Deception - 22. Dec Chapter 22

Once again at the 5^th lookout, there was another gate and again we had a short look around, and from here we could see some sea lions sunbaking, ignoring us above watching them. When we reached the end of the boardwalk, we walked down the stairs to the beach, where Sam stopped and waited for all of us to join him. “We actually walked in the reverse order, the owners are planning to have the visitors arrive at this end of the beach, and walk up the stairs we just came down, and finish up at the gazebo” Sam said, and he commenced walking down the beach towards the other stairs.

When we had arrived at the gazebo, after a 3 kilometer & 1 ½ hour excursion, we were glad to have a rest, as we all sat down. “The time we took is about the average time we estimate visitors to take the casual stroll along the boardwalk, including stops at all the lookouts on the way” Sam announced to us with a big smile then he looked directly at me, Mr Langton isn’t it” he asked me pretending that we had only just met today.

“That’s correct” I replied playing along, “Have you ridden quad bikes before?” Sam asked me, “Yes I have actually” I replied, “Good, follow me, we will be back in a few minutes” Sam said as he headed towards the shed, and once we were well clear of hearing range he burst out laughing. I just smiled and waited for him to finish his little joke.

“Ok, Your Honour, why didn’t you tell me you were coming a week early, I would have picked you up from the airport” I said softly, “I just wanted to surprise you, I had it all planned out, thanks to Jack, he dropped me off last night, and I camped out in the house, which I must say is starting to look great, and the trees in the centre are fabulous” Sam said to me.

“With this island tour on the bikes, can we try and stay well clear of the solar panel station and the covered holes, so we don’t reveal the cavern” I said to Sam, and we continued chatting till we reached the shed, and we brought the bikes and trailers out, and drove them up onto the boardwalk and over to the gazebo.

When we arrived at the gazebo, Paul and Margie looked a bit surprised at the sight of quad bikes, “Ok, load up your equipment, and we can go and have a look at the southern end of the island, and you can do whatever you need to do, with all this stuff” Sam said pointing at the crates of equipment, and we soon had them loaded onto the trailers and secured down, Margie elected to ride with Sam, while Paul rode with me, as we went back to the shed and toilets and drove down the ramp off the boardwalk.

I followed Sam, so as to give the illusion that I had no idea where I was going, and after a few minutes, Paul spoke to me, “Well it looks like my dream has come true for someone else, and I am glad with what they have done so far to this island, the new owners have found a way to protect the islands vegetation, and still be able to allow visitors to look around” he said to me loudly over the noise of the bikes engine, and I nodded my head.

We came to a stop about 500 metres south, and I knew exactly where we were, “This island use to be use for sheep grazing, where we are now at the former location of the shearing shed and yards, and some basic living quarters, the island has one deep fresh water well, with a submersible pump, to provide any water needs” Sam announced and he continued on further south and slightly west, along a narrow winding track.

Another 500 metres and we came to a stop again, and this time we turned off the engines and climbed off the bikes. “As you can see, these rocks below provide a protected sunbathing space for the seals and sea lions,” Sam said, and Margi took out some equipment, and she took some soil samples, as well as plant samples, while Paul took some photos of the mammals below, as well as the surrounding area.

We are just 250 metres south west of the main cavern, and I was hoping that the tall vegetation would be enough to hide the solar panels, and I presumed no one spotted them as we climbed back onto the bikes and continued following the small track southwards, till we came to the southern point of the island, where we were high on top of some cliffs.

Over the next hour, we stopped a number of times, as we travelled along the southeast side of the island, taking photos, recording data on the soil and vegetation, till we arrived back at the shed, drove back up onto the boardwalk, and down to the gazebo. While Paul and Margie were going over the information we had gathered, Sam and I got the BBQ going and started cooking some meat, and as we completed to cooking, Margie brought out the salads and bread rolls that she had packed in the esky.

When we had finished lunch, and were cleaning up Margie cleared her throat to speak, “Mr Yeoman, with the data that we have collected so far, our preliminary decision is to allow just 4 of the proposed mammals onto this incredible island.

The owners have done a great job building this boardwalk and gazebo, and Paul and I feel that all but the Ringtail Possum would be suited to this environment, but we will have to monitor them closely, which means regular visits to the island.

We would recommend two pairs of each mammal be introduced, and we should wait at least three months to see how they settle in, before allowing visitors onto the island” Margie announced. “That sounds good, I will pass that information onto the owners” Sam said pleased that it was a positive response to the idea of introducing some mammals to the island.

“I think early next month, in October, we can start making the transfer of breading pairs to the island” Paul added, and I tried to not look too pleased, with the announcement. Back on the bikes, we travelled on the boardwalk, stopping at each lookout area, where more soil and plant samples were taken, as well as lots of photos. When we reached the end, we turned around and made our way back to the Gazebo to unload the crates, before Sam and I returned the bikes and trailers to the shed.

Sam said that Jack and his boys would be heading back at about 3.30pm, so he would stay at the shed and wait for them, so I said farewell and walked back to the gazebo, announcing to Margie and Paul, that he was waiting for his lift back to Louth Bay, and we carted the crates back down the stairs to the boat on the east beach. Once all loaded up we set off southwards, and once clear of the island south east towards Port Lincoln.

Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted the barge approaching the western beach from Louth Bay direction, and I smiled a little, pleased that we had managed to keep my involvement with the island a secret. Soon after the wind started to pick up, and we had a very rough trip home, taking us an extra 30 minutes than usual, arriving at the boat ramp at work just before 5pm, with all three of us tired and damp from the journey.

Once all the crates were delivered inside the building, I helped Paul to wash down and put away the boat into the shed, before calling it a day and headed home. I sent a text message to Tom to let him know I was home, and that he can stay at Jakes if he wants. Tom replied that he wanted to stay, and he would see me after school tomorrow.

After having a long hot shower, I made myself a light dinner and watched the news and current affair shows, before retiring to bed early. The following day, although it was not a normal working day, I went into work anyway, and Paul was talking to Margie when I walked into the research lab where we usually work.

“Good morning Gres, what brings you here today?” Margie asked me, “I just wondered what is happening, now that we have completed the inspection of the island? I answered with a smile, “Like I said to Mr Yeoman, we will go ahead with introducing four mammals to Louth Island or Yoronu, as it’s known by the local indigenous community, but I am thinking of not setting a time frame for allowing visitors to the island.

I think we should see how they settle in before we make a decision, to allow human interaction” Margie commented, “I agree with you on that” Paul added. ‘That sounds ideal, I hope that it all goes well” I said and I headed back home, where I contacted Sam by Phone.

“Hi Gres, I can’t talk now, I will give you a call when I am free, bye for now” Sam said not letting me say a word and he hung up, I stared at the phone for a few moments before putting my mobile down, and I started doing some reading. At lunch time, I gave Jack a call, to see how things are going on the island. “Hi Gres, Lloyd here, Dad is up top removing the mesh cover, so we can get some more supplies down into the cavern” Lloyd said as he answered the call.

“Hey Lloyd, I’m just checking in, to see how everything is going” I said to him with a smile, “Yep all is going good, the ground floor is now completed, it’s all painted and all the furniture is in place, it looks incredible, all the external and internal walls upstairs are completed, the spiral stairs are in place, and we have just finished the bookshelves in the library study, plus we will be starting on the upstairs plumbing on Monday” Lloyd said to me.

“That sounds great, let your dad know that I called, and that we won’t be coming this weekend, see you all when we come over the following weekend” I said and I ended the call, just as I hung up, the phone rang, and looking at the caller ID, I saw that it was Sam. “Your honour, good to hear from you” I said smiling, “Hey Gres, sorry about before, I was about to go into a meeting, and I have been settling in to my new work place, I’m going to be fairly busy for the first few months, as there is a backlog of cases to been heard. How are things going on the island?” Sam replied.

“Yes, the house is over half completed, we are skipping going over this weekend, so as not to slow them down, and I had a chat with my work colleagues and it has been decided to delay human interaction, until the mammals are fully settled instead of a set time period” I replied, “Ok mate, anyway I must keep going, will talk to you again soon” Sam said and he ended the call.

When I picked up Tom from school, I let him know that we wouldn’t be going to the island this weekend, and Tom was a bit disappointed about this, then I suggested that we go to the capital to watch a movie and maybe visit some of the wildlife parks that are scattered around Adelaide, and Tom thought that was a great idea.

While Tom packed, I made some calls to get tickets to fly to Adelaide and book accommodation, and we drove up to the airport and caught the evening flight to Adelaide, were we picked up a hire car for the weekend. After having some dinner at a small restaurant, we headed to our accommodation and had a settled down for an early night. The following morning, I gave Sam a call to see if he was free, “Good morning your honour, Tom and I are in the city, we are going to explore some of the wildlife parks, and wondered if you would like to join us”.

“Hiya Gres, yes I am free all day, and I would love to join you” Sam said, and he gave me the address of his new place, and I arranged to pick him up in twenty-minutes time. Once we had collected Sam, we made our way to the first wildlife park, were we spent the next two hours looking at all the animals. I made a point of taking special note of the mammals and their living environments, we continued onto the next wildlife park, where we did the same, and we stopped to have lunch at the café in the park.

“So, what do you think of this park and the first one?” Sam asked me, and I thought about what we had seen so far before replying, “Yes it has been very interesting, the only difference with our set up, is that there will be no restrictive fences for our mammals, and they would be left on their own to feed” I replied. “This has been a great day out so far Uncle” Tom said to me, “I’m glad you are enjoying it Tom” I replied.

When we arrived at the third and last wildlife park for the day, we concentrated on looking at the mammals and their enclosures, with me taking notes with each once that we stopped at to observe. When we had left the last park, Sam suggested that we go to a café for a late afternoon tea, and to rest after a long day, and so we found a nice café near the centre of the city, and we enjoyed a light meal. As we ate, we chatted about our day at the three parks, and I was asked what my thoughts are for each of them, and we had a lengthy discussion once I had made my thoughts clear on each of the parks.