Simba - 21. Simba Ch 21

For the rest of the week, Jacky quickly settled into his role as a new member of the team, and he was keeping busy, watering the new trees, painting his new house, and building a post and rail fence along the driveway, separating the road from the rest of the property.

For the few days before us, leaving Aaron and I were kept busy organising for more promotional material to be made, with new pamphlets that includes all of our sponsors; Carter SA Island Glamping and Spencer Gulf Cruise Holidays; Simba’s Mountain Retreat @ Marangu, Tanzania and the Blackwood Family Trust.

I had four feather flags that can be secured to the corners of the gazebos, as well as six duffel bags, six backpacks, six anorak-jackets, and twelve polo shirts, all with the project logo on them. “Why six, when there are just five of us on the team?” Aaron asked me after all the purchases were made, “Easy, I have a set for Uncle Nat too, and if need be I will have two sets made for my parents too,” I replied.

On Friday, with all of us packing our luggage the night before, we gathered at the project shortly after lunchtime, when Will and Chris had arrived back from university. Jacky had packed everything that is needed for the trip into the two vehicles, including the two kayaks, two gazebos, the portable BBQ, and stocking both car fridges with all the cold food, and two boxes of dry foods.

With us gathered in the project conference room, I handed out the four duffel bags, with the backpack, anorak jacket, and two polo shirts in each. “Wow these look awesome,” Will said and the others agreed, “Well we have to look the part when we are out in public, I have had made new pamphlets, that include all the sponsors, and we have four feather banners to attach to corners of the gazebos, which are in the hall at the moment.

I have also booked a place for the Nature Festival in Adelaide, which is in late September for six days. So we can promote the project some more, for the three of us attending university next semester, when not at university, we will need to take turns to be at the display, which we have an area of eight by eight metres.

I think if we have one of the vehicles placed long ways along the back of the display area, and we can have the television situated in front of it with the video footage showing the whole time. I will hire a portable marquee to cover the back display area, with end and sidewalls, to keep out the weather, the one I am looking at is eight by four metres in size, and we can add our gazebos in front of that one.

I have already purchased six heavy-duty plastic foldable tables, to put along the sidewalls of our gazebos, to display photos and anything else we feel we can display,” I announced to the team. “Did you get the traps that we need to do our land survey work?” Chris asked, “Yes, I ordered six, three small and three medium sized, we can pick them up before we leave today,” I replied.

By 3pm we were on our way northwards toward Port Pirie, for our overnight stay, where I had booked us into three cabins in the caravan park, as I felt that we needed to be well rested for the week that we have ahead of us. We arrived about half an hour before sunset, giving us enough time to be settled and head to a restaurant for some dinner.

The next morning, I sent a text to Patrick to let him know that we would be arriving in Port Lincoln a bit before 1 pm. After a quick breakfast, we set off to Port Augusta, stopping to refuel the two vehicles and grab some drinks, before heading south on the western side of the gulf.

Aaron had now gained his probationary drivers licence, so he was able to do some of the driving for the 4 ½ hour trip to Port Lincoln, and we arrived just after 12.30 pm, and with Aaron driving, I sent a text to Patrick, “Just coming into town now,” and shortly after I received a reply.

“Come straight down to the town jetty, we are ready for you,” and I gave Aaron directions to get to the town jetty, which is just two blocks off the main road. When we arrived at the town jetty, we saw a power catamaran and just 500 metres down the beach, to the right of the jetty, there was a landing barge with its front landing-ramp down on the beach, and we parked in the car park near the town jetty.

Aaron, Jacky, Will and Chris joined me as we walked down the jetty towards the catamaran, which looks like to have a semi rigid rib on the back and two jet skis on the upper deck. We saw Patrick step onto the jetty, followed by Lance and his brother Travis, and walk towards us.

We were all wearing our new polo shirts with the logo on them, and I smiled as they approached. “Wow, your team had grown since you were last here,” Patrick said as he shook my hand, “Yes, you remember Will and Chris? Our new members are my cousin from the UK but now living in Australia, Aaron Tomlinson, and our Indigenous Expert, Jack Wimmera,” I said in reply.

“Nice to meet you both, g’day lads, how are the studies going at Uni?” Patrick said shaking their hands, “Good thanks Patrick, hello Lance and Travis, good to see you both,” Chris said.

“I see from your website that you have added us to your sponsorship page, thanks for that, and now I have an extra surprise for you, the barge you see down there is your transport, with Lance as it’s skipper. It is a little slower, but it will get you and your vehicle onto Grindal Island, which is a 36 kilometre journey, or if you like you can go to Grantham Island which is just 10 kilometres away,” Patrick announced.

“Do they have easy access to the island from the barge?” I asked, “Yes, although there is only one small rocky area that the barge can land on Grindal, while Grantham has some rock and sand areas, and both of the islands have a good amount of vegetation on them,” Patrick replied.

I turned to face Lance, “What is the barges cruising speed?” I asked, “Four knots, and to answer your next question, it is a 4 ½ hour journey to Grindal, and 1 ½ hour journey to Grantham,” Lance replied. “Go for Grantham I would suggest, and I believe it is in good sheltered waters too,” Will said to me, and Chris nodded in agreement, “Well it looks like we are going to Grantham Island then. What facilities do you have there?” I said to Patrick.

“None, that is why we are staying for the whole week, we have our own bunks on the barge, and there is a toilet and shower onboard, so all you need is your camping gear and we are set,” Lance responded. “Ok, well it looks like we are ready to go then, how do we get to the barge,” I stated.

“I will check in on you between charters, good luck,” Patrick said before heading back to the catamaran. “Jump in and lead the way,” I said to Lance and Travis, and a few minutes later we turned down Eyre Street, and the barge could be seen at the end, and turning around in the car park, I carefully reversed onto the ramp and the barge, with Jack doing the same with the second vehicle.

Once loaded, the ramp was raised, and Lance moved the barge away from the beach before swinging it around and heading out to the gulf. With the being very little room up on the bridge, we remained in our vehicles with the windows down to enjoy the sea air, and chatted on the radio between the two vehicles.

About half way through the journey, we noticed Travis on the main deck, under the bridge area, which has a open end and a half wall, so we climbed out and realising that there was plenty of space between the back of my vehicle and the front of the bridge, we looked around.

“Hey guys, did you make sure that your vehicles are in gear and the park brake is on?” Travis asked, and Jack went to double check the front vehicle, while I knew already, as I had checked it before leaving the vehicle. “If we were going to go to Grindal, I would have put chains on to secure the vehicles to the deck, but since we are going into sheltered waters, there is no need,” Travis said.

“Hey boss, if we put the vehicle side by side, there would be plenty of space for us to put the gazebos up on the deck, behind your vehicle,” Jack said to me, and I looked at the deck space and how much room the vehicles are taking. “What are the deck dimensions please Travis?” I asked.

“Sixteen by six metres, with this undercover area being four metres,” Travis mentioned. “Yes that is a great idea Jack, well done mate, and please don’t call me boss, as we are all part of a team,” I said to Jack. “Yes boss,” the rest of the team chorused, as Jack laughed, and I just groaned.

“Have a look over the side of the back section, it may interest you,” Travis said to us, and two of us went to one side and the other three to the other. “Oh wow, it has the project logo on it,” Chris said from the other side, “Yes as does the catamaran, this is Kuishi II, while the Cat is Kuishi 1,” Travis said to us.

“That must have cost your uncle a fortune to get sign written,” I commented to Travis, “I am not sure, but between the Glamping and the Cruises, Uncle Pat is doing very well for himself. Both of us are employed full time to transport supplies to Taylor and Grindal Islands, twice a week, and he has a crew of three to help him with the cruises and transporting guests to Little Taylor Island,” Travis said.

“What is happening on Grindal?” I asked, “Same as Little Taylor, boardwalks and camping platforms, which is what we do when not transporting supplies,” Travis replied. “So you have some basic facilities already there?” I asked.

“Yes, environmentally friendly showers and toilets in the centre of the island, and a small shed to accommodate two quad bikes, the same will happen on Grantham, once we have finished on Grindal” Travis replied. “So Patrick has no plans to have guests Glamping guests on the main Taylor Island?” I asked.

“No, that is his retreat, and after renovating the second cottage, he decided against leasing it out to holiday makers, and keep it for family and friends to stay in, which includes you lot,” Travis replied.

Once we had beached on the western side of the Grantham Island, with the slopes being fairly steep, we decided to keep the vehicles just on the rocky beach, as we headed off to explore the island, which we discovered is heavily vegetated, a lot more than on Taylor or Little Taylor Islands.

I planned to send a recommendation to Patrick, that Grantham Island remains a private wildlife retreat, and that no camping of any kind be allowed onto the island, with just boardwalks to protect the flora and fauna from any visitors.

When we returned, we found both vehicles parked on the rocky shores of the island, and there was a three by six metre gazebo set up at the back of the load area of the barge, and Lance and Travis were seated on chairs chatting. “I see you already have what we planned to do with our gazebos,” I said to the Palmerston brothers.

“Yes, no need to spoil your brand new ones, we always set this up when we are at one place for a few days,” Lance said in reply, as I spotted a large BBQ sitting along the back wall. “Looks like we don’t have to worry about our BBQ either,” Chris said as he indicated to the large one already on deck.

“Nope, we have that covered too, as we do all our cooking on it,” Travis said, and we have to work to retrieve out tables and chairs and swags to set up camp on the deck. Feeling a slight vibration, I presumed that the barge has a generator, as the engines were already off.

“Do you have power points for our car fridges?” I asked, “Yes on each wall there are double power points, so help yourself to them. The generator is on at the moment, but we will switch to our solar batteries soon, to conserve diesel fuel,” Lance said, as we pulled out the two fridges and plugged them in.

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, and enjoyed a great BBQ dinner on the deck of the barge, and we chatted as the sun set, and listened to the insects and other animals that come out at night. Early the next morning, we began setting out the traps and also the field cameras to see what we would catch, record and release.

Once completed, Will and I put on our scuba gear and prepared for a few swim sessions, while Jack, Chris and Aaron started doing some surveying of the birds on the island. Chris has printed out some sheets of the birds that we had seen on Taylor Island, for the others to easily able to identify the different birds.

During lunch, we discussed what we had each seen and recorded so far, and I was very pleased with what we had accomplished in just one half day. When the others went out to continue their work with the birds, Will and I remained at camp to record what we had seen so far in the waters around the island, and to allow our meal to digest some more before going down for our second dive.

After dinner that evening, while Aaron and Jack helped with cleaning up, Will, Chris and I were busy typing up our notes onto our laptop computers, before we retired for the night. The three of us had an early start in the morning, firstly to check the traps, and once recording down the animal’s details and releasing them, we gathered the night field cameras to see what has been caught on them.

At breakfast time on day four, after we had returned from checking the traps and bringing the cameras back to camp, I announced to the team that we would be taking the afternoon today off to just relax and enjoy the island, as we deserved a half day of rest.

“That is good as Uncle Patrick is coming with fresh supplies for us just before lunchtime,” Travis announced to us, “He wants to check up and see how you lot are going with your survey work too,” Lance added. “That will be good, I need to speak to him anyway, so today will be good,” I said in reply.

For Will and I our morning scuba session, was cut short as we had both had a run in with a great white shark, who had been watching us from a distance for about half an hour before starting to get closer to us. At that point, we decided to get the hell out of there, keeping a very close eye in him as we returned to the island, and we were glad to step onto the rocky shore unharmed, as we took of our fins, and walked around to where the barge is located about 800 metres away.

“You guys are back early, having problems?” Lance commented as we stepped onto the barge and began to remove our scuba equipment from our backs, “Yes, we had a problem, a big scaring one, in the form of a Great White,” Will commented, and I could see that he was a bit shaken up by the encounter.

“He was watching us from a distance for sometime, before he began to get closer, that is when we headed back to the island,” I added, “Cripes, that is not good,” Travis said, “Yea, I think we are done with doing ocean surveys for now,” I said in response.

When the rest of the team returned for lunch, and found out about the shark, they asked if we were ok, and I let them know that I was fine. Will however was a bit shaken up by the whole thing, and I was keeping a close eye on him, and that I have terminated any further ocean surveys for now.