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"Mum, what’s that smell?" Boomerang
asked, sniffing the air.
The other animals, squished in
Wandi’s pouch with the joey, began sniffing too. "I smell it! There must
be a fire. It’s smoke!" Banjori said.
Wandi stopped hopping. "It is a
fire. Look over there," she said, pointing to billowing smoke.
"The bush is on fire. Oh no! We’d
better get out of here. Bushfires spread quickly," Daku said.
"Mum, hop to the nearest billabong.
I don’t want to get burned," Boomerang cried.
The sounds of the grass burning
frightened the animals. "When the fire hits those eucalyptus trees, we’re
going to hear some explosions. I know the leaves are filled with
eucalyptus oil. It burns hot and it burns fast," Jiba warned. "You’d
better listen to Boomerang and get to the billabong as fast as you can."
Wandi looked at the orange flames.
She could hear the popping and crackling of trees as the flames engulfed
them.
"They say when it’s a windy day and
there’s a fire in the bush, it’s a very dangerous thing," Tinka added.
"Think of all the other animals caught in it. I hope they are able to
escape."
When they arrived at the billabong,
they were surprised to see hundreds of other bush animals crowded around
and standing in the water. Smoke was thick in the air and hot embers,
carried by the wind, were landing in the surrounding grasses. Huge, hot
clouds formed above the fire. "I’m frightened, Mum," the joey cowered.
"Everybody get out of my pouch and
go into the billabong," Wandi shouted, seeing the flames moving closer and
closer. "Hurry!"
The koala, wombat, echidna, skink,
kookaburra, platypus, spider and two kangaroos squeezed into the crowded
pool of water. "What if there’s a croc in here?" Kiah worried.
"That’s the least of our worries,"
Yindi said. "Look who’s over there." She pointed to the other side of the
billabong.
"Oh no! It’s Boomer and Old Man!"
Nimu sighed.
"They’ve not seen us yet, so don’t
worry. There’s too much smoke. They’re more worried about saving their own
hides than about us," Wandi said, calmly.
For hours the fire raged around
them. Cries of fear filled the air as the smoke grew thicker and thicker.
Luckily, as night fell, the winds died down and the fire ran out of fuel
around the billabong. "Everything’s so black now," Jiba said. "Look at the
trees. There is nothing left but charcoal stumps."
"The ground’s burnt too," Daku
noted.
All night the animals stayed in the
water. When the sun rose in the morning the first animal crawled out onto
the blackened ground. "It’s not hot anymore," the dingo shouted. "You can
all come out."
Wandi and the others walked out of
the water. "I want to go home, Mum," Boomerang sobbed. "I don’t like it
here anymore. I want to find our baobab forest."
"Now, now, Boomerang. We’ll get home
soon. Don’t cry," Wandi said, patting the joey’s head.
"Well, well, well. If it isn’t our
friends," Boomer said, hopping towards the group. "Look what the fire
brought to us." Old Man hopped along beside him.
"The flyer! You’ve got a powerful
kick there," Old Man said.
"Where are you going to hide this
time? There are no trees and there’s no croc to protect you," Boomer
snarled.
"Everyone inside the pouch," Wandi
ordered. They quickly climbed inside her pocket.
"Oh no you don’t. You’re not getting
away that fast," Old Man said. He was standing on Wandi’s tail so she
couldn’t hop.
Just then a burnt branch fell from
the only remaining tree. It landed on the ground right next to the two
kangaroos. Boomer jumped and Old Man fell over with a fright. Seeing a
chance to escape, Wandi hopped away as fast as she could. The ground was
hot in parts but she kept on hopping. The others looked at the destruction
done by the bushfire as they hurried away. "Mum, hop fast. Don’t let them
catch us!" Boomerang yelled.
Wandi wasn’t sure which direction
she should go. There were no trees or landmarks. All she could see was a
huge red rock off in the distance. "Is that Ayer’s Rock?" Tinka asked.
"It looks like it," Wandi said.
"I’ll head for it. We can climb to the top and have a better view. I’ve no
idea where else to go." Soon they found themselves standing at the bottom
of the giant rock mountain. "It’s much bigger than I thought. I can’t hop
to the top with you all inside. You’ll have to get out and climb it
yourselves."
After listening to the others
moaning and grumbling about it, Banjori started to climb. "This is much to
steep for a koala," he found himself complaining.
"How can that be?" the wombat asked.
"Koala’s climb trees every day."
 "Yes, but this is different. It’s
like having a hundred trees on top of each other," Banjori answered.
"I suggest you just keep moving,"
Daku replied. "I’m a wombat and I never climb, but if Boomer and Old Man
come, we’ll wish we’d gone up faster."
"You’re right," Banjori said and
made his way up the rock.
The echidna couldn’t roll up the
mountain. She had to use her feet. "I’m sure it will be much more fun
coming down," Jiba said. Her spikes were dark and dirty with smoke, much
like the other animal’s fur and skin.
"I’m only a small lizard. I have to
take ten steps for every one of yours," Tinka said, but kept climbing.
"This is one time I’m glad I have
wings," Yindi laughed. "I can fly most of the way."
"Can I sit on your back? Will you
give me a ride?" the trap door spider asked. "I’d have to take one
thousand steps for every one of Banjori’s."
"Hop on, Nimu," Yindi said. The
spider climbed onto her feathered back and grabbed hold.
Wandi saw that Kiah was having a
hard time climbing. Platypuses have webbed feet and can’t walk well on the
ground. They do much better in the water. "Get in my pouch with
Boomerang," Wandi said. "This is much to difficult a climb for you."
Kiah was grateful and joined the
joey in the pouch. The others weren’t too happy with that but kept going.
After a few hours they reached the
top. "Whew! That was a hard climb," the koala said. He was huffing and
puffing.
The rest of them collapsed on the
stone next to him. "Wow! What a view!" Yindi laughed. "You can see all of
Australia from here!"
"Not quite," Wandi smiled, "but we
can see if Boomer and Old Man come anywhere near us."
Everywhere they looked, they could
see parched ground. The fire had destroyed all the trees, grasses, and
shrubs for miles. "That’s sad to see," Boomerang sighed. He was feeling
bad about the trees being burned.
"It’s not all bad," his mum
explained. "Now new, fresh grasses will grow and it will soon be green
again. Don’t feel too sad."
The sun went down, changing the blue
sky into deep pink, purple, orange, and red. "Now what?" Kiah asked.
"Sleep. We’ll deal with it in the
morning," Wandi said.
As the sky became dark and stars
appeared, the animals fell asleep, not knowing what tomorrow would bring. |
