Forgive me, dear reader, for my mind is hazy now and there is one thing I have tweaked in my Kensington Reptilarium. Call it the storyteller’s deliciousness, if you will. The glorious School of the Air, which brought education to so many children of the Australian outback – and still does – started a few years after my tale begins. But I couldn’t resist slipping just a snippet of it in. I so wanted you to know about it, even if those Caddy kids were somewhat unruly recipients of its ingeniousness. For this little cheekiness, I beg your forgiveness. Thank you.

– N.J. Gemmell