Kakadu Calling (6 page)

Minnie was just about to cry, when Brolga whispered, ‘Shh! Shh! Don't cry, Daddy's hunting for dinner.'

Soon Brolga heard his father calling. He found him standing next to a wallaby that he had speared. His father said, ‘We have our dinner.'

The two boys now took it in turns to carry Minnie, and soon they reached the point close to their camp. They walked around the point, beyond the river, to their camp by some low cliffs and a cave. Sometimes they slept inside the cave, but usually they camped in the open.

As they laid out their gear, they could hear the bubbling sounds of the river and smell the sweet scent of paperbark flowers. Brolga's mother decided to pick some blossoms and soak them in water. After a while she scooped out the flowers
and poured a drink for everybody.

‘That tastes just like lemonade. Can we have some more?' asked Brolga.

‘Yes, you can, but first go and get some wood so that your father can cook the wallaby,' said his mother.

The boys collected a great pile of wood because they knew the fire would also need to burn during the night, to ward off mosquitoes. Brolga's father lit the fire and while he was waiting for it to burn down to coals, he prepared the meat. First he cut the neck of the wallaby and pulled out the innards. Then he stuffed paperbark leaves down its neck with a stick. When the fire was ready, he pushed the coals aside and dug a small hole. He put the wallaby into the hole and covered it with ashes and coals. He lit another fire nearby, in case they needed more coals.

Brolga's mother had brought out a roll of paperbark and the blankets that they kept in the
cave. She spread them on the ground, paperbark first and then the blankets. Everyone sat around the fire and the smell of the cooking meat made the boys' mouths water.

In the meantime, Brolga's father had put the billy on to make some tea. When it was boiled, Brolga sprinkled tea leaves in the water and lifted the billy off the fire. They never had milk in their tea when they were camping, only sugar.

Finally, the wallaby was cooked, and Brolga's father laid it down on a pile of leaves on the paperbark to cool. He pulled out his big knife and began to carve the meat into pieces, and then he added some salt. Everyone had their share, and the
leftovers were stored in the cave for breakfast the next day.

It was a bright night with a full moon, and they all settled down to sleep. Soon the only noise was that of the fire, crackling and burning. During the night they heard dingoes howling, and Jimmy and Brolga huddled together under a blanket, both feeling a bit scared.

Brolga's father said, ‘Go back to sleep. I'll put more wood on the fire and that'll keep them away.'

Morning soon came, and the family woke to a chorus of singing birds and the chatter of a kookaburra. After breakfast Brolga and Jimmy grabbed their fishing lines. Down on the riverbank they were joking about who would catch the biggest fish, when they spotted a big, black crocodile swimming up and down the river.

‘If the croc disappears, come and climb up on this high rock', warned Brolga's father.

Whenever they lost sight of the crocodile, the boys scrambled up onto the rock. This went on for a while, and then Jimmy's line went running out.

‘Oh boy!' he cried. ‘I think I've got a barramundi!' Jimmy played the fish, but he was disappointed when he saw it was only a catfish.

‘Never mind. Maybe the next one,' said Brolga's father.

Jimmy caught another catfish. ‘I'll never catch a barra to take home,' he moaned.

‘Hey, Jimmy, look at me. I haven't caught a fish yet, but soon I'm gunna catch a real big one,' replied Brolga.

No sooner had he spoken than his line went running out. He caught the line and pulled it in. It was another catfish.

‘I don't reckon there's any barramundi in this river,' Brolga said.

‘Brolga, you have to be patient,' reminded his father.

‘Well, what about the catfish? What do we do with them?'

‘If your mother doesn't want them, break their spikes off and leave them on the bank for the crocodile. You can't catch his food and then waste it. If you don't have a use for it, you must give it back to him.'

The boys carefully broke the poison spikes off the fish and left them near the edge of the river. They leapt onto the rocky ledge and watched the crocodile as it glided up to the bank, snapped its jaws at one of the catfish, and slid back into the water. The crocodile tossed its head and the catfish disappeared into its mouth. It came back for the other fish, and then swam off down the river.

‘I think he knows that you boys are his friends and that you'll feed him. Don't go close to the water though. You can never trust a crocodile,' said Brolga's father.

They all decided to go back to camp and wait
until it was cooler before doing any more fishing. While they had been fishing, Brolga's mother had gone hunting at the billabong. She returned to the camp with two long-necked turtles, a handful of freshwater mussels and a large file snake. Brolga's mother had to poke in the mud with her digging stick to hunt for the turtles and snakes, but she was able to dig up the mussels with her hands.

The boys raced around gathering wood, and soon tempting cooking smells wafted through the camp. Little Minnie sat on Brolga's lap, and she clapped her hands as she tried to say, ‘turtle turtle'.

After lunch, they went into the cave for a rest. It was cool with a breeze blowing and before long everyone was asleep.

Later in the afternoon, when Brolga woke up, he said to Jimmy, ‘C'mon, we have to catch our barramundi.'

The boys woke the others and wandered out of the cave. For a moment they stood looking out over the plains, watching the wild horses grazing. Down on the billabong, geese, ducks, egrets and jabirus swam amongst the blue and white waterlilies. Up in the sky, were two great sea eagles, dipping up and down in the air currents.

‘I wish I was an eagle flying high. Just think how far you could see from up there,' Jimmy said.

Down at the riverbank, the boys decided to use mussels for bait. Again, they just caught catfish.

‘Don't worry, I'll cut it up for bait. You might have better luck,' said Brolga's father.

The boys threw their lines out and sat on the bank watching the crocodile. Nothing happened for a while, and then Jimmy saw his line going
slowly out. He grabbed the line and it tightened in his hand. He saw a big fish jump out of the water.

‘You've got a big barra! Don't pull too hard when the line tightens. Let it run and when it slackens, pull it in quickly,' Brolga yelled.

Jimmy played the fish up and down the bank, careful to keep an eye on the crocodile. He slowly worked the fish to the bank and pulled him in.

‘Yippee,' cried Jimmy. ‘I've got my fish! Mum'll be pleased.'

Brolga wasn't very happy though because he was still waiting for a bite.

‘I don't like all this waiting', he complained.

Suddenly, Brolga saw his own line being fed into the water. He let it go for a while, then picked it up and gave it a big jerk. He felt the line tighten and then he saw a big barramundi jump into the air. His father came and helped him bring the fish in.

‘What a whopper!' said Brolga. ‘Dad, that's our supper tonight.'

The boys cleaned the inside and the gills of the fish, but left the scales on so that they would cook better on the coals. They would take the skin off when they were cooked, and that way the fish were nice and clean to eat. They left the innards and gills on the riverbank for the crocodile.

‘I think the crocodile will have a full belly today,' said Jimmy.