The (True) Adventures of Mudpoo (3 page)

“Wow that's far!” said Harry.

By now Captain Pete had realised Mudpoo and Harry were very close to the rocky edge.

“Get back from the edge!” yelled Captain Pete urgently.

Mudpoo and Harry came over at once.

“Why, what's wrong?” they both asked looking very surprised.

“Well, I know the water looks calm, but every now and then the ocean can get quite dangerous with giant waves,” said Captain Pete.

“You mean like a secret wave?” said Mudpoo.

“Errr . . . Yes,” Captain Pete replied.

“Like that one,” said Harry pointing to a giant wave heading towards the rocks.

Captain Pete looked up and had less than one second to tightly hold Mudpoo and Harry as the giant wave washed over the rocks where they had been standing.

The seawater washed over Captain Pete's wobbly knees as Mudpoo and Harry hung on. In a moment the sea was calm again.

“Now we know why it's dangerous to go too close to the edge of the rocks,” said Mudpoo, Harry nodded his head in agreement.

A secret wave almost washed them into the sea.

From that day on, they were all a lot more careful!

T
he smell of adventure was in the air and Gus was excited.

Gus loved camping by the sea, but after three days at the camping ground, Gus was very keen to get moving again. Mudpoo and Harry were brushing their teeth. This seemed to take longer than usual.

With all the packing to be done and the breakfast dishes to be washed, Captain Pete was patiently waiting for their help.

“Right Harry,” said Captain Pete. “You finish packing the tent-poles and Mudpoo you finish drying the breakfast dishes.”

Mudpoo thought for a moment, “Oh, I did the drying yesterday,” he said rather hopefully.

“Ah, that's great, so you've had good practice then,” replied Captain Pete.

Mudpoo looked at the breakfast dishes, “I'll do them,” he promised. “I'll do them over there so I can see the beautiful birds.”

Mudpoo moved the box of wet cups and bowls and sat next to them, wishing they would simply dry themselves.

Harry was helping Captain Pete to load Gus; it was a cheerful, steady job. They weren't in any hurry, though Gus was keen to go. Mudpoo decided that one more little walk, to find one more interesting seashell seemed like a good idea.

Everyone was so busy, they didn't notice Mudpoo walking slowly towards the beach.

As Mudpoo followed the sandy track his eyes searched carefully for exciting, colourful shells. Mudpoo always found the best shells by carefully studying the ground.

“In go the sleeping bags and the tent,” said Captain Pete.

“In go the folding chairs and the billy,” said Harry. “We've got water in all our containers.”

Captain Pete checked Gus, “We've got oil in the engine and plenty of air in the tyres.”

“That's everything isn't it?” asked Gus excitedly. “
Jump in.
”

Harry and Captain Pete jumped in and closed the door and away they went. With a roar and a cloud of dust they were gone.

At this very moment Mudpoo decided he had found just enough shells and walked slowly back to camp. When he reached the camping spot he rubbed his eyes.

Everyone had gone, but not quite everything.

The little box of dishes and the tea towel were still sitting near the tree, just where he had left them. Trying as hard as he could not to be worried, Mudpoo dried the dishes.

The familiar roaring sound that Gus made could be heard coming over the hill. Inside sat a smiling Captain Pete and Harry.

“You've done a wonderful job with those dishes,” said Captain Pete.

“How could we leave you behind?”

Mudpoo with both pockets full of seashells grinned.

He was so glad to see them that he promised to dry the dishes again tomorrow.

“Good for you Mudpoo!” said Captain Pete and away they went on a new adventure.

S
lowly, Gus roared his way up the hilly, winding road.

He knew when he reached the very top he could stop for a rest. Mudpoo, Harry and Captain Pete were in Nambour in Queensland to visit their friend Liz.

Kevin, Liz's Kombi, was parked in the driveway. He gave Gus a warm smile as he pulled in

.

"Yahoo!"
cried Mudpoo and Harry together.

Everyone piled out of Gus.

A beaming Liz waved a cheery hello, “You must be exhausted, come inside for a nice cool drink.”

It wasn't too long before Mudpoo and Harry wanted to go exploring. Harry was looking around the garden when he noticed something odd. George, Liz's cat, was sitting beneath a tree grumbling to himself. He was staring up at the tree in the way that cats do when they're annoyed.

Harry followed George's gaze and so did Mudpoo. They saw something that made them run as fast as their legs could carry them, up the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Excuse me Liz,” said Harry politely, as Mudpoo tumbled into him almost knocking them both over.

Harry knew he had to be polite even if he had to interrupt.

“What's the matter?” asked Liz noticing the look of excitement on Harry's face.

"There's a very large snake in your tree!"
said Harry.

"And it's
GREEN!"
 exclaimed Mudpoo.

“Oooh, it must be a python,” smiled Liz excitedly.

Everyone ran down the stairs to the tree.

It was a tall, green tree that leant against the side of the house. There, in the middle of the tree, moving gracefully through the branches was a beautiful diamond python.

The python had decided today was the day it would shed its winter coat.

Meeting an angry George added more than enough excitement to an already busy day.

“What is that?” asked Harry curiously.

Captain Pete gently removed the snakeskin from a branch in the tree and held it out for everyone to see. This made George grumble even more.

“It's so big,” said Harry watching the snake gracefully glide through the upper branches of Liz's tree.

Mudpoo looked at the open window near the top of the tree.

“Whose room is that?” asked Mudpoo a little concerned.