The Islands

Di Morrissey is one of Australia's bestselling writers. She began writing as a young woman, training and working as a journalist for Australian Consolidated Press in Sydney and Northcliffe Newspapers in London. She worked in television in Australia and Hawaii and in the USA as a presenter, reporter, producer and actress. After her marriage to a US diplomat, Peter Morrissey, they were posted to Singapore, Thailand, South America and Washing-ton, DC. During this time she worked as a freelance journalist, TV and film scriptwriter and radio broadcaster, appeared in theatre productions and had several short stories published. Returning to Australia, Di continued to work in television before publishing her first novel in 1991.

Di has a daughter, Gabrielle Hansen, who is expecting Di's first grandchild, and Di's son, Nick Morrissey, is a Buddhist scholar and lecturer.

Di and her partner, Boris Janjic, divide their time between Byron Bay and the Manning Valley in New South Wales when not travelling to research her novels, which are all inspired by a particular landscape.

www.dimorrissey.com

 

 

Also by Di Morrissey

Heart of the Dreaming
The Last Rose of Summer
Follow the Morning Star
The Last Mile Home
Tears of the Moon
When the Singing Stops
The Songmaster
Scatter the Stars
Blaze
The Bay
Kimberley Sun
Barra Creek
The Reef
The Valley
Monsoon

 

 

 

First published in Macmillan in 2008 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney

Copyright © Babette Smith 1991

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

National Library of Australia
cataloguing-in-publication data:

Morrissey, Di.

The islands / Di Morrissey.

ISBN 978-1-4050-3856-0 (pbk.)

A823.3

Typeset in 12.5/15.5 pt Sabon Roman by Post Pre-press Group
Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

Internal map by Laurie Whiddon
Internal illustrations by Donald K. Hall, Hawaii
Photographs on pages 1 and 446 by Getty Images

The characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons,
living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Papers used by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

 

 

 

These electronic editions published in 2008 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

The Islands

Di Morrissey

Adobe eReader format: 978-1-74198-250-3
Online format: 978-1-74198-427-9
EPUB format: 978-0-75222-625-5

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Acknowledgments

As always, hugs to my amazing children who give me such love, support and joy – Gabrielle and Nick.

My darling partner, Boris, who makes each day so wonderful.

My dear family, Jim and Ron Revitt, Ro, Pauline, David, Damien, Julie, Emma and all my lovely cousins. And a big happy 95th to darling Dorothy Morrissey.

Thank you to friends who were so helpful – Lloyd and Margaret Wood and their network in Honolulu, Peter Morrissey, former USA surf champion, Rusty Miller and some special soul surfers who wish to be anonymous. And not forgetting my old friend, Ted Johnston.

Thanks and love to my non-surfing lawyer, Ian Robertson and my pal and publisher, James Fraser.

To everyone at Pan Macmillan – Ross Gibb, Roxarne Burns, Jeannine Fowler, Jane Novak, Katie Crawford, Elizabeth Foster, Millie Shilland. And thanks to eagle-eyed copyeditor Rowena Lennox.

And a special thanks to Liz Adams (and Richard) for your friendship, patience and for being such a wonderful editor!

And to the late legendary waterman, Tom Blake, who inspired the character of Lester.

In memory of my dearest mother, Kay, with whom I first visited The Islands.

1

T
HE SKY-BLUE
H
OLDEN STATION
wagon wound along the freshly graded dirt road lined by elderly eucalypts, a firmly anchored landmark for nearly one hundred years. The landscape was familiar to the man driving and the girl beside him. Catherine Moreland and Robert Turner were neighbours. Robert, his sisters and parents lived on a large property settled by his great-grandfather. Catherine's grandfather had started grazing sheep in the same district. Catherine and Robert had known each other since childhood.

Mollie Aitken, Catherine's girlfriend, sat in the back seat looking at countryside unfamiliar to her, as the two old friends in front chatted about local news and the big party that night for Catherine's twenty-first birthday. For Mollie it'd been a bit of a shock flying from Sydney into the rural district where there seemed to be nothing but paddocks, hills and a river. From the twin-engined, propellered plane, towns below looked to be small and few and far between. After living in trendy, inner city suburbs these open spaces made her feel very isolated.

Mollie had heard stories about bush bashes and how fantastic the parties were, so she'd been excited to be asked to Catherine's twenty-first. Catherine had told her that there were lots of single boys in the district but now, having seen where they lived, Mollie knew she could never survive so far away from shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment. But she was looking forward to the weekend house party, especially tonight's big celebration.

The Peel Airport was basic – a dressed-up shed really – and Mollie had been amused to walk outside to collect her bag from a trolley wheeled from the plane to the side of the terminal.

The drive seemed interminable although Rob and Catherine kept her entertained, describing some of the people coming to the party and giving sketchy, sometimes lurid, details of previous escapades at parties and balls over the years.

Mollie had met Catherine during a holiday on the Great Barrier Reef and they had kept in touch. On visits to Sydney Catherine stayed with Mollie. Now it was Catherine's turn to host her. Mollie had never been to a rural property in north-western New South Wales or anywhere else in the countryside before this visit. She knew that this property had been part of Catherine's grandfather's much larger holding. Over the years it had been broken up and had gone from raising sheep to become a smaller property where Catherine's father Keith raised stud Murray Grey cattle. He might be a solicitor working in Peel, the nearby regional town, but these cattle were his passion.

Mollie had been told that while other friends were coming from Sydney and Brisbane for Catherine's twenty-first, the majority of the guests would be neighbours and friends from school days.

Mollie was relieved when Catherine pointed out the enormous mailbox with
Heatherbrae
painted on its side and announced that they'd arrived as they turned into a narrow dusty road. Yet they continued to drive for what seemed ages past fences and dusty paddocks and the occasional head of Keith Moreland's prized cattle.

Rob glanced in the rear-vision mirror noting a truck following them, keeping well clear of the plume of orange dust kicked up by the station wagon.

‘So how many are coming tonight?' asked Rob. ‘Seems like everyone and their dog from the district.'

‘Well, it is Cathy's twenty-first,' Mollie reminded him. ‘And she's an only child.'