Simba - 2. Simba Ch 2

We often had lengthy discussions about different science issues, which I found quite rewarding, as we tended to learn something out of the discussions, and we often helped each other out with any difficulties we had with our studies.

For their first year of university studies, and my second year, we studied hard and to relax we played tennis and swam laps of the pool, even during the colder months, as it helped us to cope with the stresses of university studies. To celebrate the end of the first year of studies, Uncle Nat was treating us to a short holiday, to a place that was very unexpected but he would not tell us where, until we gathered for dinner three nights after our last end of year exams.

“Ok Mr Blackwood, where exactly are you sending us, Timbuktu or somewhere further than that?” Chris asked as soon as he walked into the house, after the three of us had been out swimming on the beach for most of the afternoon, and Uncle Nat just laughed.

“You do know where Timbuktu is?” Uncle Nat asked in response, “Wait, it is actually a real place?” Will asked, and I smiled, “Mjomba, iko nchini Mali?” I asked in Swahili, “Hey cut that out, you know we don’t understand your African mumbo jumbo,” Will complained, and Uncle Nat and I laughed.

“Firstly, my nephew was speaking in Swahili, and he was asking me if it is Mali, where the town of Timbuktu is located, and he is correct,” Uncle Nat said. “Where is Mali?’ Will and Chris asked at the same time, “It is in the southern Sahara region, with Algeria to the north, Mauritania and Senegal to the west, Niger to the east and three much smaller countries to the south that I can’t remember right now,” I replied.

“Getting back to the original question,” Uncle Nat started as we all took a seat in the lounge room, “What was the question, I forget already?” Chris asked, and will laughed, “You where the one to ask the question silly, and you asked where Mr Blackwood has arranged for us to stay during the holidays,” Will said as he gave Chris a nudge with his shoulder.

“Since all three of you are studying science, I thought that maybe a holiday in a remote location, where you can start to put some of your studies to good use. I have a friend who owns an island located around five-kilometres off the mainland, and about thirty-kilometres from the nearest town, that has a house and a cottage. He is allowing the three of you to stay in the cottage for the week before Christmas, starting from tomorrow, and if you like it, you can go back after Christmas for a longer stay,” Uncle Nat said.

“That sounds great Uncle Nat, but could you tell us a bit more about it?” I asked, “Only that you board a plane at the domestic airport at 9.15 am tomorrow bound for Port Lincoln Airport, arriving fifty minutes later and taking an 18 kilometre taxi ride to Pier One at Port Lincoln. From there you will be met and taken to your destination by boat, along with all the provisions that you will need,” Uncle Nat responded, and all three of us groaned.

Uncle Nat just laughed and headed to his study to do some reading, leaving us to have showers and change into some fresh clothes, and once I was dressed, I retrieved my laptop, carried it to the dining room table, and began to search islands located within thirty kilometres of Port Lincoln.

I came up with more than I actually expected, with a total of ten to be exact. The first is to the south, called the Sleaford Islands, but it was less than two kilometres from the main shore, next there is Williams Island, which also fits in the guidelines, to the southeast is Hopkins Island, and that is less than five kilometres from the mainland, so that was a possibility.

Next is neighbouring Smith island which like the first is quite small and is about two km’s from the mainland, and another neighbouring island, is called a Thistle Island, and it is quite big, and also fits into the five kilometre distance.

“What are you doing bud?” Will asked me as he was finishing drying his hair with a towel, “Trying to work out where we are going with the clues that Uncle Nat gave us, maybe I can work out where we are going tomorrow,” I replied. “Great, I hate guessing, I can never get it right,” Chris added as he walked into the room and sat down on the other side of me from Will.

“Right, well so far I have worked out that Sleaford to the south is out, as it is too close to the coast, Williams Island near to there is a possibility, and all the islands to the southeast are a possibility, with Hopkins, Smith and Thistle Islands in that area, along with these three, Boston, Grindal and Taylor Islands.

To the East, no Islands are within the parameters that Uncle Nat mentioned, and that leaves just Rabbit and Louth Islands to the North,” I said to my friends. “How many is that in total?” Will asked, “ten, no nine I think, so lets go onto Google Earth and see if we can narrow that down a bit more,” Chris replied.

After ten minutes of searching, we deleted all but four islands, which have buildings on them, all the other islands had no buildings, with the exception of lighthouse towers, so we guessed that it must be one of these four Islands, and we started to do some more research.

Chris and Will retrieved their laptops, and we searched an island each, to see if we could pin the search to just one island. “Didn’t your Uncle say that he owned the whole island, so if that is the case then Thistle Island is out of the picture, as there are heaps of houses on that island,” Will said.

“Good work, ok you get the last island to check, the one furthest to the north, I’m looking up Taylor Island, and it looks like it has one maybe two buildings, and a small shed. It has a small jetty on the west side, and it is nearly three kilometres from shore and 19 kilometres from Port Lincoln, and it is over 590 acres in area,” Chris said.

“Ok, Boston Island is a possibility, it only has about three buildings, and a few water tanks scattered around the island, and it is 2,400 acres in area, has a couple of large beaches and a few small ones too,” I commented. “It looks like Louth island is also a possibility, as it has a house and sheds and another building, plus water tanks, and it is over 330 acres in area and also has some nice big beaches,” Will said.

“Well at least we narrowed it down to just three possible locations, we just have to ask Uncle Nat for some more clues,” I said, “Not a chance, but I will confirm that it is one of those three,” Uncle Nat called out. “Hey wait a minute, your uncle said that we would have to travel by taxi 18 kilometres to Pier One at Port Lincoln, that means that Louth Island is out, as it is located northeast of the airport, away from Port Lincoln,” Chris stated.

“Ok, that leaves us with just two options, Boston or Taylor,” Will responded. “Well they are both very different, with Boston having mostly low shrubs and ground covers, while Taylor has shrubs and trees, and they are so different is size, so… if I was to take a good guess, I would say our destination is Taylor Island,” I announced to my friends.

“I will have to agree, unless your uncle is good friends with the former Mayor of Port Lincoln, who owns the island according to my research,” Chris said, and I heard my Uncle chuckling behind us. “Well done boy’s, and no I am not friends with the former Mayor, who I think is an environmental pirate, so your good guess is correct,” Uncle Nat said to us.

We spent the next hour researching all about Taylor Island and discussing what to do when we arrive there; we closed up our laptops and headed to our rooms to start packing up ready for our adventure holiday on an island, not far from Port Lincoln, and all three of us were excited.

Over dinner that evening, we grilled Uncle Nat for as much information as possible about the island, apart from what we already knew, and he told us that there are actually two cottages, a boat shed, a small vehicle shed, some grain silo’s, shearing shed and yards on the island, along with a few water tanks.

He informed us that the highest point of the island is 84 metres above sea level, where a 30-metre navigation tower sits, and that it was named in 1802. Uncle Nat said he has visited the island on a few occasions, and that around the island is a good fishing area but there are regular reported sightings of Great Whites in the area.

Thankfully, there are no snakes on the island, like many others are in the region, but there are monitor lizards, western grey kangaroo’s, and brush tailed possums on the island, along with a number of birds. The island also has a wide variety of plants, including shrubs and trees, which thrive better than on other islands, because of its sheltered location.

There are no longer any sheep grazing on the island, as they have been removed entirely in the mid 1990’s, and that it is now entirely a private wildlife sanctuary for native flora and fauna. Since then, there has been the planting of more trees, shrubs and ground covers on the island, to provide a plentiful supply of food for the native animals and birds that are on the island.

Another project that has nearly been completed, is the dismantling and removal of the sheep yards, the shearing equipment and diesel generator and the three large grain silo’s, which had been shipped back to the mainland on a barge and sold. Uncle Nat said that his friend – Patrick Evansdale was going to convert the shearing shed into an education and function centre, with the sheep manure needing to be removed from under the gratings, before the gratings are scrubbed clean, and covered over with wooden flooring.

With the shed being the split level design, which are seen more around the country, it means that the concrete ground level floor would be ideal for functions, while the raised main shearing board would make an ideal stage area, once the sheep chutes and shearing stands have been removed, and the new flooring has been laid down.

Patrick had also extended the small jetty that is now a good 60 metres long and 4 metres wide, making it ideal for any medium size boat or yacht to be tied up there.

We were also told that Little Taylor Island, which is 500 metres north of the main island is also part of the property, and is only 5.8 acres in area, and it has just two buildings on it, both which have recently been added and are located near the centre of the island.

These buildings are actually ablution shacks, which contain two bathrooms in each shack, with a composting biodegradable toilet system located under it. A 450-metre long and 2-metre wide raised boardwalk runs from the north end to the south end of the island, from near the centre, passing by the two shacks, and 70-metre long side boardwalk leads to the only beach on the southwest side of the island.

Little Tyler is nearly entirely covered with trees and shrubs, with a few small patches of cleared area, where Patrick is intending to build four raised platforms that will have Eco – Tents located there, for paying guests. In addition, at each end of the boardwalk, there will be a large lookout area to enjoy the views of Spencer Gulf and the Lincoln National Park.

The shacks and the Eco Tents will be powered by solar power cells, that are on posts located every fifty metres along the boardwalks, with the lights on the boardwalks to be just half a metre off the ground, so as not to ruin the night sky views.

The following morning, Uncle Nat took us to the airport, and we were eager to get to Port Lincoln for the start of our weeklong holiday, before Christmas celebrations, to be with family, except for me it will be just Uncle Nat and myself.

When we finally arrived at Pier 1 at Port Lincoln, we saw a man approach us and he was smiling, so we guessed he is the one organised to meet us. “Hello Jacob and lads, welcome to Port Lincoln, I am Patrick Carter, your host for the week, follow me and we will get going to Taylor Island,” the man said to us, and I shook his hand first since he said my name first and we followed him towards the marina.

We were all a bit surprised as Patrick lead us to a 35-metre power catamaran, and he stepped onto the aft of the cat and up the steps to the main deck, and we followed him, where we found passenger seating. “Take a seat, and we will be on our way, and we will be there in just ninety minutes,” Patrick said to us, and shortly after we were on our way.

Once we were in the gulf, we started to explore the catamaran. We counted 180 seats located on the main deck, along with male and female toilets and a café area, and when we went up to the next level, where there are three aluminium crates located in the centre of the boat, that are about 1.2 metres in diameter, and 80 centimetres high, with the side areas being open space.

At the front of the upper-deck, there is an area with a door saying ‘Crew Only’ on it, and I knocked on the door and heard Patrick responded with ‘Enter’, and opening the door, I saw a short passage that leads directly to the main bridge.

On each side of the short passage, there are two doors, which are not marked where they lead to, so I walked into the bridge, where there are two chairs, with Patrick sitting in one. “Welcome to the bridge, this is my only crewman, Lance Palmerston,” Patrick said as I saw a young man seated on the lounge along the back wall.

“Lance this is Major Blackwood’s nephew, Jacob Blackwood,” Patrick said making introductions and we shook hands, before he left the bridge. “Take a seat next to me Jacob, and enjoy the view,” Patrick said to me, and I accepted the invitation.

“Sir, we are a little surprised that you have a aluminium passenger catamaran as a transport vessel to your island,” I said to Patrick, “Well, it is fast than most vessels and with the upper deck outdoor seating removed, I have plenty of space for transporting cargo to and from my island.

When my latest projects are completed, we will be transporting paying guests from Port Lincoln to my Island to stay in the Eco Camping sites on Little Turner Island, while do some revegetation of the main island, which is restricted by invitation only,” Patrick said to me.

“So, you know that my friends and I are currently studying different fields of science at University?” I asked, “Yes, and that is the only reason why I decided to allow you three come and stay here, in hope that maybe you could be part of the team, to turn my island into a great wildlife sanctuary,” Patrick replied.

“Uncle Nathan said that if we like this stay, we would be permitted to return after Christmas, is that going to be ok with you?” I asked, “Yes, but I am hoping that it would be in a positive way for the island’s benefit,” Patrick replied.

Leaving Patrick to skipper the vessel, I returned to the lower deck, where Will and Chris were enjoying a cup of soup and a muffin, and Lance soon arrived with the same for me.