The group was lucky. The weather was good for a few days after the yacht went out to sea. At most, there were strong winds and waves, but there were no rainstorms.
The yacht needed a name, and Li Du named it Lee Martin. Brother Wolf looked it up on the Internet and said that no Australian ships had this name, so they could use it.
Li Du also felt that no one would use this name. It was too strange. If his surname was not Li and Sophie's surname was not Martin, he would not have used such a name.
Sophie designed a logo for the boat, which was two hands holding each other under the starry sky.
Every night, he would shake hands with Li Du and lie on the top of the boat to look at the starry sky.
Li Du was very happy on the voyage, but not when he arrived in Hobart. Bull Stuart and Tony Theodore were waiting for him at the dock, or rather, waiting for his bank card.
One of them was a senior real estate agent of Red Oak, the largest real estate trading company in Australia, and the other was the director of the Australian National Land Asset Strategy Center. They were experts in purchasing real estate.
Li Du also arranged for two lawyers to assist them. With these four as the backbone, the four of them used their own connections to form an island buying team.
The process of buying the island was smooth, but it was time-consuming. The Tasmanian and Australian governments, as well as the Department of Defense and the Navy, all needed to inspect and review Seagull Island.
If the island was related to national defense, then Seagull Island would not be sold. That was the most fundamental problem.
Another point was that if there were mineral resources and chemical energy on the island, they would not be sold either. Even if they were sold, they would be put on the shelves at a sky-high price of one billion dollars.
The Australian government was a rascal. In the end, they did not find any resources on the island. Even so, they forcibly raised the price of Seagull Island by several levels in the name of black gold abalone growing and the beautiful island with developed geothermal energy.
The two initially valued Seagull Island at less than one-fifth of the transaction price, but the Australian and Tasmanian governments were so arrogant that they forcibly raised the price.
After the two sides met, Bull complained, "These bureaucrats are too greedy. They will do anything to raise the price!"
"Can't you lower the price? Negotiate the price again, "Li Du said with a frown. A price of 170 million dollars was too high.
Bull spread his hands helplessly and said, "Mr. Li, we have no choice. After we proposed the idea of buying the island, do you know what the Australian government did?"
"What is it?"
"They're negotiating with us while putting the island up for auction and accepting offers from others to put pressure on us."
Li Du asked, "Besides me, is there anyone else interested in the island?"
Boer let out a bitter laugh and said, "Not many individuals are interested in it. However, some enterprises, the National Oceanic Administration, the Fisheries Administration, and other state organizations are interested in it and have participated in the bidding."
What could Li Du say? With such an unreasonable and shameless government, he would have to pay a high price to buy Seagull Island.
Fortunately, the opal mine on the island did not exist on the surface, but under the ore. Furthermore, the exposed opal could only be found from the ocean, so the government did not discover the mine.
Otherwise, Li Du could forget about buying the island.
Originally, he could have bought Seagull Island at a price of 30 to 40 million. It was tantamount to picking up a bargain, and the return was very high.
If he were to buy the island at this price, he would be able to make a huge profit. As long as he could develop the opal mine on the island, he would be able to earn money for decades.
Moreover, even if the mine was finished, the island would still be valuable. The scenery there was beautiful and the location was excellent. He could develop it into a holiday resort.
Nowadays, most of the private islands on the ocean had been developed into tourist attractions.
Accompanied by Boer, Li Du began to contact the Tasmanian land management department. The latter had already processed the various documents for the sale of the island. Li Du just had to take out the money and sign the documents.
Tasmania was very concerned about this matter. After all, the entire state did not have a pillar industry and could only rely on tourism for development. The state government's revenue was the lowest in Australia.
The price of Seagull Island was 174 million US dollars, or more than 200 million Australian dollars. The Tasmanian government's quarterly tax revenue was only that much.
So, could they not care less about this matter?
The high price of Seagull Island was also related to the local economic situation.
Tasmania was far away from the mainland of Australia and had always been regarded as an adopted state. There were no development policies or large-scale government-guided investments. The island could only rely on its own nature to attract tourists and develop tourism.
Among them, the local real estate industry was also part of the tourism industry. Most people who bought land there were attracted by the island's beautiful scenery and suitable climate.
The sale of islands was also part of the real estate industry. Every island was a pillar of the state government's tourism industry, or at least a pillar of publicity. Although there were no tourists on Seagull Island, the government and the tourism bureau still believed that it had a significant impact on the tourism industry.
Li Du had to pay for the tourism industry for the next 20 years. Part of the 170 million was compensation for losses given by the tourism bureau.
Anyway, this was Australia's territory and Tasmania's territory. Li Du had no say here. He could only carry out what the government said.
After all, he was not here to invest but to buy their resources. Of course, the government would not give him preferential terms.
Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Aaron Lint Wood, Tasmania's Governor Brusno Kyle, the speaker of the state parliament, Daniel Derrick, and other national dignitaries attended the signing of the island.
They had wanted to hold a press conference to publicize the island, which had been sold at the highest price in history.
However, Li Du wanted to keep a low profile. The reason was that he would be living alone overseas in the future. If he was too high-profile, it would easily attract the attention of criminals.
These bigwigs could only regretfully agree to his request. They did not hold a press conference but held a separate signing ceremony.
When signing the contract, Li Du felt that the money was well spent.
It was like signing a contract for compensation. The Australian and Tasmanian governments were on the losing side. It was quite interesting to see the expressions on these people's faces.
After signing the contract, Li Du began to remit money to the state finance department in batches.
Governor Brusno shook hands with him and said enthusiastically, "Mr. Li, congratulations on becoming the owner of Australia's largest private island. I hope we can continue to work together in the future. I hope you can introduce us to more friends who are interested in the island."
Tasmania was Australia's Thousand Islands State. Islands of all sizes were scattered all over the place. Of course, most of them were small islands of only a few hectares.
Li Du agreed readily and said that he would introduce his rich friends to the island. However, he had a request. The Tasmanian government had to help develop Seagull Island.
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