Indian Ocean Invasion - 3. IOI Chapter 3

“Don’t go and do a Tarzan call, or it won’t be a secret for very long” Jeremy stated as he swung deeper into the jungle, and I soon followed when the rope came back to me. I was so tempted to do the Tarzan call as I swung, which is quite fun. “Look at us, two grown men swinging on vines, like monkeys,” I said, which had Jeremy laughing softly.

When I looked back towards the steel walkway, which is the main access track to the lodge cabins, I could see no sign of it, and with two swings on the ropes, I estimated that we were about 30 metres away from the track.

“Look up,” Jeremy said to me, which I did, and slightly in front and above me, was a large platform, Jeremy grabbed one more rope, to swing the last five metres, and I quickly followed.

When I arrived, Jeremy had to pull out a rope ladder from somewhere, and he began to climb it, and I followed him up, appearing through a square hole, to reveal a 2-metre wide veranda, and as he had said, a half wall, to a large open space, that looked like it had just one room in the centre, as I followed Jeremy through the door to inside.

From the outer wall to the inside central wall, it is two metres in diameter, while the central wall is octagonal and about 6 metres in diameter. Jeremy pushed on the wall in two places, to reveal a double door pop open, then slide sideways to reveal a kitchenette, with a sink, gas stove, and even two fridges, of which I later learnt, that one is a freezer, plus a small washing machine.

Followed Jeremy around to the other side, where he once again pushed against the wall, to reveal a single door pop open, to reveal a bathroom, with a sink shower and toilet. “Wow, this is amazing, and your friends and you did all of this, without anyone knowing?” I commented surprised, “We sure did” Jeremy replied with a big proud grin, “And happy to say it was my original thought and design” he added.

The last remaining door that Jeremy revealed next to the bathroom is a pantry/storeroom, with plenty of shelving, and already a large supply of dry and canned food.

“Looks good mate, but there doesn’t appear to be any beds,” I said to my half-brother, with a frown, and Jeremy chuckled at this, “Think again brother, if you look carefully on the outer side of the internal walls, you will see two bench seats on each wall, by removing a locking pin, the seat swings around to reveal four beds, with mattresses included,” Jeremy said as he showed me how to unlock the locking pin, and suddenly there was a bed.

“Wow, this is amazing,” I said still a little shocked at seeing this modern treehouse. “Like the lodge cabins, this treehouse has two biodegradable toilet tanks, on the roof, there are solar panels that help to recharge the solar power batteries, and water tanks in each corner of the veranda, collect all the rainwater off the roof, for our water supply.

The veranda shutters can be propped up to provide extra shade and closed to protect the veranda from rough weather, including cyclones.

The veranda shutters and treehouse half walls protect the inside from any rain, but still lets in plenty of ventilation, to stop any cyclonic winds from damaging the treehouse, mind you it can get quite windy up here if you are up here during a cyclone or storm, but if it gets too bad, we usually retreat to the bathroom, or storeroom for safety” Jeremy explained.

Fifteen minutes later, we were back on the boardwalk, heading back to the cabin to check on Mitchell, who was sitting on his bed reading a book. “Where did you two get to, I went down to the beach, but I couldn’t find you,” Mitchell said as we arrived. “We just went for a walk to talk about a few things, it has been quite some time since I last saw your Uncle Lewis” Jeremy replied.

“Ok, can we go down to the beach for a swim, it looks so clear when I looked at it earlier,” Mitchell asked, “Yes, that is fine, we will just get changed and we can go down there, make sure you drink plenty of water, this heat and humidity can dry you out quite rapidly,” Jeremy said, “Yes Dad” Mitchell groaned as he went back to reading his book. Ten minutes later, we stepped off the boardwalk, onto a small beach, surrounded by limestone rocks, that form a small sheltered cove.

“Wow, this is a beautiful spot, and so peaceful too, is there anywhere on the island, where I can hire some scuba gear?” I asked, “Yes mate, our company has a small office base in the main village, where we deal with accommodation bookings and island tours, and we rent out scuba gear to locals and tourists, I will organise a set of gear for you. I presume you have scuba qualifications?” Jeremy replied.

I laughed at his last statement, thinking if he knew the whole truth, “Yes I have Scuba qualifications, I am an Australian Navy Clearance Diver” I replied quietly leaning in closer to my half-brother, so only he could hear my reply.

“Oh, I see, I had no idea, is that why you were overseas in the war?” Jeremy said surprised by the qualifications. I just smiled and nodded my head, not wanting to say any more than what I have already said. “Wow, I had no idea” Jeremy whispered.

“No, and no one else in the family knows, only Kylie knows a lot more, but that is because she has the Australian Government security clearance to be able to know since she is a Federal Police Officer” I responded, “Ok, I will say nothing and ask no more” Jeremy replied, as he looked out to the ocean.

“All I can say to you is, and you are not to repeat it, all you know, is that I am a Lt Commander in the Australian Navy, with a couple of university degrees, what I can tell you, and you cannot repeat to anyone, is that I have spent many years in ASIS, as an intelligence officer, before being transferred to the Naval Clearance Diving Team, involved in disarming bombs, IED’s and other ordinance when required,” I quietly said to my half-brother.

“Holy hell, that is some qualifications you have there Bro, I had no idea that is what you have been doing, I just thought you were an ordinary sailor in the Navy, that is what Margaret has been telling me,” Jeremy said, which made me chuckle, “Well that is all she knows, only Kylie knows the whole truth, if anything happens to me, she is the first point of contact, it is up to her if she contacts Margaret and the rest of the family, that is how it is set up, and how I want it kept” I informed Jeremy.

“Ok bro, if that is what you want, I will respect your wishes, but if you ever need anything from me, please don’t hesitate to call me, I brought with me a small item for you to use in case of an emergency, it is a satellite phone, it is charged up and ready for use at any time. My mobile and office numbers are already in the phone memory, you can call other numbers if you like, just use it if you have to ok?” Jeremy said to me.

“Ok, but only for emergencies” I agreed. “What I didn’t show you when we were on our little walk earlier, is that the fridge, freezer and pantry are fully stocked up with food. It is a lot safer there than in the lodge cabins in case of a storm, luckily when a storm has come, we have always evacuated the guests, and twice already, we have had to rebuild the three cabins, as they get badly damaged in cyclones.

We now have a truck on standby during the Cyclone season, to go and collect all the furniture, and anything valuable, before a storm or cyclone hits the area, and we store it in a shed behind the office in the village.

All of my hospitality staff have no idea about the treehouse, and we restock it with fresh supplies each time we visit, and we use the old stock for our meals while there” Jeremy said to me.

“Ok, so is this in case there is a major disaster or something like that?” I asked, “Well the island is not only at risk from cyclones, but also from earthquakes and tsunamis, and we have all seen on television and the news, what they can do to coastal towns and villages in this region, so it is always good to be prepared” Jeremy replied.

“Yes, I have been involved in some disaster relief projects in the pacific over the past few years, so I know first-hand what damage tsunamis can do,” I said.

“What do you plan to do, if you can’t go back to work at the Navy?” Jeremy asked me, and I thought about this question for a while before answering. “I have a few thoughts on that, and one of them is to be a crewman on luxury yachts, but I still have a lot of work to do, to get fully fit again, and I may be able to go and do something else in the Navy, I am pretty sure that my career as part of the Diving Clearance Team is now over” I replied.

After a meal at Jeremy and Mitchell’s cabin, I retired to my cabin and listened to the sounds of the forest, and the ocean close by, and I soon drifted off to sleep. When I woke the next morning, I felt quite relaxed for a change, not waking up from nightmares in the middle of the night, so I changed into some swimming trunks and went for a long ocean swim, close to shore.

As I arrived back at the small cove, Mitchell was sitting on the beach, reading a book, and he smiled at me as I walked up to my shoes and towel, that I had left on the beach. “Good morning uncle, was it a good swim?” Mitchell said to me, “Good morning nephew, yes it was great thanks, where is your dad?” I replied, “he went into the village to get some supplies for us before he heads back to the mainland tomorrow” Mitchell replied.

Once I had dried off, we went back to Jeremy and Mitchell’s cabin to have some breakfast, with Jeremy arriving back about an hour later, with a cardboard box of supplies. “Hey guys, I have told my staff that you need a lot of peace, and so I have brought you some extra supplies, so there is no need for them to come and check on you.

I assured them, that you are fully capable of looking after yourself, and they have agreed to stay away. There are no bookings for the other cabins, for another two weeks, but that may change, but at least you have 5 days before that will happen if it does change.

There are two sets of snorkel gear, and one set of Scuba gear in the back of the jeep, I will go and collect those shortly” Jeremy said as he placed the box on the kitchen bench, and sat down, to have some breakfast, and I drank my cup of tea while Mitchell read his book.

“Oh, by the way, there is a chance that a cyclone is developing to the North East of us, so remember what I said to you, if it does happen to develop, I have told my staff, that I have organised for a boat to collect you and Mitchell if the island does go on cyclone alert, so they won’t have to worry about you guys our here, if it arrives on the island, keeps your radio on for weather updates,” Jeremy said to us.

“Ok, that is fine, we can look after each other, what time is your plane coming to collect you tomorrow?” I replied, “7 am, so I will need to leave here at 6.15 am at the latest, I will leave the Jeep at the office, and one of the staff will take me to the airport” Jeremy responded.

“What happens to the tourists, if a cyclone does come this way?” Mitchell asked, looking a little worried, “the airline usually puts on a few flights, to evacuate all visitors, and any residents who want to leave” Jeremy replied. “Will we be evacuated Uncle?” Mitchell asked me.

“No mate, we have a special place to remain safe from any major storm or cyclone, you will see it, if we need to move there, but for now, when your dad leaves, I will share this cabin with you, if that is ok?” I replied, “Sure thing Uncle, I would prefer not to be on my own” Mitchell replied.

We spent most of the day in the cove, enjoying the sun, plus swimming and snorkelling, with an amazing variety of marine creatures to see. By the time we had returned to the cabins, showered and prepared dinner, we were quite tired from all the day’s activities, and we decided to retire early to bed since Jeremy had to be up early the next morning.

When I arrived at the other cabin shortly after 6 am, I could hear Jeremy lecturing his son to be good, not to be a nuisance, to listen to me and to obey all my directions. I waited for a few moments, before stepping up onto the veranda to announce my arrival, and Mitchell was on the lounge reading a book, while Jeremy was eating breakfast. “Good morning all,” I said cheerfully”, Mitchell looked up from his book and smiled, while Jeremy nodded his head as he continued to eat.

I sat at the table, opposite my half-brother, after pouring myself a cup of tea, and I took a sip while I waited for Jeremy to say something. “Remember, do not hesitate to use the sat phone, if you are in any trouble, I stored those extra supplies in the other location” Jeremy whispered before clearing his throat.

“By the way, I have changed the sheets on my bed, so you can move in straight away, if you can strip your bed, I will take both sets of used sheets with me, so the staff can have them laundered,” he said in a normal voice.

“Ok, I will go and do that now, since you have to leave shortly” I replied, as I took another sip of tea, before dashing off back to my cabin. With the used linen delivered, we said goodbye to Jeremy from the carpark, where the Jeep was waiting, and watched him as he disappeared into the forest towards the village, five minutes later, it was back to just the normal forest sounds of animals and birds, which I was enjoying.

“Ok boyo, how about helping me move my luggage to your cabin, then we can go and do some snorkelling, or you can read a book on the beach while I do some swimming,” I said to my nephew, “Sure thing Uncle,” Mitchell replied, as we walked along the steel raised walkway back towards the cabins.

For the next three days, Mitchell and I soaked up the sun on the beach at the cove, swam and snorkelled, and I even taught Mitchell the basics of scuba diving, in the shallows. I had called Jeremy last night to let him know that everything was fine, apart from the island now being on a cyclone watch alert, and he suggested that we move to the treehouse tonight, and remain there until the cyclone threat is over.