north of the city, do you want to check that out tomorrow, and go and check out our new research base now?” I asked Aaron, “Sure, that sounds ok, how far is it to Black Road?” Aaron replied, “I would guess about the same distance again, so about seven kilometres,” I responded.

Half an hour later, we arrived back at Black Road and we headed straight to the buildings. “About the bikes, has Uncle Nat made money available to your from the trust that your Dad set up?” I asked as we pulled up outside the main building.

“Yes, he said that I had over $900 thousand in the account, plus I am getting monthly house rentals paid into the account, so has given me $2 thousand for spending, until my birthday, then he and I are going to go to a financial planner, and invest the money, so I don’t spend it all at once,” Aaron replied.

“Well, I didn’t expect it to be that much, I guess you won’t have to worry about being homeless ever again,” I said to my cousin, “Yes, and me paying for the bike is sort of a small thankyou for rescuing me from an uncertain future,” Aaron said.

Entering from the back door, we were in a small foyer area, with a double door that is open on the left, which leads into a large parade hall. When we entered, we passed two sets of toilets, with separate showers, and on the right there is a reception window, and a passage that leads to the other side of the building. We followed it around, and it goes along the front of the building, and around to the western end, where we found a kitchen & lounge, plus a cleaners store.

About half way along that hallway was a door that leads into the administration area, which has the reception office at the front, with two small storerooms, plus two offices, and a conference room at the back. Every room was bare and empty, so it is a little difficult to imagine what it will be as if once we have some furniture and supplies installed.

Now, all we have in the way of equipment is our three personal laptop computers, and outdoor, two motion sensor cameras, that we bought second hand off the science department of the university. As they had upgraded their surveillance equipment shortly before we did our first trip out to Taylor Island, and our copies of the Taylor Island Flora and Fauna Report that we put together.

“So how are you going to set up this new research facility?” Aaron asked me, as we walked through the administration area again. I think we will make the conference room, into our research lab, I will have one of the offices, while Will and Chris will have the reception office for their use, and the last office will be used as a Fauna treatment room for Chris to use when he becomes a Vet.

The main hall, I am not entirely sure what to do with all of that space, I guess once Chris and Will have had a good look around, we will discuss it and come up with some ideas. If you join us too, then we will have to see what you can do to contribute to the organisation,” I replied, as we headed outside to check out the three sheds, which were also empty, and quite spacious.

“I guess you could use this space for wildlife rescue recovery area, but with that public access track behind it, there may be a bit of a problem with vandalism, so I would recommend building a high fence from each end of the sheds to the back of the main building as a secure yard area,” Aaron suggested.

“There, you are contributing already, well done cousin,” I said to Aaron smiling, as we closed up the shed and took a closer look at the parade hall, before locking up the building, and we headed back home. It was way past lunchtime by the time we arrived, and forgetting that it was a day that Mrs F was cleaning, we entered to the smells of home cooking and Mrs F was upstairs vacuuming the bedrooms.

“Hey Mrs F, we are back home,” I called out, when the Vac stopped, “Lunch plates in the fridge for you boys,” came the response from upstairs, and we headed to the kitchen, where we found two plates with cling wrap over them, revealing cold meat and salad, and we sat down to eat at the dining table.

“This is strange having cold meat and salad for lunch, usually it would be a cooked meal for lunch, or pie and chips if eating out,” Aaron said to me, and I just smiled. “Your in Australia now mate! You will just have to get used to how things are done down here,” I replied.

“Yea, like those noisy birds that wake me up too early in the mooring,” Aaron grumbled and I laughed, “I think you are referring the laughing sound, those are kookaburras, otherwise called the laughing kookaburra,” I replied, “Hey yeah, they do sound like they are laughing don’t they,” Aaron said in response.

When Will and Chris finally arrived home that evening, we told them of the news about the former scout hall, now being the base for Kuishi Project, and they were keen to go and look at it as soon as possible. Since they both have late morning lectures tomorrow, we agreed to show them the new place straight after breakfast.

“What are we going to do for furniture and stuff for this new place and how big is it?” Will asked, just as Uncle Nat came out of his room. Since Aaron is about to turn twenty one next week, and will have quite a substantial trust account, he and I will be jointly funding for some of your organisation's furniture and supplies, as well as a few improvements that Jacob and Aaron mentioned to me this afternoon,” Uncle Nat announced.

“Sounds good, I can hardly wait till tomorrow morning to check it all out,” Chris said. “Remind me to take a pen and note pad with us tomorrow, so we can jot down some idea’s” I asked, “Sure give me a second to find a marker pen and I will write it on your forehead,” Chris said and he took a few steps away, before I caught on what he meant.

“Hang on a second there, just a verbal reminder will do thankyou,” I said to Chris, with all three lads smiling broadly. “Hey, you are meant to be on my side, being a relative,” I said to Aaron, who shook his head no, “Sorry mate I chose which ever side is the most fun,” Aaron replied.

“By the way, Aaron and Jacob, we are going on a short road trip on Saturday morning, so be ready to go by eight am,” Uncle Nat said to us, “Ok, where are we going?” I responded, “We are going to the farm at Pooni-whatsit,” Aaron said softly to me, and I chuckled at his attempt to remember the place name. “It is pronounced Poonindie,” I said to my cousin, “Well I was sort of close, Poonindie,” Aaron replied, and I nodded my head to indicate that he had it right this time.

The following morning, we set off for the short walk to our new research base at the former scout hall, and when we stepped out onto the road just in front of the property, Chris and Will stopped. "Wow, I like that is in a semi bush surroundings, maybe we could increase the amount of native trees and shrubs around the whole property," Chris commented, before we headed for the back door of the hall.

For the next hour, we looked around the property and discussed what we could do with the inside, and without commenting, Will suggested that one of the office spaces be for a treatment room, and another for my office, since I was the one who came up with the original idea, and that he and Chris could use the reception office as their shared office space.

When it came to deciding what to do with the main parade hall, no one really had any ideas, except for maybe using it for preparation for research expeditions, and for meetings or lectures. Chris and Will liked Aaron's idea of building a secure fenced off area between the sheds and the main building, so it was agreed to go ahead with that.

Two days later, while Chris and Will were sleeping in, Uncle Nat, Aaron and I set off for our day trip to Poonindie, which would include a one-hour flight from Adelaide to Port Lincoln Airport, which is on the southern boundary of the property.

From there the farmer leasing the farms, would collect us from the airport at 10 am, and give us a tour of the three properties. Once in the air, “Hey Uncle, you mentioned before that two of the farms are on the gulf coast, do you know how much frontage it has?” Aaron asked, “About 1.25 kilometres in total, with just a tiny bit on the north side of the river,” Uncle Nat replied.

“Ok, that is a lot more than I expected, what about river frontage how much of the farms run along the river?” Aaron responded, “Well, I believe the south of river farm has 2.4 kilometres of river frontage, but it continues on for 3.15 kilometres on the north side, to just before the township, and the Lincoln Highway, where there is a 1.4 kilometre gap, before the biggest farm starts again and goes for a further 5.1 kilometres upstream,” Uncle Nat replied.

“So if my maths is right the farm has a total of 8.25 kilometres of river frontage, with an additional 1.4 kilometres in the township,” Aaron said to clarify. “Yes, that sounds about right,” Uncle Nat replied, “I think I know where Aaron is going with this, you are thinking about the canal boat idea again, correct?” I said to my cousin, who smiled and nodded his head yes.

“If you are considering the canal project on the farm, you would need local council approval, especially where the river goes under the highway, which is the only bridge that the river crosses under,” Uncle Nat said. “That sounds a heck of a lot less hassle than the other two locations,” Aaron commented.