Chapter 05

Weekend and Monday

Saturday morning is busy with the processing of all of the paperwork and signatures. Ernie spends the afternoon working on his book, except for his shower and the changing of his bandages. Another dinner served by Gayatri, and a typical early night.

Sunday morning Ernie is up and at the local Uniting Church service to see what it’s like. Lunch at an eatery on his way back to the hotel, and the rest of the day is like Saturday.

Monday Morning

The documents for the ownership changes and selling Wells Farm to the trust are processed. Thus making Mount Station ninety percent of what it was in the first place. Also, an agreement is in place to sell the trust the last ten percent with a bit more land. When that’s enacted the property will be five percent bigger than before it was when first broken up. The other two properties are revalued as a paperwork exercise with the transfer of Wells Number 2 Farm settling the rest of the debt Argent owes to Wells and it has a credit with them.

Will has a huge smile when he rings Jason to say, “Jason, you have to go and organise employment paperwork for some new employees as well as sorting out how to incorporate their fields and work with the rest of the trust property.” He waits a moment, “Yeah, the farm is bigger because I just bought a place called Wells Farm.” A pause, “I know you haven’t heard of it. Until the weekend it was two farms known as Jim’s Farm and Jack’s Farm, and now it’s all part of Mount Station. I agreed to keep the current staff on, so go get them signed up.” Another break, “I didn’t do anything. You can blame Ernie for all of this extra work for you. Of course, we’ll have to give you a decent bump in pay now you have so much more responsibility. Somehow, I don’t think you’ll object to that.” After a little more talk he hangs up then he looks at Ernie, “Jason thinks you’re a miracle worker to get those two back into the fold. His family has worked on Mount Station since the first day and they never liked it being split up, so he’s real glad to have some more of it come back while he’s in charge of the property. I think he’ll cry when he learns about the other deal.”

The rest of the morning is spent with Will, John, and Ernie in the court or waiting to appear before the court while they process the rest of the paperwork. They finish at the court and go to lunch before John and Will go to finalise arrangements with various utilities about the different properties. During the day Ernie’s last legal action as Ernest Wells is to give Peter a power of attorney for the disposal of his apartment as he already has the legal authorities to manage the rest of his affairs.

By mid-afternoon John is officially the CEO of Argent Enterprises, a fully owned subsidiary of Wells Enterprises, and he’s the local Rivers rep for Wells Enterprises, a Sydney based company. Ernie is now legally Ernest Major Mount and the Board Chairman of Wells Enterprises and Argent Enterprises as well the Managing Director of Mount Station and on the Mount Station Trust Board.

Late Monday afternoon Ernie and John are on the phone to Peter and Peter asks, “What the hell is going on down there? Last week I had to organise with the bank to allow for a huge overdraft then approval to go about twenty percent more again, watched you pay it all out, and now over eighty percent of it’s paid back. Also, John had me signing so many papers I didn’t have time to read them all.”

John and Ernie laugh before Ernie says, “OK! Here’s the story. On Thursday and Friday I made deals to buy a lot of farm land. Most of it was two working farms in top condition. I got them for appraised value less ten percent for immediate payment in a walk in walk out type deal. The previous owners left on the weekend. I then merged the two blocks and sold them on Monday for their full appraised value. Technically, I made a good profit on them. At the same time I bought two other farms, one the same size as those and one a quarter of the size with no water and not worked for years, I did a similar deal there and I got the last one for ten percent off. All up it was about a sixth of the price of either of the first two for a quarter of the land. The other one was the same size as the first one but I got it for a third of what I should have paid for the first one. The cheap price was due to it having a few issues, one of which is an outstanding major court case that could cost millions, for which I got a simple out of court settlement arranged because I sold the other party the first two properties for their full value.”

“Damn! Sounds like you did some great deals and ended up with a lot of land for next to nothing. Well, the bank is happy to have all of their money back plus a few days’ interest on it for no real work or worries by them. I told them to cut the overdraft back to the usual level. Now what will you do with the land?”

“I’ll let you and John sort out the details. I’ve given him a general brief on what I want done with the smaller property on Barker Road. One of you will need to do some research for the other property. I need three or four plants for making bio-diesel with all of the information you can get on the performance of the various plant options and crop performances so we can do some real testing. Each of the first three plants should be able to process half of the crop output of Wells Number Two Farm in a fair time frame. One plant will be dedicated to process material from Mount Station as part of the out of court settlement deal and the others will be used to experiment with various crops etcetera on the farm. I want to end up with specifications on the best crops to grow here to have a good run of materials into the plants and still get a good diesel from it. I hope to end up with a series of crops that can be harvested in a way to keep a steady flow to the plants over the year.”

John says, “Ernie, some time back I did some research on bio-diesel for a friend and I found it was not a viable operation unless done in big plants and huge crops.”

Ernie replies, “I saw some information like that too. However, I did dig into it a bit. Part of the problem was the huge costs related to large scale commercial operations. Look, I know many people who run very small backyard bio-diesel plants to save a fortune in fuel. Why is it they can do that but a company can’t do it commercially? The answer is very simple and obvious when you think about it: Bureaucrats and their bullshit rules. You can manufacture all the bio-diesel you want to make and they don’t care. However, the moment you want to store a million litres in one location or sell a single litre of it they have a truck load of rules and regulations and inspections you have to comply with. They also have a load of fees and licences you need to have to operate. The cost of running a plant making a thousand litres a year for personal use is only a tenth of the cost of running the same plant for making fuel for commercial sale.”

Peter jumps in, “So you want to work out what’s best for a small to medium farmer to use to make his own fuel to become independent of the fuel companies. Is that it?”

“Exactly! On a farm there’s a lot of vegetable waste that can go into such a plant. They can turn that waste into fuel to reduce operating costs. They can dedicate a small section of their crops, probably grown in an out of the way area, that can be used just to reduce fuel costs.”

They discuss his plans in more detail then they end the discussion with plans for John and Peter to often talk a lot so they can co-ordinate the two businesses and what’s to happen on the lands involved.

After John leaves Ernie has his shower and rings to let Nurse Mason know he’s ready for new bandages. While packing up after billing him and being paid she says, “I’ll miss this little job. Easy work, good pay, and some interesting events to watch. Take care on your bus ride home tomorrow. I’ll look forward to seeing you down here in the future.”

Ernie thanks her for her care while they walk out together so he can go and have dinner at Mistri Meals.

On his walk to the restaurant he thinks on the purchases and sales. Using Jack’s Farm as the baseline measure for size and value he bought three farms of that size and one a quarter of its size. Two were valued the same at full price while The Daniels Farm was only a third of it due to the contamination, and Fred’s Folly’s was at twenty percent due to a cut for the lack of water. What he paid was ninety percent for the first two, one third of a unit for the third and sixteen percent of a unit for the last, making the total expenditure of almost two and a quarter times the valuation for Jack’s Farm. Then he sold the first two for full value, so he now has two farms totalling one and a quarter the size of Jack’s Farm and he paid less than a quarter of the value of Jack’s Farm for them. A great deal. By the time he’s finished with them they’ll be worth a lot more.

After his meal with Gayatri flirting with him Ernie goes back to the hotel for a very early night so he can be up early to catch the bus to Sydney tomorrow.

The Rest of the Week

The driver on the bus back to Sydney is a different one but he has the rear corner seat reserved for Ernie, so that’s where he sits with his staff resting in the corner beside him. He left his new cane with John to look after because he can’t handle both on the bus. Like he did on the trip down Ernie bribes the driver with food to get his meal when they stop for morning-tea and lunch.

At just after 5:00 p.m. Ernie is checking his mail while he walks back to his apartment. Being very concerned about the gang he’s constantly checking all around him while he walks, but he sees nothing untoward.

An early night plus an early start on Wednesday morning. He’s away for almost a week and there’s no mail to be concerned about, part of this is due to him having all of his regular bills paid from his bank account. The apartment is clean because Maria has a key to let herself in to clean it every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at a time that suits her.

Ernie has his breakfast, works on his latest book a bit, and he’s making a few phone calls to check things when Maria arrives to clean house. He smiles as he asks, “Maria, do you know someone who’d like to buy an apartment in this complex?”

Her reply is, “I’ve a cousin who’d like to buy an apartment. But none are for sale. Why?”

After opening a drawer he pulls out one of Peter’s cards, “Give him this card and tell him this unit is for sale. Peter will handle the matter. I’ve got to leave Sydney so I’m selling as soon as I can get a buyer. If your cousin buys the place I’ll pay you the same commission I’d have paid an agent to sell it.”

“I can do with the money, but I’ll miss talking to you and being paid to clean here each week.”

“Maybe your cousin needs a cleaner! Talk to Peter as once the sale of here is done I can have him use the money to pay-out your mortgage and you can have a loan at a lower interest rate from me.”

“Won’t you need the money to buy your new place?”

“No. I’ll be living in work provided housing on the job site. So the money from here will only be invested. I can invest it by giving you a lower mortgage or by putting it in the bank. I prefer the first option.”

“I’ll call my cousin. How soon can he move in?”

“I can be out by the end of next week, maybe sooner.” They chat a bit more before she starts on the cleaning.

Ernie sits at his computer and he sends Peter an email about his talk with Maria plus the possible loan from the sale money. After doing a bit of Internet research he’s busy deciding what he’s taking and what he isn’t, then he’s packing up as much as he can. Some of the decisions are easy because it’s way too much trouble to take items like the furniture in the spare bedroom, the lounges, refrigerator, washing machine, and dryer so he offers them to Maria. She’s very happy to have them, and organises relatives to move them for her on Saturday. She’ll put her old ones in the apartment for her cousin to use. A few items like the dishwasher and the stove go with the apartment. He’ll leave the patio furniture because it’s not worth the effort to disassemble and take. However, all the cooking gear, cutlery, crockery, and linen will go into boxes to take with him, despite them having to stay in storage for a few months while the Mount Manor is refurbished. His special furniture like his bed, sound system cabinet, computer desk, and media storage are designed for easy disassembly and movement so they’re made ready to go. In three days it’s all packed and in a storage cube for removal.

Note: Maria’s cousin buys the apartment then a new loan on her apartment is organised through Peter at a rate a little above what the bank pays in savings bank interest and well below their home loan interest rates. Thus Maria’s payments are cut by a third to make her finances a lot easier to manage. The new owner, Maria’s cousin, is single so he hires her to clean for him at the same rate Ernie paid her.

The Wizard’s Wagon

Saturday morning Ernie wakes up on the spare bed. This morning Maria is taking it and he’s leaving the apartment. His special car ordered last month is ready to collect as it was finished late yesterday and he’ll collect it today. Peter is still sorting out the paperwork for the apartment sale, but Maria’s cousin has approval to move in this weekend. Several boxes of clothes and camping gear are waiting to be packed in Ernie’s new car when he collects it, and then he’s done here in Sydney.

Maria arrives at 8:00 a.m. with several helpers, by 11:00 a.m. the stuff she’s being given is in her apartment and her old stuff is in Ernie’s for her cousin to use, thus saving him a few purchases. The last of Ernie’s stuff is in Maria’s place, for now. The cousin arrives, is introduced, and handed the keys. He’s very happy with the great view and location. He’s given a walk through the apartment while Maria gives it a final clean, then he’s supervising moving his gear into the apartment.

Ernie leaves him to that and he has lunch with Maria.

After lunch Ernie takes a taxi to visit a friend who’s building a vehicle for him. The original unit was a long wheelbase Land Rover made for the Australian Army. Joshua, Ernie’s mechanic friend, bought a few of them for next to nothing because they’re being replaced. A couple were damaged and at scrap prices so he’s done something special for Ernie with one of the scrap trucks. Now it’s nothing like the original ones.

Joshua takes Ernie to look at his new truck when Ernie arrives at the workshop. At two and a half metres wide, six and a half metres long, a top two point four metres off the ground, and with a ground clearance of half a metre it’s a big truck and the twin double rear wheels give it ten wheels. Joshua used a mix of ideas he and Ernie had in building this truck. The 2.5 litre diesel engine drives a generator with an electric motor attached to each of the six wheel units, thus no drive shaft or long axles. The only things under the chassis are the suspension, the steering motors, and the wheel units. With a motor attached to each wheel unit this vehicle has six independent suspension units. The bottom has a smooth protective skid plate that reduces the risk of damage when driven over rough terrain.

Before taking Ernie to his truck Joshua shows him the prototype he made for himself. The original vehicles had a typical 4WD boxy look to them, but these don’t. The overall look is a very rounded, streamlined front in a wedge style. Joshua says, “As you can see, we did the front with well rounded corners. That’s for ease of turning clearance and improved streamlining. The wedge style front helps to hold it on the ground at high speed and it also lets any people you may hit fall onto the bonnet with less harm. The two ridges on the side help with the air flow and they also stop people from sliding off it. All windows are made of the best bullet resistant material I could get hold of while the body is also made of high impact resistant materials. That’s the main reason for the high cost. However, this truck is built so solid it’ll need a head on with a semi at high speed to do it any real damage. You’ll also love the ease of use and fuel economy I get out of the hybrid system.”

Ernie grins, “Good! That’s what I was hoping for with the motor design. This way you can run the diesel engine up to its best speed and leave it there while using the batteries to adjust the actual drive load and power usage.”

“Well, it works! Also, the streamlining cuts the fuel use too. I’ve one with the original engine and this body which uses less fuel.” He opens the back door as the car has a large van-style back on it. The two look in as Joshua says, “As you can see, there’s plenty of headroom in the back but the front cabin roof is a bit lower. That’s because I installed the air-conditioner on the roof over the driver’s cabin. That allowed me to seal the entire vehicle below the door windows. Because they can be wound down they aren’t water tight, but the rest of the vehicle is.” Ernie turns to stare at him with one raised eyebrow. “I’ve set the two front seats in a more upright position, thus the windows are higher and you can safely ford a stream up to one and a half metres deep. All three doors have water tight seals. In deep water it has some buoyancy but it doesn’t float. I had a test unit in three and a half metres of water. With sealed windows it lost a third of its traction but it still sat on the bottom and was under the surface. The exterior locks are the driver’s door and the rear door, both are high security ones with coded signals in the keys. The two front captain’s chairs can turn around and those two benches behind them will each seat four people so the approved capacity is ten adults, each of the seat positions has a racing style harness for safety.”