Captain Pete was dosing as the early morning sun gently patted his face. He’d been dreaming that he was dressed like Ned Kelly, (the famous Australian Bush Ranger, who made his last stand at Glenrowan in North-East Victoria, dressed in armour, around 1878) and was fighting a fierce, bouncing goanna. A wonderful aroma filled his nostrils and he awoke with a grin.
Rod and Liz were already up and wide awake, cooking some yummy pancakes for breakfast.
“The others must’ve gone for an early morning walk,” said Rod cheerfully, “I’ve got the billy on the boil.”
“Let’s follow their tracks in the sand . . . ” suggested Captain Pete, “ . . . AFTER breakfast!” As Liz, Rod and Captain Pete tucked into their very yummy breakfast, they were blissfully unaware of the extraordinary events unfolding just around the corner at Bluff Beach.
And those events were very extraordinary indeed . . .
“GATHERING-GUMNUTS!” cried Clancy Koala from her vantage point way up in her gum tree, “WHALE HO!”
“SiZZLinG-SauSaGeS!” squawked Sammy silver gull, “Whales! Flying whales!”
“SQUARK, BUST-MY-BILLY,” shrieked Kev, “Look down below!”
Mudpoo, and all the animals ran to a vantage point from where Kev was pointing.
The sight before them was something none of them had ever seen before. Humpback and minke whales were appearing like magic, out of thin air, high above the water near Bluff Beach, each dive-landing into the ocean with an enormous KERR-SPLASHHH!
Mudpoo, Harry and Jess looked at each other with a grin.
“WE DID IT!”
Together, Mudpoo, Harry and Jess bounced up and down with joy.
“Well WIGGLE-MY-WHISKERS,” cheered Percy Possum.
“SHEESH-KA-BOB-A-ROOEY!” danced Foggerty, hugging Mudpoo.“Amazing,” said Andrena ant.
“Amazing! See? That’s what GET-A-LONG-ABILITY can achieve,” smiled Sally Snake.
Grumblegoo felt enormously proud. She knew that they had achieved an amazing rescue, only this time they had achieved it with humans and animals working together.
Grumblegoo was so proud of her Magic Tree Stump and her friends (especially Foggerty Frog) that she leapt out from her hidey spot shouting, “THREE CHEERS for the magic tree stump and all its friends!”
Mudpoo, quickly replied, “THREE CHEERS for Grumblegoo!”
Grumblegoo blushed as a rowdy chorus of several ‘HIP-HIP HOORAYs’ echoed throughout the Iluka Nature Reserve. There was lots of squawking, cheering, flapping, hopping and hugging, as the animals and Mudpoo celebrated the rescue and safe return of their whale friends. The whales sang a special rendition of the ‘Blue Danube’, slapping their enormous pectoral fins against the water to play the beat for their song;
From the shore, it sounded like an orchestra of whales; which is of course, what it really was! Several of the humpbacks breached high, up out of the water, creating a spectacular display as they celebrated their miraculous escape from the pirates.
Each time a humpback crashed back into the water, it sent up a shower of sparkling, glistening spray, and Mudpoo and the forest animals cheered each one!
“Did you know that the scientific name for a humpback whale is Megaptera novaeangliae, which means ‘big wings,’” announced a smiling Foggerty.
“THREE CHEERS for Foggerty Frog,” shouted Grumblegoo, who knew that without little Foggerty’s amazing knowledge, they may never have saved the whales.
“HIP-HIP, HOORAY!” they all shouted and the whales added their approval by sending up enormous jets of vapour clouds from their blowholes.
They might have continued to celebrate all day, except that they heard the concerned voice of someone calling from afar; “MUDPOO? HARRY? JESS?”
