New Frontier - 19. NF Chap 19

Glad to hear that all of my crew were now all safely on the Duchess, which is currently located in the Dover River on Cape Barren Island, my second phone call to Simon, was to give the order to set sail after dark for Bluff Harbour in Southern New Zealand, where I would meet them.

I knew that it would take them approximately four days to get to Bluff, and in that time I planned to do a heck of a lot of travelling, to make it as hard as possible for anyone to track me down. Firstly I booked a flight from Launceston to Alice Springs, via Melbourne and Adelaide, and there I stayed in a hotel under a false name for twelve hours to catch up on some sleep.

From there I hitch hiked with a truck all the way to Darwin, which took 16 long hours to complete, which included two stops along the way. Staying in a low cost motel under a false name, I stayed for six hours, which I spent some of that time doing my laundry, as I just have three sets of clothes with me, before going to the airport to catch a flight to Brisbane.

From Brisbane I flew to Fiji, then on to Tonga, and onto Auckland New Zealand, with those three flights taking me a full day to complete, and I now only had a day and a half left to get to Bluff. I caught a bus from Auckland all the way to Wellington, using another false name, and again under a false name, I caught the ferry over to the South Island.

From there I boarded the train bound for Christchurch, then a bus from there to Invercargill. I was very tired and exhausted by the time I arrived at my destination, and I had made sure to check all the faces that were on each stage of the trip to make sure no one was following me.

Catching a taxi cab to Bluff, which is 28 kilometres to the south of Invercargill, I looked around checking the marina to see if I could see the Duchess, and not seeing it there I continued on to Stirling Point, where I would wait and watch for the arrival of the yacht. After a 4 hour wait, and with it getting dark, I crossed over the road, where there is a boutique hotel and I was able to check in, where I had a nice hot shower, a great meal and I went to bed, as I was feeling so tired.

The next morning, I woke up feeling a bit more relaxed, and after breakfast, I headed back into town to the marina, to see if the Duchess had arrived overnight, but there was still no sign of her, which started to get me worried. I decided to give the Satellite phone on the yacht a call, to see where they are.

“Good morning boss, we were just about to call you, we are currently at Goose Cove on Stewart Island, we arrived well after dark last night,” Simon said to me. “Well I am glad that you arrived safely, I arrived early afternoon yesterday, and spent a few hours sitting at the point waiting to see you come in, but you were a no show,” I replied.

“Yeah, sorry about that boss, we thought it best to stay a little remote, so as to not attract any attention,” Simon said to me. “That is fine, how was the crossing over?” I asked, “Rough as guts, we had a fairly tough time of it, but we are all safe and well,” Simon replied.

“Have you checked in with customs yet?” I asked, “No, we were waiting for you to arrive with Jake’s new passport,” Simon replied. “Oh, ok well it should have arrived down here via the Australian Consulate, I will go there now and check to see if it has arrived and get back to you, in the mean time stay out of sight, and wait for my return,” I instructed, “Ok Boss, see ya,” Simon replied before he ended the call.

After a rather long phone call to the Australian High Commission in Auckland, I managed to arrange for Jake’s passport to be air expressed to Invercargill, where I would collect it at the main post office tomorrow morning. Once that was done I headed back to the hotel that I stayed at last night and booked in for another two nights.

I decided to check in with my laptop, and see that the company website was still in maintenance mode, which it is, and as I began to do some research into places that we can go into hiding, with very low populations, my email dinged with a new email message, and it was from Edwin.

I almost deleted it, but decided to just have a quick look, “Dear Anton, my god, I had no idea how much danger that you are in, please accept my deepest apologies for being part of revealing your location, that was not my intentions at all. I wish to offer my assistance in any way possible to make sure that you, your family and crew are kept safe at all times.

The only way that I can do that is to assist with providing a motor yacht that can accommodate you all, with my business covering all travel and living expenses for as long as it takes to be safe again. Please let me know at your earliest convenience.

I am happy to say that Vic and Rita are well on their way to recovery, and they are now aware of the situation, and like me they bare no ill well towards you.

I have recently purchased a yacht that is currently located at Otago Yacht Club near Nelson, New Zealand. I was going to use it for charters around Tasmania, but I am now having it prepared for your personal use, to keep you and your family and crew safe, just name the location and the yacht will come and collect you.

The yacht – Straight Stuff is 76 metres long, so 32 metres longer than your yacht, and a bit bigger than my yacht. Straight Stuff has two Master suites , 6 VIP suites, 5 Queen guest cabins, as well as Captain and 1^st Officer cabins, 1 Double Officer cabin, 2 Single Officer Cabins, and 6 Twin Crew cabins.

I have already appointed a Captain and 1^st Officer, but I am sure that your good friend Simon would make a great 2^nd Officer / Engineer. She has four decks plus the Sun Deck, so there is plenty of space for you and your crew, and if you would like, you could always do expedition charters, to keep you and the crew busy, but we can discuss that later. Please accept this offer, as it would please me, for you and your family and crew to stay safe. Kind regards, Lord Friend (Edwin).”

I chuckled at the last bit of the email, and I wondered if that had any connection with someone else that he knows, but for now I decided to think over the offer, and maybe discuss it with Simon, when I catch up with him in a day or two. I decided to send a short text message to Edwin.

“Leave it at its current location, we are very close by, will contact you via email in a day or two, Anton.” With the message sent, I relaxed for the rest of the day at the hotel and doing a bit of looking around the small town of Bluff, checking out some of the restaurants for lunch and dinner.

The next morning after breakfast, I headed to the post office in Invercargill, and I was pleased to see that the passport for Jake had arrived, and after presenting my passport for identification, I signed for the small parcel and headed back to the hotel.

I sent a text message to Simon, to let him know that I have Jake’s passport, and to bring the yacht into Bluff to register their arrival in New Zealand, and go through customs. When I arrived at the Bluff Marina, it only took twenty minutes before I saw the Duchess coming into the harbour, and I saw three NZ Customs Officers start to walk towards the end of the jetty, and I followed them.

“Do you have anything to do with this approaching yacht Sir?” one of the customs officers asked me, when they saw me standing close by. “Yes officer, I own that yacht, plus I am holding a brand new passport for our newest crewman, as the yacht had to leave Australia fast to avoid a dangerous situation,” I replied.

“You must be Mr Anton Hamilton then,” the officer replied, I smiled and nodded, “That would be correct officer,” I responded and I presented my passport fro identification, and after looking at my photo, he flicked through the pages.

“I see you made a very wayward way of getting here,” the Customs officer commented, and I laughed. “Sir, that is only the half of it, From Launceston, I flew to Melbourne, Adelaide and Alice Springs, before catching a ride on a truck north to Darwin.

From there I flew to Brisbane, Fiji and Tonga before arriving in Auckland. Next I caught a train down to Wellington, crossed to the South Island on the ferry and a train to Christchurch, before catching a bus down to Invercargill, where I have been for the past two days,” I said.

“Does this have something to do with the incident on an island south of Hobart?” the customs officer asked, “Yes, and it is getting beyond a joke, they are also believed to be responsible for the fire bombing of my home and business office in Jurien Bay, in Western Australia, and also possibly responsible for the death of my mother, and one other person here in New Zealand, I replied.

“Wow, you have been through a rough time,” another of the other officers stated. “Yeah, it has been an ongoing situation since the death of my mother, and me becoming guardian to my two half brothers,” I said. “Ok, stay here until we have finished, and I will take that passport for your crew member,” the second officer said to me, and I handed it over.

I watched from the jetty, as the customs officers did a search of the yacht, interviewed the crew and processed their passports, before they stepped back onto the jetty. “Do you have any idea how long you will be in New Zealand, and where are you heading,” the lead Customs officer asked me.

“I’m sorry I don’t know for sure on both questions, as I am waiting on a proposal from a business partner in regards to what we are doing,” I replied honestly.

“Ok, well enjoy your time in New Zealand,” the lead customs officer said before they walked away, just as Simon stepped onto the Jetty, and wrapped me in a hug. “Hi mate, good to see you safe and well,” Simon said to me.

“Let’s walk, we need to have a quiet talk in private,” I said to Simon, as I turned and headed toward the land, and Simon followed me, as we turned to walk along the edge of Foreshore Road, I cleared my throat. “Lord Edwin now understands why I have been a bit pissed off with him, and is very apologetic; he has also made a very interesting offer,” I began to say to Simon.

“Oh, and what is this interesting offer? And what conditions does it have?” Simon asked me suspiciously, “No conditions at all, only a request to accept this as a heart felt apology, and you won’t believe what the offer is?” I replied, smiling broadly.

“It must be quite spectacular if you have a smile like that,” Simon said and I chuckled at his comment. “Yes my friend, it is indeed spectacular with no conditions, and the offer, is the full use of his second yacht, which happens to be a few metres longer than the one I call the Big Yacht, with a master and six guest cabins, and cabins for 20 crew, of which he has already appointed a Captain and a 1^st Officer, and he suggested that you would make a perfect 2^nd Officer and Chief Engineer,’ I informed Simon.

“Wait, how big is his main yacht?” Simon asked, “That would be 69 metres, so this yacht, which is called Straight Stuff, is 76 metres long and has five decks,” I replied. “Wow, that is huge, like over thirty metres bigger than the Duchess,” Simon said in surprise.

“I haven’t seen it, but I guess if I accept the offer, we will get more information, oh and it is currently moored just up the coast at Nelson,” I answered. “Well, what is your decision?” Simon asked me, “I am still unsure about this, I still have this feeling that he is going to rope us into some commitment once we have accepted the offer,” I commented.

“Look mate, do what you feel is best for you, and your brothers. What does your heart tell you to do?” Simon asked, “It is telling me to run or in our case set sail as fast as we can, but I have crew to think of too, so I am not sure what to do,” I replied.

“How about you sleep on it and we will decided tomorrow morning,” Simon suggested to me, I sighed before answering, “Yes, I guess that is a good idea, gives me time to think about it some more,” I replied, as we turned and headed back to the yacht.

“Boss, can Sarah, Kirk and I speak to you for a moment in private?” Leon asked me when I stepped onboard the Duchess. “Yes mate what is the problem and why a trio?” I responded, “Because Anton, I have the same subject to speak to you about as the guys do,” Sarah replied.

Remaining silent, I lead the way as Simon and the other three crew members followed. Once in the bridge, with the door closed, I swung one of the pilot seats around and sat down facing aft, while Simon remained standing, and the others sat down in the lounge area.

“Would this have anything to do with wanting to leave the yacht?” I asked, after looking at each of my crew members, “Ye… yes it does? How did you know? Sarah asked, “Because dear lady I have known you for way too long, and I know that with everything that has happened at Jurien Bay, is getting on your nerves, and you are concerned for the safety for your son,” I replied.

“Yes, you must be a mind reader,” Sarah replied, sounding shocked and surprised and I chuckled a little, "It is ok Sarah, with us back in New Zealand waters, I was half expecting you to leave us, and that is perfectly fine by me, you and Oscar go and have a wonderful life, and don’t worry about anything ever again, I wish you both a very happy and safe life back in NZ,” I said to Sarah, who stood up and walked up to me before wrapping her arms around me.

“Thankyou Anton, you have been a wonderful friend and boss, you make sure that you and your brothers have a safe life too, ok?” Sarah said to me, and I nodded my head yes. “Boss, we also would like to go, we have worked for you for some time and have had a real blast… oops had a great time, but we feel that it is time to move on,” Kirk said to me, with Leon nodding in agreement.

“That is fine guys, thankyou for supporting me for all the time you have worked for me and my Gramps, we will miss you guys, but I will not stop you from going,” I responded. “Thanks boss, you are the best,” Leon said before I was wrapped in a three way hug.

By mid afternoon, Sarah and Oscar and Kirk and Leon had packed up everything of theirs, said goodbye to the rest of the crew, and with full wallets from the bonus’s that I gave them, we waved goodbye, as they stepped off the yacht and headed into town and out of our lives.

“Well that now brings us down to nine crew members, what are we going to do now Anton?” Simon asked me, “I stared at the backs of our former crew mates as they disappeared down the street before answering Simon’s question.

“I suggest that Finn and Jake shopping for supplies that will last us for at least three months, and once they are back we will set sail, where too I am not sure yet, but somewhere well away from a certain Lord, and well away from civilisation, where we can live comfortably and quietly,” I replied.

Fini