Simba - 3. Simba Ch 3

I sat down with my friends to relax and enjoy the rest of the trip, as we passed the southern tip of Boston Island, and continued towards Cape Donington. When the catamaran arrived at the jetty, all we could see is a large boat shed, and a boat ramp, with a dirt track leading up onto the island.

Lance went ahead to the shed, and soon came out with a buggy with six seats, and he stopped near us at the start of the jetty, where we climbed onboard and we were soon climbing up the track, following along the coast, passing a small shed and soon after we stopped outside a small cottage.

“This is your home for the next seven days, if you have any problems I will be around the island somewhere or in the cottage just up the road, and Lance will return with your supplies for the week,” Patrick said to us, as we climbed off the buggy along with our luggage.

When we entered the cottage, there was a fire going in the double stove, in the kitchen area with a basic dining and lounge area, and there are three doors along the back wall. I opened the centre door, which revealed a spacious bathroom, while Will opened the left door which revealed a bedroom with two king single beds, “I guess this is Chris and my room,” Will said as he stepped inside with Chris leaving me to open the right hand side door, which revealed another bedroom with a double bed in it.

Once we had unpacked, we walked back to the lounge area, and shortly afterwards there was a knock on the front door, which opened with Lance standing there. “I have your food supplies for the week, if you would like to assist me,” Lance said as he stepped away from the door, and we followed him outside.

“You also have the use of this quad bike, with the only condition that you stick to the existing tracks and not travel at speed around the island,” Lance said to us, as he unstrapped the two eskies and the large box that contain our supplies, which we carried inside and put away.

When we returned to the quad bike, there was no sign of Lance, so I jumped onto the quad bike and drove it under the eaves of the cottage, and returning inside we looked at what we have in the way of supplies. “Looks like we have plenty of meat; beef, lamb and pork. Plenty of fresh food and vegies, plus plenty of bottled water and fruit juice and some snack foods,” Chris said to us.

“I noticed a barbeque out the back, so we can have plenty of BBQ dinners to make it easy,” I added, with the other two nodding in agreement. After a bit of a relaxing rest of the morning, we made up some sandwiches for lunch, and with it been fairly warm outside, we ate them inside.

After cleaning up, we grabbed our hats, sunblock and headed outside, we headed northwards to the top of the island, which was an easy 400-metre walk, and from that location, and we could see Little Taylor Island, just 500-metres away.

We were about to continue hiking, when a semi rigid dinghy appeared from the west end of Little Taylor Island, and it looked to be heading for the small beach that we had walked a short time ago, so we went back to the beach.

It was Lance in the Dinghy when we arrived on the beach and he suggested we jump onboard, and he will take us over to the little island, and reminded us not to go swimming between the islands, because of the Great White sharks that are around.

Once on the little island, Lance lead us to a short set of stairs that lead to a boardwalk, and we followed him along the boardwalk, until we came to a semi cleared area, where another quad bike was parked, that has a large box on the back that was full of tools.

“Welcome to Little Taylor Island, would you like to help put together one of the four platforms that we are building for Eco Camping?” Patrick asked us, and with out hesitation, we stepped off the boardwalk, and we got down working and by the end of the afternoon, we had nearly completed building one platform.

“Its amazing what a few extra hands will do to get the job done, thanks lads,” Patrick said to us as we began to load the tools back into the box. “What time would you like us back here tomorrow?” Chris asked.

“How about we let you relax during the mornings and come over here after lunch, that we can get these platforms finished by the end of the week, and start getting the Eco Tents assembled, ready for guests,” Patrick said to us, and we happily agreed to this.

After having a hot shower, we cooked dinner on the BBQ, out on the back patio, before eating dinner inside, as there were too many mosquitoes around, before we cleaned up and relaxed on the lounge with our own laptop computers.

“What are you up too there Jacob, looks like you are working on something serious, with that expression on your face,” Will asked me, and I chuckled. “Nothing important, I just had an idea on my mind, and I wanted to try and see if it is possible to make a bigger more useful version of it,” I replied, and that caught Will and Chris’s attention, as they put their laptops down and moved over to where I am seated, to see what I was doing.

“It looks like one of those collapsible crates that you can get from the hardware store,” Will commented, “It is, and I was thinking, that we all have three unique areas of expertise that we are studying that could work well together. I was looking at the possibility of having a collapsible compact building, that are fairly light and can be easily transported to remote locations, and set up almost anywhere, to be used as research bases,” I commented.

“Brilliant idea, I have actually seen something that is like what you are working on, which is a shipping container, with two pull out sections, which triples the size in area. When closing the two outer sections, the flooring of the two sections, fold up to make into one neat bundle that is about 20 by 6.5 metres, but because it is a shipping container, it is quite heavy,” Will commented.

“Show me where I can see that, I wonder if we could maybe make a lighter version of that,” I asked, as I handed over my laptop to Will, and soon we were looking at photos of the shipping container that expands to almost three sizes in width, which is almost the same size in length.

“Hang on, I remember seeing something about a company that builds fold up buildings and eating areas and all sorts of things,” Chris said as he grabbed his laptop and began searching. Here it is, the company is called Ten Fold Engineering, and it has some incredible designs,” Chris announced.

We spent the next twenty minutes watching a series of video clips showing how these fold out buildings become a large living or workspace out of a box that can be easily transported, and all three of us were amazed at what this company can do.

“I think after seeing this, that we need to save up big time, or get some financial backing to try and get one of these buildings, as I think it would be perfect for us,” I commented, and my two friends agreed. “Maybe we can find a way of building a cheaper version that is a lot lighter, and not so complicated in engineering,” Will commented, “That is why I was looking at the fold down crates, if we can do something like that, it would be good,” I replied.

For the next five days, we spent the mornings taking walks around the island, and straight after an early lunch we headed over to Little Taylor Island to help with the building of the remaining three platforms for eco camping. Patrick also decided to build gazebos instead of open lookout platforms at each end of the island, plus another two gazebos, midway on each side of the island.

It was sad that we had to leave the island, when it was time to head home for Christmas, as we had achieved quite a lot during our stay, and after a short flight we arrived in Adelaide mid morning on Christmas Eve, before we went our separate ways to be with family for Christmas.

“Hey Uncle, I am home,” I called out as I entered the front door of home and nearly tripped on a bunch of suitcases, and I was about to ask who’s luggage it is when, “Surprise,” came the shout from two unexpected but welcomed people.

“Mum, Dad, you are home, this is awesome,” I responded after recovering from the shock, and I saw Uncle Nat smiling as he stood a little back from my parents who I hugged for ages, as I had not seen them in nearly two years. “We thought we would surprise you, but shocked when you were not home at all,” dad said to me.

“Yes, well blame Uncle Nat for that, he is the one who arranged it all, and we had a great time on the island,” I responded, “Yes, Nat has been telling us all about it, sounds like a very interesting place,” Mum said to me. “It is great, and we have decided to go back there after the Christmas New Year break, for another two weeks,” I replied.

“I am glad that you said after the New Year, as we will be here until four days after the New Year before we fly back to Canada,” dad said to me, as we sat down in the lounge to catch up on news on what is happening in Canada. With my parents announcing that, they will be extending their stay for another three years, as they have grown to enjoy the lifestyle they have there.

My parents grilled me on how my studies are going at university, as well asking how I am coping with my artificial foot, in particular if it is causing me any issues, and I assured them that it was fine, and there is no need to worry about me.

After lunch, while Mum and Dad were catching a nap to try and overcome the jet lag, I sent a text message to Will and Chris, “Hey guys, just to let you know that my folks are home for the Christmas and New Year break, and they head back to Canada on the 5^th of January.

I will arrange with Patrick to head back to the island on about the 8^th of January. Merry Christmas, see you in the New Year, if not before, Jacob.” Once I had sent the message, I changed and headed out to the swimming pool to do some laps, to get rid of some of the energy that I have built up.”

Christmas time was a great time for our family, Mum and Dad had bought me a heap of quirky presents from Canada, including a stuffed Moose cuddly toy, which I thought was a little lame, but I still thanked them for it.

On Boxing day to try and work off all the food that we ate, we had a tournament of tennis between the four of us, and I ended up being the better player out of everyone, no doubt from all the practice I have been getting from the lads, on the weekends.

For the nearly two weeks that my parents were home, we went to the beach, checked out some of the wildlife parks, went for a day trip to Murray Bridge, and took a half day trip on the paddle steamer boat. From the house which has a great view of the city in the distance, we were able to watch the fireworks on New Years eve, which was always great to watch, and for that whole time I was really happy to be with all the family again.

On the day before Mum and Dad were due to leave, the lads returned to the house, and we had a big BBQ dinner on the patio, and a swim in the pool, and I caught up on all the news of the Harding and Hammond families over the Christmas break.

The next morning I was up early, as Mum and Dad had to leave early to catch their flight, so we had breakfast together, and Uncle Nat drove all flour of us to the airport, while the lads slept in. I was feeling quite down with my folks leaving the country again, not sure, how long it will be before I see them again.

After we saw my folks off at the airport, Uncle Nat took me to the beach for a bit if a long stroll and try to cheer me up a bit. “I have some news for you, we will be having a special guest coming to visit us for a few weeks, once you have returned from Taylor Island and before you go back to University,” Uncle Nat announced to me.

“Let me guess, would it be a lady I have known all my life, and calls me by my nickname all the time, and mostly in Swahili?” I asked and Uncle Nat laughed, “Good guess nephew, yes she has decided to come and visit her favourite person, as Afya has said that she has missed you, since you have returned to Australia,” Uncle Nat replied.

“Uncle Nat, I would like some advice please, you know how Will, Chris and I are all studied different areas of science, well I have been thinking about maybe building a company that can put all of our talents together, and they have agreed.

I have come up with an idea of trying to find a way of building a lightweight easy to transport building module that folds up for transport, but unfolds to about triple the size when opened up. Chris showed us this website of a UK company that produces incredible buildings that unfold into amazing setups, but they look far too expensive to be able to afford anything like it,” I said to my Uncle.

“Would that be Ten Fold Engineering by any chance?” Uncle Nat asked me, “Yeah, it is how do you know about them?” I asked. “Because, I am part of a team within the Army that is looking at the possibilities of their uses out in the field, and I have just had a great idea,” Uncle Nat replied, as he retrieved his phone and dialled a number.

“Sir, this is Nathan Blackwood, sorry to disturb you on a Saturday, I have just had and idea that may be very useful with our special project Birds Nest,” I heard uncle Nat say into the phone. “Yes sir, I will be there in ninety minutes, thankyou, goodbye,” Uncle Nat said after listening for a short moment.

“Come on Nephew, we have an appointment with my boss, but we need to call into home and change first,” Uncle Nat said to me, without explaining what his idea was, as we walked back to the car parked across the road from the Seacliff Hotel.

“Where exactly are we going, to Warradale Base? I asked, “No, we are going to RAAF Edinburgh, which is where I have been working since just before you left to go to Taylor Island. It is where the Army and Airforce are working together to try and find better solutions to have base camps when on manoeuvres as well as when out on the field in battle,” Uncle Nat replied.

“Wow that sounds really interesting so, why do you want me to be involved?” I asked, “Because dear nephew, I have only just started researching this Ten Fold Engineering Company and it sounds like that you have been researching it for a lot longer than me, I hope that your uniform is clean and pressed, as we will need to be giving a good impression,” Uncle Nat replied.

“I might need to quickly iron them, as I haven’t used my Army uniform in quite a while, I am not even sure that I will fit into it,” I replied, “Never mind, if they don’t fit you can just wear a suit, do you still have your Army ID somewhere safe?” Uncle Nat asked, “Yes, I always keep that safe,” I replied.