It was time to go so they got on a bus and travelled to Te Kuiti, which took about six hours. They were really tired! Frank and Dottie were waiting for them at the bus stop with big smiles.
“Chloe we are really happy to meet you and Joey. We haven’t seen any kangaroos for a long time. They are such beautiful animals!” said Frank.
He and his wife gave them a lovely dinner. Chloe ate lots of salty, fried chips (which she loved) and Joey got a special treat from a local farmer - a big bucket of fresh grass. When Frank put it down in front of Joey, he sniffed the bucket with interest and then dived happily in, munching away for the next hour. Dottie put a special rug on the floor for Joey to rest on as they talked about what a big risk
Australia was taking with its attitude to kangaroos.
“We used to live in the outback ten years ago when you could still see kangaroos hopping around. But people were shooting them every night, even though there was a terrible drought. The last time we drove through the outback we didn’t see a single kangaroo and that made us very sad. The tourists must be really disappointed,” he added.
Chloe and Joey were very sad too, wondering just where in Australia kangaroos could be safe.
The next morning they waved Frank and Dottie goodbye at the bus stop and travelled on to Mt Taranaki. When they got there, they asked people at the petrol station, “Where can we find a kiwi?” The locals pointed away from the town towards the mountain. It was a very big mountain with hundreds of rivers flowing out from it.
It had snowed a lot last winter. Luckily, it was now summer because otherwise it might have been very cold, brrrrr!, even for Joey and he had a lovely fur coat on.
As they walked through the forest Joey started hopping too far ahead and Chloe had to call out “Joey! Slow down! You’re going too fast!” So Joey had to hop a bit, then stop a bit. He didn’t mind because then he could look for some tasty new grasses he hadn’t tried before. After a few hours, they were both tired because it had been a big day, so they both lay down under a tree and had a nap.
When Chloe woke up she suddenly noticed that she had no more water to drink. Neither did Joey. So they kept going and soon came to a stream that was crystal clear. It gurgled happily along amongst shiny rocks. She filled up their bottles and they both drank. It was the most delicious water either of them had ever tasted!
“Wow! I like New Zealand! These people really take care of their environment,” Chloe said out loud. “The water in Australia is nowhere near as good as this.”
They continued a bit further until they came to a big tree that had fallen over the stream where it was narrow and landed on the other side. There were no cars to be seen anywhere. They walked (and very slowly hopped) across the river, using the tree as a bridge. On the other side they found a deep forest – no houses or cars, just trees, rocks and plenty of homes for birds, possums and other animals. Chloe was thankful that there were no snakes in New Zealand.
The sun was beginning to set and as darkness fell, a mother and father possum came scrambling down a tree. The possums were very curious about Joey. They said “Kia Ora! Welcome to Aotearoa. We haven’t ever seen any of your kind before! What are you doing here?”
Joey replied “My name is Joey and I am an Eastern Grey kangaroo from Australia. I am on a mission with my friend Chloe. My family in Australia are in danger of dying because there is nowhere for us to live. My mother was killed by a bus. You possums are so lucky – look at how much space you have! Are there any problems for you here?”
The possums said “Oh, yes! Lots of problems for us here. The people in this country don’t like us at all. They are trying to wipe us out. First they bring us here and then they complain there are too many of us. What do they expect?”
“Oh no!” said Joey. “But you guys are so cute, how could they not like you?”
“Well we accidentally break their fences when we are going from one place to another, we jump on their roofs at night and wake them up, we go through their garbage looking for food, eat their vegetable gardens, their roses - they complain and blame us for everything! We are hungry too, you know and we have our hungry babies to feed. If we don’t find food for them they will die! But they don’t think of that. They just call us a pest and try to kill us,” complained the father possum.
“If they just let us eat a share of the food that all the other animals eat, took away that horrible barbed-wire fencing and stopped shooting, trapping and leaving poisoned bait around, they would find we are very gentle and harmless animals. Why don’t they understand how hard it is to survive in the wild and be kind to us for a change?” the mother possum said with tears in her eyes.
Joey said “Unfortunately, we are also called a pest. All we are trying to do is jump over that terrible barbed-wire fencing - which often rips our flesh or kills us - to go to a new paddock to find our favourite grass. We prefer to eat wild grasses which are different from the grass that cows and sheep eat, but farmers still say we are stealing their grass. We hardly ever visit wheat farms, it is just not the kind of food we like. We don’t ask for much, just a patch of shade on a hot day, a little bit of water and some wild grasses. Is that too much? Why do they have to keep killing us and destroying our families? It hurts too much!”
Joey continued “Kangaroos are Australia’s symbol and are found on the national coat of arms. Australians are supposed to be proud of kangaroos but they call us pests and feed us to their dogs. I don’t get it.”
“We don’t get it either,” the father possum said. “Anyway, we have to go and find food for our babies. We hope you find what you are looking for! Bye!”
“We are looking for kiwis – have you seen any around here?” Chloe said.
“No, sorry, we haven’t seen any kiwis around here for a very long time. Some kiwi species are endangered, you know,” the possums said as they scurried off into the bush.
“Oh well, at least we have plenty of water now,” said Chloe sipping on the cool, refreshing water she had collected from the stream earlier. “And it is also good that you have as much food as you want. I wish I had something to eat now, I’m hungry.”
“Why don’t you just eat what I eat? There is tons of food around here,” said Joey.
“Oh, silly Joey! Humans don’t eat grass, don’t you know?” asked Chloe. “Well what do you eat?” asked Joey.
“Food from the shop of course,” explained Chloe.
“I don’t want you to be hungry! What can we do?” cried Joey. ”If you don’t eat you will get weak and then I will have to carry you, and I don’t have a pouch for you to jump into.”
Soon night fell. It was very dark and very quiet. HOOT! HOOOT!
“Cirwouu Cirwouu!”
“Chikookoo chikookoo chikookoo!”
The forest came alive with mysterious calls. It was a bit scary. Would they be safe? “I wonder what sound the kiwi makes,” Chloe pondered out loud.
“I have no idea Chloe – let’s go to sleep. You can snuggle up to me and I’ll rest my head on your chest and then you won’t be cold. It will remind me of when I had my mother and used to cuddle up to her. Sigh. I miss her so much. I feel like crying right now…. ”
Chloe held Joey and told his heart with her heart that she loved him more than anything in the world. They drifted off into dreamland. Chloe was very warm and had the best sleep she ever had in her life. She woke up in the morning well rested after many beautiful dreams, happy to be next to little Joey.
Just then the sun came up. She stretched and looked around. She could hardly believe her eyes. In the distance were majestic snow-capped mountains and a gorgeous lapis-coloured blue lake that sparkled like a jewel when the sun shone on it.
The sky was pure and clear. The air was full of so many wonderful aromas from trees. It was like heaven. How lucky the animals who lived here were to wake up to a sight like this every morning!