Kakadu Calling (5 page)

Through the hospital window Mardjibi could see the ocean. ‘Can we drink that water?' she asked.

‘No,' said her father, ‘That water is salty.'

‘Can we go and have a look at it?'

Mardjibi's father knew that his young daughter had never seen the sea before and he said, ‘Your
mother will take you tomorrow.'

The next morning as soon as she got up, Mardjibi begged her mother to take them down to the beach.

‘After breakfast,' her mother said.

Mardjibi walked along the footpath with her mother and Gillie, and they carefully crossed the road at the pedestrian crossing. Mardjibi was a little nervous as the cars stopped to let them cross, but she did think the white stripes on the road looked funny. However, she soon forgot about the stripes when they walked over the grass and climbed down the steps onto the beach.

Mardjibi's mouth fell open. She stared and stared and stared. She had never seen so much
water. This water could make big waves. She watched the water as it slowly moved towards her and then rushed out again. The sand was soft between her toes, and she walked down to the shoreline and stood still while the water covered her feet. She scooped up two handfuls of water and tried to drink it.

‘Yuk!' she spluttered. ‘I don't like this water at all.'

Mardjibi went back up to the soft sand and sat with her mum and little Gillie. She scooped up some sand and let it run through her fingers. After a while Mardjibi felt tired sitting in the hot sun, so she found a shady tree and lay down to watch the seagulls flying and skittering along the beach.

She could hear rustling in the leaves under the trees, and she called out to her mother, ‘I can hear strange noises. Maybe it's a snake!'

‘No, look there,' said her mother, pointing towards the base of the tree.

Mardjibi turned and saw shells walking around. ‘What are they?' she asked.

‘They're called hermit crabs,' said her mother, as she walked over and put Gillie down in the sand.

Mardjibi picked up a tiny crab but it closed up into its shell.

‘Just whistle and the crab will open up,' said her mother.

Mardjibi whistled and suddenly the crab turned over and started to walk. Gillie started to giggle and clap her hands. Mardjibi tried to collect some more hermit crabs, but they were too quick and scuttled away.

‘Where do they go to?' she asked.

‘They bury themselves under the tree roots during the day,' answered her mother, ‘and they come out at night to search for food.'

When they visited her father in hospital later that day, Mardjibi told him about the hermit crabs, the big waves and how salty the water was.

‘It's so different here,' she said, ‘but I want to go home.'

‘Yes, I think we all do,' said her mother. ‘As soon as your father can walk with crutches, we'll go.'

Mardjibi could then think of nothing else but going home. She thought of the waterlilies, and the pandanus palms, and the big, paperbark trees. She missed the smell of the fish and turtles cooking on the fire, and she just wanted to run and jump into the cool, fresh water of the billabong.

Her tummy started to rumble and she imagined herself munching on the stems of the
waterlily flowers, and gathering the bulbs to cook on the fire. She could almost taste the lovely, big juicy mussels and prawns that her father speared. There were hardly any cars and people on Mardjibi's outstation, there was just her family. They would go looking for bush tucker during the day, and at night they would sit around the fire and tell stories.

‘I really want to go home,' Mardjibi whispered to herself, as she thought about the places that she loved. She missed sleeping outside in her swag, watching the moon and stars at night, and listening to the dingoes howl. She imagined that first light in the morning when the birds would wake her up with their loud chatter. In the city there was too
much noise from motorbikes and cars and planes. Mardjibi had to put her hand over her ears the first time she heard a big plane fly over.

At last it was time to leave Darwin. This time, Mardjibi wasn't so scared of getting onto the aeroplane. As she looked out the window at the buildings and cars speeding along, all she could think was, ‘I'm glad to be going home.'

Dinky, the Dingo

S
ammy lived with his family in a small community near the great escarpment. Most of the time Sammy was known as ‘Brolga', after the beautiful crane, because he was a tall boy, much taller than his friends.

Brolga loved all the bush animals and birds, and every weekend his family would walk about three kilometres to their favourite camping place. On Friday afternoons, when Brolga got home from school, his mother would have their gear ready
in little bags. Everyone, apart from his father, had to carry a bag. Brolga's father only carried spears because that left his hands free to hunt for wallaby.

This weekend, Brolga's friend, Jimmy, was coming too. All he brought with him was a change of clothes and his fishing lines.

‘My mum says I have to bring home a big fish,' he told Brolga's mother.

‘I'm sure you will,' she said. ‘There are lots in the river.'

Everyone was ready, but they had to wait for Brolga's father to get home from work. He drove the garbage truck for the local council.

When he arrived, he ran into the house calling out, ‘I'll just take off my boots and hat and get my spears!'

Brolga's little sister, Minnie, clapped her hands, for she knew that soon her father would swing her up and carry her on his shoulders.

Everybody picked up a bag each and they set off. Brolga carried clothes, a fishing line, and a spear that his grandfather had made for him. His mother carried flour, sugar, tea, a billycan and two cups. Every now and again she would carry the bags on her head. Jimmy tried too, but his bag kept falling off.

He said to Brolga, ‘Your mother is clever to carry things on her head. My mother can too, but it makes her neck ache, so now she carries everything in a dillybag.'

Brolga's father was walking a fair way out in front, when he turned and held his hand up. He put Minnie down, and told her to be very quiet. He had spotted a wallaby to spear for dinner. Brolga's
mother signalled for him to crawl through the grass to get his little sister.