Kakadu Sunset (8 page)

Not that it was any of her business. Heather could make cow eyes at Kane as long as she liked. Ellie didn’t give a rat’s.

The coffee and the painkillers had already done the trick and her headache had eased. Just a slight ache remained behind her eyes.

‘I’ve got another stop for you too.’ Heather finally turned to Ellie and lifted a sheet of paper from the desk behind the counter.

‘Yeah? Where to?’ If they had another stop, they’d have to hurry to get on their way. Ellie took the sheet from Heather.

‘Sandy Billabong. One of the campers spotted a water buffalo up there yesterday. Can you swing by there on your way to the falls? It’s not too far off your route and it’s a waste to send one of the boys so far just to put a sign up when you’re going past.’

‘Going past? It’s twenty kilometres in the other direction.’

‘Jock’s instruction.’ Heather shrugged and held out her hand. ‘Give it here and I’ll laminate it.’

‘Looks like we’ve got a busy day ahead.’ Ellie flicked a glance at Kane. The way he leaned casually against the counter, he looked like he belonged to the place already.

‘Dad and Terry are going out there later this afternoon, but we need to get this up as soon as we can. There’s heaps of tourists in the park already. Bumper to bumper caravans when I turned onto the main road this morning.’ Heather put the notice into the poster laminating machine on the bench along the wall and waited for it to feed through before walking back over to the counter, holding it between her thumb and one finger.

‘Which vehicle is booked out to us?’ Ellie took the laminated poster from Heather with a smile.

‘The new Land Cruiser. I made sure I nabbed it for you before the other guys got allocated a vehicle. Dad can drive the old one. He’s used to it. And here, don’t forget you’ll need the keys to the rental you’re picking up. The number plate is on the tag.’

‘Thanks, you’re a trooper.’ Ellie took the keys from the hook beside the counter, and added them to the keys Heather passed over before putting both sets in her pocket. She paused in the doorway. ‘Will your dad be around tonight?’

‘He’ll probably stay back for a drink tonight after they come in. I’ll make sure there’s a cold beer waiting for both of you too. You’ll need it after your long day.’ Heather turned to Kane. ‘Have a good day, Fly Boy.’

Kane waved to Heather and followed Ellie out of the office.

‘You met Terry last night. Terry is Heather’s cousin and Bill Jarragah is her dad,’ Ellie explained. ‘Some of our staff are subcontracted by the national park administration headquarters at this time of the year because there’s so much to be done leading into the tourist season. If you’re going to stay a while you’ll soon get to know everyone and where they fit in. Do you know much about Kakadu and how the park works?’

He shook his head as they walked to the car park. ‘Nothing.’

Ellie shot him a glance. ‘You’ve got a lot to learn, then.’

‘I do. And I’m keen. So lead the way.’

Ellie took a deep breath and filled her lungs with fresh air. The sky was clear and the faint smell of wood smoke from the burning savannah tinged the air. It was good to be home but she could do without all these complications meeting her at every turn. She stopped walking and turned to Kane. She’d clear one of them right now. ‘Remember when we flew back last night?’

‘Yeah?’ His eyes held hers as she turned around.

‘Did you notice I flew over your stepfather’s farm?’

‘No. I was chilling for a while.’

Hmm
. He might call it chilling, but Ellie had sensed he’d been strung out about something.

‘There was some machinery down the back near the park boundary and the earth was all dug up.’ She kept her voice casual. ‘Do you know what Panos is doing down there?’

‘No.’ Kane shook his head slowly. ‘I only called in at the house to see my mother.’ A fleeting expression of sadness crossed his face but it was gone in a flash. ‘Why? What are you worried about?’

‘Just that whatever’s happening down there is very close to the national park and the river. And I saw that article in the
Sun
on your iPad.’

‘Ellie, look, I don’t have a very high opinion of my stepfather, so I wouldn’t be surprised by anything he was doing. Next time I go to visit my mother, I’ll ask her what’s happening. Okay?’

‘Thanks. Appreciate it. It’s none of my business what happens on the farm. I know it’s not ours anymore but –’

‘But you care about the park? Don’t worry, I’ve already picked that up.’ His gaze swept around to the woodlands between the administration block and the river. ‘It is a beautiful place and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.’

‘So are you going to stay around here long?’

‘As long as it takes,’ was the enigmatic reply.

‘Come on, let’s hit the road. I’ll fill you in as we head out.’ Ellie narrowed her eyes and the slight ache thudded behind her temples again. She sensed Kane was telling the truth about the farm, but still, there was something not quite right there. She dug in her pocket for her sunglasses.

‘Sounds good.’ Kane walked along the path beside her and Ellie focused her attention back on him. His voice was friendly – and deep and sexy – maybe she was overthinking things. ‘How come you know so much about Kakadu? Have you worked here long?’

‘As soon as I got my flying licence, I came back.’

‘Came back?’

‘I went to Darwin for a while. Plenty of jobs there but this is home to me.’

Ellie fought down the ache that was always just below the surface. Would there ever be a time when the grief eased? The anticipatory buzz of the day ahead had faded and she pushed away the headache that was hammering at her temples.

‘Do you miss the farm?’ Kane asked.

‘Yes.’ Ellie hated talking about it. She’d been through the counselling with her sisters and despite the words that were supposed to heal, she knew she would never get over Dad’s death until she knew why he’d taken his own life. What quiet demons had he been fighting that he couldn’t overcome? It was so out of character for the father she had known and loved.

Kane seemed to pick up on her reluctance to speak and he turned away and looked ahead as they walked along the path to the back of the lodge. Ellie’s footsteps crunched on the gravel as she stepped off the path to unlock the gate of the compound where the vehicles were kept.

Kane raised his eyebrows. ‘A high level of security for a few vehicles?’

‘It’s to stop the cars from getting milked.’

‘Milked?’ Kane’s brow wrinkled in a frown.

‘Petrol sniffing is a big issue out here. It’s a chronic problem among some of the Aboriginal kids. Worse further north in Arnhem Land, but we’ve had a few cars stolen from down here too.’

‘Is the hangar secure?’

‘We’ve never had a problem with the birds. The pump at the hangar is switched off at the central console each afternoon when we lock up. I’ll have to show you where to do that. Better to be safe. Dad always said –’ Ellie swallowed. The day seemed destined to bring back memories of her father. She passed the keys to Kane. ‘Come on, we’ll drive by the restaurant on the way out and I’ll grab some lunch and water. They do picnic baskets for the tourists but we won’t need the whole thing that they usually make up. A couple of sandwiches enough for you?’

Kane nodded and climbed into the driver’s side. ‘I didn’t realise we’d need to take lunch. How far away is it?’

‘We’ll be gone all day by the time we drive down and back. It’s about thirty kilometres to the turn-off and then another forty along an unsealed road. But it’s slow going; the last ten kilometres are little more than a sandy track.’ She stepped up into the passenger seat and waited for Kane to start the car. ‘I thought we might walk into the waterfall while we’re down there.’

‘Sounds good.’

‘And we have to go north first to Sandy Billabong to put up the sign that Heather gave me. You really don’t know much about Kakadu, do you?’

He shook his head.

Ellie shrugged, wondering again why he was really here. ‘It’s great working here.’ She couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips. ‘It’s the most beautiful place in the world. You’re in for a treat.’

‘It’s very different from what I expected. Most of the feedback I’ve heard says it should be called “
Kakadon’t
”.’

‘Yeah, I’ve heard that, but if people bypass it and
don’t
visit, they miss out on one of the best places in the world.’ Ellie pursed her lips and looked out the window. ‘The most spectacular parts of the park are a long way off the sealed highway, like our trip today. Some don’t think it’s worth the long drive, but you can make up your own mind.’

Kane put one arm along the bench seat and looked over his left shoulder as he reversed the car. ‘So tell me why you moved away from the farm.’

‘My father couldn’t make a go of his mango plantation.’ Her voice was clipped as she pulled out her stock answer and pushed away the sadness that always came when she had to explain what happened. ‘He died. We moved. I trained and I came back. Stop here.’ She pointed to the building which housed the restaurant and when he pulled up, she jumped out.

‘My life in a nutshell,’ she said through the open window. ‘Wait here, I’ll be right back.’

*

Despite the incident with the sensor light, Kane had slept all night without waking in the early hours as he usually did. Dreamless for the first time in months. He’d woken up feeling calm and rested, but sitting beside Ellie Porter put paid to that now. The khaki shirt pulled tight over those lush curves as she moved on the seat, pointing out features of the landscape.

He’d seen a different side to her as soon as they parked at Sandy Billabong. The dour mood she’d be in since he mentioned the farm lifted when they’d turned off the main highway and headed east towards the billabong. Her face came alight as she pointed to some cabins in a cluster beside the dirt road. Kane caught a glimpse of a river behind them in the gap between the buildings.

‘That’s a culture camp run by one of the traditional owners,’ she said.

‘What do you mean by traditional owners?’

‘The local Aboriginal clans.’

Ellie glanced across at him and Kane took note of her relaxed position. Her legs were curled up beneath her on the seat and her arm rested along the back of the seat. He lifted his gaze from the tanned thigh close to his.

‘The traditional owners make decisions in the management of the land, and many of them have roles within the park.’ She leaned her head back on the seat rest. ‘Heather is descended from one of the clans, and Bill, her dad, is heavily involved with the protection of the park.’

‘Protection from what?’

‘Mining initiatives, development, basically anything that threatens the park. He represents the local clan on a couple of parliamentary committees.’ Ellie’s voice was quiet and she turned away, staring out of the window and lost in her thoughts. They didn’t speak again until they passed a narrow road and she directed him to take a right turn then pull up next to a big noticeboard on the other side of an area where long tussock grass almost reached to the top of the bonnet of their vehicle.

She grabbed the laminated poster off the seat, opened the door and jumped down from the seat, pulling a key from her pocket.

Kane opened his door and climbed down, watching as Ellie unlocked the glass door at the front of the noticeboard. He walked through the long grass to stand beside her.

‘Any snakes around here?’ He kicked at the sandy soil between the mounds of grass, grateful for his sturdy boots. Plenty of holes and places for them to hide.

‘Nah, they’ll stay away. The main thing to worry about here is the crocs.’

Kane looked up at her, unsure whether she was teasing him.

She pinned the warning onto the board and then slid the front panel back down and locked it. ‘Want to have a look at the billabong while we’re here? The bird life is amazing.’

‘Sure, why not.’ Ellie strode ahead of him and Kane followed, enjoying the view. He’d noticed Heather’s posturing in the office and had been slightly amused by it, but he wasn’t here to get involved with anyone. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate a tight butt and a fine set of legs.

Kane expelled his breath and lifted his gaze as a huge expanse of water dotted with all manner of bird life opened up in front of them. A mass of purple waterlilies in full bloom edged the water, nodding over the flat lily pads. Beyond them, the billabong stretched as far as he could see.

‘How big is this? I always imagined billabongs were like a small dam.’

‘
Djarradjin
is almost three kilometres long. It’s one of the biggest billabongs in Kakadu.’

Ellie stopped beside a wire fence that ran through the grass about three metres back from the edge of the water and Kane looked at it curiously. It was falling down, and in some places had been pushed flat to the ground. He could have stepped over it if he’d wanted to. ‘That wouldn’t stop a water buffalo in full flight, surely?’

Ellie grinned at him with a flash of white teeth. It was the biggest smile he’d had from her yet. A lazy swirl of desire ran through him and he kept his eyes on her face. Her lips parted softly as she held his gaze for a second before she looked away and across to the water. A faint hint of colour touched her cheeks.

‘That’s to keep the tourists away from the water. There are crocodiles here.’

‘Are they really so dangerous?’ It was hard to believe there was danger in such a beautiful place.

‘Close your eyes.’ Ellie’s voice was soft. ‘What do you hear?’

Kane glanced down at her before doing as she said. ‘Nothing.’

‘Listen.’

He tilted his head to the side and really listened. ‘I can hear the wind.’

The soft cadence of her voice held him as she continued. ‘Imagine being here at night. The moon is full and shining on the water, and everything is quiet, apart from that soft wind.’

‘Very pleasant,’ Kane said.

‘Ten years ago a young German girl and her friends were camping here. They fell in love with the natural beauty of this place, and one hot night they went for a midnight swim. Right here. Right where we’re standing. She was found the next morning in the jaws of a crocodile, one hundred metres along the shore.’ Ellie’s voice hardened and Kane opened his eyes as her warm fingers touched his forearm. She lifted her other hand and pointed to a sign at the water’s edge.