The (True) Adventures of Mudpoo (2 page)

The dolphins and the sea lions put on a wonderful show. They all watched in amazement.

“They understand everything that their trainer says to them,” said Captain Pete.

“Look over there!” said Mudpoo.

“Where?” asked Harry.

Over there, it's the roller coaster
said Mudpoo. 

It was so big that the roller coaster could be seen from very far away. Even Gus who was in the car park could see it. When the last sea lion and dolphin waved goodbye, they walked to the roller coaster. 

“Don't be scared Mudpoo,” said Harry. “It's huge and fast and goes upside down and it feels like you could fall out.” 

Somehow this didn't reassure Mudpoo very much at all. As their turn got closer Captain Pete looked kindly at Mudpoo.

“You'll be ok, just close your eyes if it becomes too scary.” 

Mudpoo didn't say a word.“Hop in; it's your turn,” said the smiling attendant.

Harry, Mudpoo and Captain Pete sat in the front seat. Some other people sat in the seat behind them. As soon as they were safely strapped into their seats, the roller coaster began to move. 

Slowly at the roller coaster climbed up, up, up and UP!

They could see Gus far away. He was a tiny speck in the car park. Captain Pete smiled confidently at Mudpoo as it climbed as high as it could go. Suddenly, whoosh, it took off like a mad train out of control. It was going to crash when, ZOO
OOM
, it suddenly took a sharp turn to the right, then,
WHAM!
 another sharp turn to the left and then it climbed even higher. 

“Oh no!” cried Harry, burying his head in his paws. 

A terrified Captain Pete screamed,
"Whahoo,hoo,hoo!"

Mudpoo stayed calm. The roller coaster went round and round and round in circles slowing down until very gently it came to a stop.

Shaking, and with very wobbly knees, Captain Pete and Harry  climbed out. 

Mudpoo confidently stepped out and looked at them both with a huge grin and said,
"Can we do it again?"

Harry and Captain Pete looked at each other; their heads were spinning and they were holding their tummies,“Oh no Mudpoo,  not today!”

I
t was morning and the start of another exciting day.

After a yummy breakfast near the ocean, Harry and Mudpoo brushed their teeth. Then they happily helped Captain Pete pack up their camp and neatly place everything inside Gus.

The sun was shining; it was going to be a very hot day.

“Who feels like an ice cream?” said Captain Pete.

Gus stopped at the very next ice cream shop.

“I'll have the ice cream with the bubblegum in the middle,” shouted Mudpoo excitedly and Harry nodded vigorously in agreement. With ice creams on board, Gus was chugging up the road without a worry in the world.

Captain Pete was so happy, he sang a little song to himself. 

Mudpoo sat on the back seat next to Harry.

They had both eaten their ice creams and had come to the best part; the juicy bubble gum centre! Harry was carefully chewing his bubblegum when he turned to see Mudpoo looking very concerned. You see, Mudpoo had chewed his bubblegum until it was just right.

“I'd better check the bubblegum,” thought Mudpoo and he popped the sticky ball in his fingers and gave it a squeeze. But instead of being able to roll the bubblegum back into a ball, each finger had bubblegum firmly stuck to it.

“That's odd,” thought Mudpoo to himself, who knew the best thing to do was to wipe his fingers on his shirt. “That will fix it.”

Now there was bubblegum stretching from Mudpoo's shirt right up to each finger.

“Now look here!” said Mudpoo looking very crossly at the bubblegum.

“Look where?” replied the bubblegum.

Mudpoo was so cross he wasn't even a little bit surprised that the bubble gum could talk. “I'm the stickiest bubblegum in the land and . . . I'm the messiest.”

Mudpoo looked concerned, ‘I know what'll fix you,' he thought. ‘I'll wipe you on my trousers.'

So Mudpoo wiped and wiped as hard as he could until his hands, shirt and pants were a sticky, tangled web of bright bubble gum strands going in all directions.

Harry sat quietly and watched. He couldn't believe his eyes.

This made the trip even more interesting, he thought. Gus decided it was time for a rest and stopped near a small water tank and a huge shady tree.

Captain Pete was still singing;

He stopped singing when he looked into the back of Gus. The sad expression on Mudpoo's face told the story.

“It was the bubble gum,” explained Mudpoo. “It came alive!”

With lots and lots of soapy water and a lot of scrubbing by Captain Pete, Mudpoo was slowly cleaned up.

“I've learnt my lesson,” said Mudpoo.

“Bubblegum is not a toy to play with.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

I
t was a beautiful morning to be camped near the ocean.

Harry and Mudpoo had slept in a tent near the edge of the Red Gum forest. Laughter and screams could be heard coming from the tent.

Captain Pete got out of bed, stretched and yawned and put the billy on.

“Weet-bix with honey for breakfast,” said Mudpoo and Harry together.

Captain Pete looked stern, “You can get breakfast ready for yourselves today,” he said trying to look as grumpy as possible.

Without too much extra mess Mudpoo and Harry prepared their own

breakfast. 

"Let's go down to the rocks,"
said Harry who wanted to scramble away at once.

“Wait just a minute,” said Captain Pete. “What about the washing up?”

Looking as sad as they could Mudpoo and Harry helped with the washing up.

“There, that's better. Grab the fishing rods and let's go,” said Captain Pete.

In less than one minute they'd walked to a beautiful beach with large rocks everywhere.

“There are more rocks than yesterday!” said Harry a little surprised.

“That's because the tide is out,” said Captain Pete.

Indeed the tide was out and it had left hundreds of tiny rock pools filled with interesting sea creatures.

Mudpoo and Harry carefully walked between the rocks, studying the rock pools. The rocks were often jagged, very slippery and sometimes very difficult to cross.

“Here's a nice big water hole with little fish in it,” cried Harry very excitedly.

Captain Pete dropped in a fishing line.

They all watched as the fish played a game with the bait. No sooner was the hook in the water, than a sneaky little fish would eat the bait without being caught.

“Hey, cut that out!” said Captain Pete as he fumbled to re-bait the hook.

He was so busy that he didn't notice that Harry and Mudpoo had walked to the very edge of the rocks where the ocean was gently lapping at their feet.

“What's over there?” yelled Harry pointing out to sea.

Captain Pete looked up, “That's the Pacific Ocean and the next land is Chile in South America.”

“Is that far?” asked Harry.

“It's a very long way,” said Captain Pete. “It would take a month in a boat.”