Alex & Lang - 12. A & L Ch 12

During the three weeks that it would take for the cargo ship to load, transport and unload the yacht, I would be giving the whole crew a paid holiday in the Mediterranean, which they were surprised and thrilled to hear. Once we re-join the yacht, we would be sailing south-east to Christmas Island, were our new home has been completed, and on a separate block of land, six kilometres away, there is a small staff village, with 6 two-bedroom cottages for the senior crew and officers and 4 three-bedroom cottages for the general crew.

The staff village will accommodate all of the yacht’s crew when not on charter or sailing somewhere, with a swimming pool, tennis court, a semi open recreation room, that includes a large screen cinema, with seating for eighteen people, a BBQ area, and even a basketball court added for the crew’s enjoyment.

Once we had cleared customs and quarantine, the most senior Federal Officer smiled as he hand me an official looking envelope, before leaving. “The Office of the Administrator of the Indian Ocean Territories of Australia” was written along the top of the envelope, which caught me by total surprise, as I turned it over and opened it.

“Hey guys, welcome to your new home, please come to the Administrator’s house for an informal dinner, it will be just you both and myself only. Regards Sir Lewis,” the short message read, as my mouth dropped open is shock and I handed the letter over to Langley to read.

“Wow, Lewis is here on the island, wait is he doing administrator duties again?” Langley said after reading the letter. “Yes, it appears so,” I said as we watched Wyatt and King brothers taking the dinghy to the island, where they would take the taxi to the staff village, on Plant Hill Road, just down from the hospital, to collect the two new vehicles, which arrived on the island just over a week ago.

One vehicle is a Volkswagen seven-seat Multivan, while the other is a Volkswagen Amarok, and when they arrived back with the vehicles, most of the crew piled into the Multivan with their luggage, with Marshall and Adelia electing to remain onboard the yacht, while Langley and I climbed into the back of the Amarok, with Wyatt driving us to our new home after calling into the supermarket to do some food shopping for the house.

Over the next week, Langley and I remained at home most of the time, just relaxing and enjoying our new home. The informal dinner at the Administrator’s house was enjoyable and it was good to see Sir Lewis again. He had informed us that he was making plans to become more independent, and that part of it was restarting his career as Administrator of the Indian Ocean Territories.

Diego Garcia was now part of those territories, and so he would be spending a lot of time travelling between all of the islands, and he mentioned that he was happy to be back doing the job that he enjoyed the most. Lewis also mentioned that the treehouse, that was his sanctuary during the invasion was still an Army Defence Base, and that a permanent jetty had been built nearby to allow for easier arrival of personnel and supplies.

With the crew rested after a week of doing absolutely nothing, I let Captain Anton know that I had received a number of requests for charters, and so the crew were now preparing for their first overnight charter, that would entail going around the island, visiting all of the remote beaches, and doing some fishing and a lot of swimming and snorkelling.

I had managed to get advertising on the Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Islands tourism websites, to promote the charters, which could be anything from just overnight charters around the Christmas Island, or 1 ½ day sails to Cocos Keeling Islands, and overnight sails around those islands.

I was already looking into securing land on the island, to establish a base for the yacht, and all I was able to locate and buy was a 5-acre lot of freehold land, 750 metres off the Sydney Highway, and 400 metres due north of the West Island Cargo Jetty in the main lagoon.

This was an ideal location, as it meant that the yacht was anchored in the lagoon, with protection from most sides from any bad weather. I had arranged for a cyclone coded shed to be built on the site, that would be completely off the grid powered, and would include refrigerated and dry stores, as well as space for two vehicles, plus a recreation space, that includes a lounge area, kitchen and two bathrooms, and a power storage room and control room.

The vehicles that I had purchased and arranged to have transported to the island, would be two Amarok Utes, to allow the crew to move around the island, when need be, especially for transporting supplies to the yacht. When flights were not available, Sir Lewis had put in a request for the use of the yacht when needing to get to Cocos Keeling Islands for business, which I was very happy to allow him to do, at no cost to the Administrators Office or himself, and I informed Sir Lewis that he would have the VIP suite each time he needed the yacht.

Even with four double guest cabins and two twin guest cabins on the lower deck, and the VIP Suite on the Main deck, there would usually only be three or four cabins used when out on charter, which allowed the crew to be a little more flexible with the cabins.

Langley and I often remained at home on the island when the yacht was out on charter, and when not lounging around at home, I was looking at new opportunities for my company to invest in, and that came in the form of the purchase of four very small blocks of land, located on Gaze Road, with a central access road between them.

I snapped up all four properties for a very good price and I had already requested a building company that builds cyclone coded modular homes to present me with a few options for the four sites, as I had in mind to build two elevated modular homes, on each site, and include two level modular commercial business in the centre of the project, opposite each other.

This would provide an additional eight guest accommodation cottages, located right above the cliffs with uninterrupted views south facing to the ocean, as well as space for four businesses. With three other blocks of land next door to the staff village on Plant Hill Road up for sale, plus two blocks of land on nearby Highland Court, I purchased them as well, with a plan to build more guest accommodation, and also commercial space as well.

With the purchases of land finalised, and applications made to build on those properties, now with the Shire Council, I also submitted proposals to the shire to build more staff housing and guess accommodation on the island, and I made a few recommendations for areas to do this, mostly on former mining areas of cleared land, that still has not had too much regrowth happen yet.

One day, I was caught by total surprise by an email that I received from Sebastian. “Dear Cousin, as you may already know, my marriage to Lewis has failed, and he ahs now gone and started a new life without me. As a result of this, I have made a decision to sell up most of my assets in Western Australia and move back to Lichtenstein, where I will be a little closer to my younger brothers, who have already moved back to Europe.

I have decided to gift to you a few items, namely the Expedition ship – Southern Explorer, which you have put to good use recently, and I am sure you will use it again and again, now that it is yours. The two houses in Claremont, of which one is where Mrs Cooper resides, and has been gifted to her, plus the house next door where you stay sometimes, that too I have given to her.

I am not sure if you knew it, but I kept the house on Adams Road, Crawley, where you were living for a short while, when attending the grammar school, and that is now yours, as is the small airline along with its base in Darwin, with regular flights to the Indian Ocean Territories of Australia, while Rev Davies and Kyle have been given full ownership of the Deepdale property near Toodyay.

Everything else, including the education facility in Claremont, the property near the showgrounds, the Perth Eiffel Tower land, my former coastal property in the Gascoyne, near Denham, plus the yacht bases near Rockingham and Exmouth have all been put on the market, with you getting 50% of the proceeds.

Deepdale Island is now Commonwealth owned land, as it is the permanent site for the Defence Force, so I have no more links to that island what so ever. My brothers have decided to sell their house in Mosman Park, so that is also on the market. I do hope to see you every now and then, I know you have just returned from a trip to Europe to spend time with my brothers, and that you have now settled on Christmas Island. Let me know if I can help you with any future projects, stay in touch. Your Loving Cousin, Sebastian.”

“Wow, I didn’t expect that,” I commented to myself, forgetting that Langley was nearby in the kitchen. “What is that you are saying?” Langley asked, “Oh I have just received an email from Sebastian, because of the failed marriage, he is currently selling up most of everything that he owns in Western Australia, and he has moved back to Lichtenstein.

But he has gifted me a few things, like the expedition ship Ocean Explorer, and one of my former homes in Crawley, near the Grammar School I used to attend. I think I will have the Southern Explorer based at Cocos Keeling Island, that way, it can be used for accommodation for Sir Lewis when he needs it and their airline that does flights from Darwin and Broome, to Christmas Island, as well as the Cocos Keeling Islands, has been given to me too, so I will make sure that Sir Lewis always has form of transport for his work, between the islands,” I announced.

“That is great to hear sir, but it is sad that their marriage has ended, I thought that they would be together forever, as they seemed to be a perfect match,” Wyatt said as he entered the kitchen area from the laundry where he had been busy cleaning and washing.

“Yes, I thought that too, but sadly it is not the case. In a way that is why I got you to sign those documents, when we officially became boyfriends, you will still get a sizable amount of money, but the core of my investments which are protected, to keep my businesses going. But let me assure you my dearest boyfriend, that I will never leave you without a home or enough money to live very comfortably for the rest of your life, like Sebastian has done or Sir Lewis,” I said to Langley after turning and facing him.

“Err, how much are we talking about exactly, if our relationship does go sour, not I want it too happen?” Langley asked me, “As I said, enough for you to live extremely comfortably, with income to pay for a number of house staff as well if that is what you want.

Actually, now that I know about my former home in Crawley, which is less than a block away from the Swan River, I am considering gifting that to you, so that you have a home to go too, If you ever feel like you need some space to think and contemplate,” I said to Langley, who looked shocked and didn’t know what to say in response.

“I think I am very happy right hear next to you in this paradise, and that I don’t need any other place to hang out,” Langley eventually said. “I think you may reconsider that once you have seen the place Mr Langley, it is indeed a beautiful place, with a swimming pool, gazebo and beautiful gardens,” Wyatt said.

“I guess we could go and check it out next time we are in Perth,” Langley responded, “Good, make a note of that please Wyatt, a visit to the Adam Street house in Crawley, next time we are in Perth,” I said to my PA, who smiled and nodded his head before disappearing back into the laundry.

A week later, when my telephone rang, and the caller ID listed “Captain of Southern Explorer” I was a little surprised, “Hello Captain, how are you today, and what is your current location, I said when I answered the call.

“Hello Sir, I am good thank you, as is the crew, and we are currently moored alongside your yacht inside the breakwaters of Christmas Island,” the Captain replied, and grabbing the binoculars, I stepped outside onto the patio, and took a look out to the north, where I could see my yacht, as well as the Southern Explorer.

“Yes, I can see you from my balcony, tell me do you currently have any cargo onboard?” I said smiling, “Yes sir, I do indeed, I have a number of modular cottages and commercial business centres, to be delivered to their new sites, and I also have a crane helicopter onboard, to carry them into position, courtesy of your cousin, Mr Sebastian,” the Captain replied.

“Excellent, well I will come and see you in an hour or two, so we can discuss the logistics of getting the cottages into place,” I said to the Captain, “Very good Sir, bye for now,” the Captain said before ending the call. Over the next few days, we were kept busy with relocating the buildings from the ship to their new home on the other side of the island, near the main harbour, with the ship moving around to the other side, so as to be a lot closer.

Once the buildings were in place, I had the contractors on standby to connect all of the plumbing and electrics to each of the buildings, with concrete footings already in place ready for their arrival, making it a lot easier to get the buildings in place and secured.

I had already notified the Shire Council that the first of the projects had arrived, and was ready to be put into place, with the cottages ready for occupancy within a week. At first the Council wanted to rent the cottages to accommodate some of the Shire staff, but I informed them that the next lot of cottages to be built near the hospital would be made available for residents to rent.

The Captain informed me that the next lot of buildings were almost completed, and would be ready for collection, as soon as the ship returns to Fremantle for loading, and it would come back to the island to offload its second load, before waiting to be allocated its next job, by its new owner, which was me, and I had now decided to have the Southern Explorer based at Cocos Keeling Islands

So far, I had heard good news from my business office at Saint Helena, and that now all residential homes that I had put there were now fully occupied, as are all of the commercial suites. I was considering expanding that project to provide a lot more housing for the island, but I wanted to wait a bit longer, to see if the Executive Council attempted to do anything stupid, like try and changed the rules, so as to try and seize all of the properties that I had bought and built on.

In the meantime, I would concentrate on increasing residential housing and guest accommodation on the Indian Ocean Islands, as some of the residential housing on the islands were very outdated and many of them needed regular maintenance to them.