Churchilla’s Chinchilla Commandos of Goya

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It was great to reacquaint with the Collie twins. Everybody was enjoying the moment, although we knew that a bruising battle lay ahead with Bri’s bane. We partied through the night, with a band of Beatles  starring in the Cavern, and then set off north the next morning.

Liaising with the Chinchilla Chinchillas

Emily and Brian led us through the secret cave for ten hours, until we at last reached the safe haven of Chinchilla. The Chinchilla chinchillas were also locked in a perennial struggle with Bri’s bane, and so we were warmly welcomed.

Emily and Brian introduced us all to the chinchilla leader, Pancho Churchilla, and he thanked us for our effort and support. When evening arrived, we all ascended into the fresh air, and basked in the Chinchilla sunset chinchilla style.

Chinchillas of Goya

We rested overnight underground in the burrow barracks of the Chinchillas of Goya (COG); a crack unit of chinchilla commandos that are the teeth of the chinchilla army sprocket.

They gave us their nests and slept on the floor, as their training had hardened them to such inconvenience. I didn’t like to take the nest, but we had been on a long hard journey; as long as the COG could maintain rotation without such self-maintenance.

Born to Bask

Someone had scrawled a message on the rock next to my nest that haunted my sleep that night. It said: Born to Bask, Live for Task.

It was signed CC, so I guess it must have been Cilla Chinchilla who wrote it; Pancho said she was the one who normally slept there. I thought it was a shame such a chilled chinchilla should have to live this way, and dreamt that one day soon the chinchillas would be able to once more bask in peace.

We were awoken at first light. After a short preparation we started on our final march to Bri’s bane. Nerves, excitement and fear all mixed together to activate anarchic adrenalin.

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Welcome to the Jungle: Emerald Forest Beach

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As we drew closer to Emerald Beach I was growing ever more apprehensive.  My last few experiences of green hadn’t worked out very well.  There was our terrible meeting with Smiggin Holes, Lord of the Green; the green ray I’d seen before our awful Swan Lake experience; and then we couldn’t get past Green Point after been boomeranged from Boomerang Beach.

I thought Green would probably have had much better luck at those places, and maybe I just wasn’t cut out for this solo (originally) epic rambling lark.

Landing on Emerald Beach

My emerald cork hat almost dragged me onto Emerald Beach; it seemed to be growing in strength, and I now felt like it was wearing me more than the other way around!

When I took the hat off I saw it had become invisible apart from the corks.

Emerald Beach has a Deep Secret 

I put the hat back on and it pulled me towards a cliff framing the far side of the beach.  I looked back at the others, who followed and seemed to share my curiosity.

Out of the corner of my eye,
in the now seemingly distant ocean,
I thought I saw a commotion,
and wondered what it could be.

It was difficult making our way through all the emerald; like struggling through dense jungle.  But my hat was a good guide and we soon reached the cliff at the end of the beach.

The hat dragged me on, around the edge of the cliff, until I saw where it must be heading.  Emerald Beach had a secret cave.

Epic Poem Fantasy Travels New South Wales North Coast

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We had a good night in Macquarie,
slept well without hearing snory,
had a filling breakfast first thing,
and then it was time to get going.

Hat Head

We travelled slower than the day before,
as our arms ached and heads were sore,
Hat Head was therefore a welcome break,
and my emerald cork hat seemed to wake.

Coffs Harbour

We were ready for a drink by Nambucca Heads,
but quickly left when offered four sambuca reds,
Coffs Harbour looked nice but sounded dangerous,
for those vulnerable to colds and viral illness.

Korora

Then my hat seemed to be dragging me on,
as if to a faraway land in a time once upon,
we raced the Pacific Highway to Korora,
even though it meant missing an aurora.

Moonee Beach

Moonee Beach flashed right past,
with my hat changing gear to very fast,
I didn’t know where we were going,
but the journey certainly wasn’t boring.

Emerald Beach

Then I saw the beach ahead was green,
I think it was the limiest I’d ever seen,
so I thought I knew what my hat was up to,
and felt it could be this journey’s breakthrough.

Dr. Watson and the Case of a Greycliffe House Mouse

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We didn’t like the sound of Hunters Bay, so we headed over to the Sydney Harbour National Park, where I really liked the name of the headquarters and visitor centre: Greycliffe House.

Dr. Watson of Watsons Bay

Arriving at Greycliffe House, I was surprised to see that it was neither particularly grey nor built on a cliff.

I introduced myself to a gentleman there, and he told me his name was Dr. Watson of Watsons Bay.

I asked him why the house was called Greycliffe when it wasn’t a very good description. He apologised for not knowing, and said a man who probably would know, called Holmes, was off visiting some other homes for another inquiry at the moment.

The Greycliffe House Mouse

Not long after I’d thanked Dr. Watson and turned away,
in a triangular hall containing a square ball,
I was accosted by a small mouse of my colour grey.

It said its name was Cliff and the house was named after him,
I replied it was built in 1852 so how could that be true,
It said it was on a special diet and low-fat cheese kept it quiet.

I thought, Now, that’s nonsense.

Into the Lair of the Paddington Bear

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I wondered if a book of grey was a sign, and quickly flicked through it.  Although it was not literary nonsense, there did not seem much relevance to my life or predicament, so I did not investigate further, and donated it to the Bronte library Bronte section.

Whatever will be, will be,
and if Agnes Grey re-enters my story,
I will return to the Bronte area library,
and look it up under section Bronte.

Paddington Bear Gives us a Scare

We walked up through Bondi at quite a pace, and were just having five minutes in Paddington sitting against a wall, when a bear entered the street and headed straight towards us.

He looked quite harmless dressed in an old hat and coat; and carrying a suitcase, but you never know!

He came right up to us and asked us if he was heading in the right direction for Peru.  I’d seen a boat heading to Peru from Bondi Beach, so I informed the Paddington Bear.

He thanked me, and before leaving gave us a marmalade sandwich each.

Arriving in Sydney, Booked by Bronte

Image by Sandy/Scarlett Images ♥ (catching up) via Flickr

Moon moves milky
waves washing whales
rising rolling roaming
entrancing ethereal eternal.

Sighting Sydney is a Sight for Sore Eyes 

Sea and shore had been serenely silent for seventeen hours, with only the appearance of moon wave whales worthy of recording here.

Then we saw Sydney on the horizon, and it looked open and peaceful, so we looked forward to landing and recovering after so many days at sea.

Just before reaching land I thought I saw a commotion out at sea, but the next moment it was gone.  None of the others seemed to have seen it, so I didn’t say anything.

There wasn’t time anyway, as we had to decide where to dock.

Docking at Sydney

Cronulla looked made of vanilla
Coogee appeared too easy
so we landed at Bronte
as it seemed to have something to say.

There was no time for wuthering
as the winds reached record heights.
We saw a woman by the name of Jane Eyre
fly head over heels all up in the air
dropping a book our way
by the name of Agnes Grey.

The book looked promising, and not at all  literary nonsense.

Husky Son in Huskisson Hushes Us On

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Elle took to the raft-pulling like a dolphin to water, and with the load lightened behind we reached similar speeds to the previous day.  The sea also seemed returned to normal, and it felt good to be lost in the waves, alternating time between the waterworld and skyspace.

Huskisson has some kind of Pull

We reached Jervis Bay in the evening, and thought about stopping somewhere for a meal.

As we circled the bay from the left, Vincentia did not attract us, but Huskisson seemed to be drawing us on; maybe it was because Elle and I had been doing a similar job to huskies with all the load-pulling.

Husky Son in Huskisson Hushes Us On

We were preparing to land near Elizabeth Drive, on the junction with Moona Moona Creek, when a car load of women stopped at a nearby junction.

The driver mooned at us twice. Her front-seat passenger berated her, shouting ‘Elizabeth, will you stop mooning or we’ll be up the Creek without a paddle; there’s a husky father and son just over there. Elizabeth, drive on now.’

The husky son just chuckled, and hushed us on.

Swan Lake Dolphin Tale Tragedy

Image by Peter Nijenhuis via Flickr

We moored on the edge of Swan Lake, and I changed into human form to go into Cudmirrah with the other people.  Barry and family were happy to lounge in the lake.

Swan Lake Cudmirrah

On the edge of town a man approached us and said he was a royal, who was about to harpoon me when I was a dolphin, but then saw me change into a human, and now he’d fallen in love with me.

I had just read up on Swan Lake, and this  was beginning to mirror the plot a little too much for my liking.

Breaking the Swan Lake Spell

So I said I was just passing through, and although very flattered, wouldn’t be able to spend any time with him.  He seemed a little disappointed, but accepted it.

We continued into Cudmirrah, which is a lovely town in a beautiful setting, and stocked up on provisions for the onward journey.

We returned to the lake and set off.  We were about to leave the lake and head out to open sea when we saw the ‘royal’ dive into the far end of the lake.  An older woman was shouting ‘Prince Siegfried, no, don’t do it, come back.’

A Tragedy in Swan Lake

I was stunned, not believing my own eyes, and didn’t really want to get involved anyway.  But Barry said he had to do something.  So he untied his harness, and his wife and children said they wanted to go along too.

They swam back towards where Prince Siegfried had entered the water, but as they rose out of the water and into the air, half-way there, a cry of ‘Kill Kalbarri Barry’ preceded a salvo of harpoons landing all around our dolphin friends.

I broke free of my harness and set off to look for Barry and family, but half-way there I saw them ascending into the sky, clicking and smiling with love just the same as when they’d played in the water; it was a scene straight out of Swan Lake, literally and metaphorically.

Bungee to Bingie Begins with a Bee

Image by Kiifu via Flickr

The others stirred soon after, and Angry asked what all the racket was about.  I explained about the bungees from Bingie, thinking he may get angry about their early morning high jinx, but he straight away pointed out that they were bungeeing from the north, so why didn’t we ask if we could hitch a lift on their bungees.  I thought it was a great use of his mind.

Can You Ride Tandem

So when the next bungee jumpers appeared from the north we asked if we could hitch a lift up to Bingie.  They said no problem, and that they’d arrange for four tandem bungees to be sent down next time.

So we packed up our gear, including a few spare spuds, and waited for our lifts.  It was only a fifteen minute wait before we saw four bungees appear over the horizon, and a few seconds later they reached their destination just in front of us.

Bungee to Bingie with a Bee

It was a bit of a mad scramble, but we all got onto a bungee, and the next thing we were flying through the air on our way to Bingie.  It was only when I was on the bungee that I realised the pilot was a bee.

It was really exhilarating, but didn’t take long, and ended too quickly for my liking.  We all landed brilliantly in Bingie.  They had a great landing site full of grey orbs on green grass, and I wondered if they’d been expecting me!

Potatoes and Cheese Make Travelling a Breeze

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We made good progress in the morning; reaching Eurobodalla by mid-morning, and Bodalla around midday.  They were quite similar towns, but Eurobodalla reminded me more of Europe than Bodalla for some reason.

South Coast Cheese and Potato Point

We were going to stop in Bodalla for lunch, but then read about the South Coast Cheese just outside town.  It sounded good, so we continued on to that, and were relieved to find that what we read was not literary nonsense.  We picked up some right cheesy bargains at the factory shop; and I mean cheesy as in food rather than an inauthentic item.

We couldn’t wait to reach Potato Point after that, and had no trouble finding it, after following directions cut into pointing potatoes.

Reaching the East Coast at Potato Point

The Tasman Sea grew bigger and bigger as we approached the east coast; and washed over us like a giant wet towel after we all jumped in upon arrival.

We had reached the east coast after many months of travelling.  I thought of Bonzo, and how he would no doubt have loved the refreshing relief of the neverending waves.  But he was in a happy place.

After an hour or three,
we had a tea fit for King Eddie,
and Queen Eloise,
of potatoes and cheese.