Solo Traveller Once Again, like when it all Began

Image by thegaventas via Flickr

So my epic journey had really ended, and all was well. The Great Dame of Oz left to go on a world tour, so Angry, Elle and Cathy were going to stay in the mansion indefinitely. I’m sure they had bright Emerald futures ahead of them; now they had regained their body, mind and spirit confidence.

 

Once More unto the Sea

 

I knew I could return to the Greenygrey world now, but felt there was something else I needed to do. I thought I should visit the Tasman Sea one last time.

So I said cheerio to everybody and everything in Emerald. There were especially long farewells with my three long-term travel companions and my favourite Oz hat couple. Then it was time to go solo once more; returning to my status upon arrival in Oz.

 

I shapeshifted into a bird of paradise,
and set off once more for the seaside.

I flew with the wind to the east,
for an hour and a half at least,
arriving at the sea over Deception Bay,
I thought there must be another way,
so I headed south and landed next to a jay,
in a place I liked the sound of: Bramble Bay.

I asked the jay, whose name was Jay,
whether it had seen anything untoward astray.
Jay said nothing unusual had happened all day.

 

Seeing a Sea Commotion

 

Everything did seem absolutely normal, and I began to wonder if I’d wasted my time making this diversion. But then:

I saw a commotion out at sea
and wondered what it might be.

 

The commotion was not only there; it was approaching the beach at a phenomenal speed. I asked Jay if it could see it. It said yes, it could.

I wondered what it could be: Was it more acid-rain? Could it be the MoMo East returning from the deep? Or was it Smiggin Holes escaped from its deep hole? Was there one more test I had to put my exhausted bird-brain through?

The commotion reached the shallows. I could now make out a head and arms. I thought I recognised who it was… but surely it couldn’t be… could it?

It continued swimming to the shallows, and then emerged onto the beach.

Australia’s Greytest Travellers Reach the Capital

Image by KLW NFC via Flickr

We left Smiggin Holes where it was, and headed east on the dust sandy road.  I thought we’d left the Lord of the Rings influence behind, but that was nonsense, because I was reminded of it again when we stopped for supper: a berry dal in Berridale.

Can Berryer in Canberra

We were berry impressed with the amount of berries in the dal, and it made us all feel much berrter after our Smiggin Holes ordeal.

So we thought we’d try to go through the pain berryer; making a long endurance journey just for another type of berry.  Angry suggested trying Canberra, as he thought we could berryer there.

And you know what, he was right, you can berryer in Canberra; I thought it was a great use of Angry’s mind.

It didn’t take long before we were berrying an incrediberryble Canberra can of berries down into our bellies.  I don’t know what type the Canberra berries were, maybe cranberries with the r left out, but they sure did taste good.

Missing Dairymans Plains Makes me Complains

We headed back down south once our berry ballooned bellies had settled down, but we made slow progress, and it was getting late as we approached Cooma.

I’d been regretting our decision not to sidetrack a little to Dairymans Plains, as it sounded good for a  pint of milk, piece of cheese, creamy yoghurt or raspberry ripple.  And there’d probably be more berries in the raspberry ripple?

Snakes and Ladderless Holes for Snaggin Smiggin

Image via Wikipedia

Just as I prepared myself for a long fall into a deep chasm, the hole suddenly moved to the left, and I fell head first into a muddy puddle.  I didn’t even have my emerald cork hat on to cushion my fall!

Smiggin Holes is Down in a Hole

When I’d cleared my view and sat up, I saw that the hole had moved under where Smiggin had stood and the holiculturist was nowhere to be seen.

Cathy was sitting by the side of the hole, and I joined her along with our other travel companions.

Smiggin was sitting at the bottom of the hole it had itself created; looking disconsolate but still clutching some of its green hoard.

Cathy Keeps Quiet about Snagging Smiggin

We left the hole and I asked Cathy how she’d turned the hat into a snake and moved the hole.

She said that we all have our own special powers, and they wouldn’t be special if everybody knew about them.

Being a shape-shifting, chameleonic one-half of a legendary vegetarian werewolf I just had to agree with her, and left it at that.

Hat-trick to Hole in Smiggin Holes

Image via Wikipedia

I could see no way of regaining my hat, and mentioned this to Cathy.  She said that’s not the spirit, before going into a deep trance.

Snake Scares Smiggin Senseless

A minute later, I couldn’t believe my eyes, but luckily Smiggin did.  Because the emerald hat suddenly turned into a snake, and Smiggin quickly threw it into the air.

It flew a few feet, opening up into a full ten foot length, before coiling back and once again becoming the emerald cork hat I’d grown to know and love.  I dived to regain it, and  grabbed it barely a foot off the ground.

Smiggin Creates another Hole

I saw some leaves and muddy earth below me, and was looking forward to a soft landing, but then the ground opened up.

I heard a cackle, and looked over at Smiggin, who had regained its composure.  By the look on its face, smirking Smiggin had obviously used its ghastly powers to open up another hole below where I was about to land.

The holiculturist had done itself proud with this one, and it was much deeper than the last.  I faced falling into a hole from which I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to  emerge.