The (True) Adventures of Mudpoo (5 page)

“There, now I've rescued everything, let's have a picnic on the grass near the trees,” said Captain Pete.

Everyone agreed they had to be much more careful not to be caught by the turning tide again.

W
ith a huge smile Gus said, “This is the place.”

"Yippie - Hooray!"
cried everyone.

They all stumbled out of Gus and looked around.

“This is the perfect place to set up camp,” said Captain Pete. “It's a nice camping area with a fireplace, a spot for the tent and shady trees to keep away the hot sun.”

Everyone helped to set up camp.

“I wonder what this place is called?” asked Harry curiously.

“Bundjalung National Park,” said Captain Pete.

“The sea is right over there,” said Harry, pointing towards it down the track.

Mudpoo's eyes lit up, “Can we go?” asked Harry and Mudpoo, jumping together with joy.

Everyone (except Gus) walked to the beach. It was a beautiful beach with lots of sand and strange shells, sticks and seaweed. Mudpoo loved the beach and he loved finding things. He would walk slowly, carefully studying everything.

“Hurry up Mudpoo,” yelled Harry, as he was so keen to see what he could find further up the beach. Captain Pete, Liz and Harry scrambled through the rocks.

Mudpoo was busy, carefully selecting every shell he wanted to keep. He always found the best shells.

He was so busy studying his seashells that he didn't notice that the rock he was standing on began to move.

Maybe it wasn't a rock?

A million years ago a baby Triceratops had fallen asleep and as Mudpoo walked on its back, he woke it up.

Mudpoo wasn't afraid; he knew that a Triceratops was a friendly dinosaur.

Harry, Liz and Captain Pete were in so much of a hurry to explore, that Mudpoo was a small spot far away waving to them.

“We'd better go back to him,” said Captain Pete looking a little concerned.

As Harry and Captain Pete came up close to Mudpoo he yelled;
"Look, I'm sitting on a Triceratops!"

The baby Triceratops didn't want to be seen, so it remembered what it had been doing to hide for over a million years and went back to sleep, looking like a rock again.

“That's not a Triceratops, that's a rock,” said Harry.

“Hmmm, but it certainly looks like a Triceratops shaped rock,” said Captain Pete.

Mudpoo smiled.

Perhaps if you go there one day the Triceratops will be there, sleeping, waiting . . . for someone like you to wake him up!

T
here was something special in the air this morning. It wasn't Christmas Eve, or somebody's birthday; but somehow, today felt very special.

They all felt a happy, bubbly feeling. Today everyone was going out on a boat in Hervey Bay, a very special whale spotting boat.

Very, very early, at six o'clock in the morning, everyone was up and wide awake, ready for breakfast.

"Have you ever seen a whale?"
Harry asked Mudpoo. Mudpoo shook his head, but he knew they were very, very big, as big as a huge truck.

Liz, Harry, Mudpoo, and Captain Pete hurried off to catch the little bus that would take them to the boat.

“Good morning,” smiled the driver. “Great morning for spotting whales.”

Each time the bus stopped, a few more people would get on. Everyone was talking excitedly about whales, as the little bus rumbled toward the wharf.

At the dock there were many boats of all shapes and sizes. Some were sleek and shiny, some looked fast and swish. Mudpoo saw a boat that looked just like a happy old fishing boat that needed a coat of paint.

“All aboard,” called out the skipper of the happy little boat. All the excited passengers from the little bus climbed aboard.

“Over here,” cried Dave the First Mate in a big booming voice and all the passengers gathered at the front of the boat.

“This is a life jacket,” said the Skipper, holding up a bright yellow vest. “This is how you put it on.” Everyone listened carefully.

“Excuse me,” said Mudpoo waving his hand. The Skipper looked at Mudpoo crossly.

“What do you want?” said the Skipper who hated to be interrupted.

“Do you have life jackets for small people?” asked Mudpoo.

“A fair question,” said the Skipper and he quickly found two smaller life jackets, one for Mudpoo and one for Harry.

"TOOT, TOOT"
went the boat and they slowly moved away from the dock. Harry and Mudpoo sat near the front.

The boat wasn't even ten metres from the wharf when Harry cried out, “Look a turtle!” A huge sea turtle raised his head just before diving under the water.

The boat was called the Princess II. It was the first whale spotting boat to leave the harbour.

Being older, slower and not as shiny as the other boats in the harbour, the Skipper and the First Mate had a clever plan to get close to the whales.

After ten minutes out at sea the Skipper yelled out
"Whale-HO, humpback whale ahead"

Everyone was so excited and strained to see the whale's tail flipping and waving in the distance. The Skipper stopped the boat and turned the engine off.

Dave the First Mate came over to all the passengers. “If you want the whale to come over to us, you all need to sing a song,” he said with a big toothy grin. Everyone looked a bit uncertain.

Mudpoo said, “I'll sing,” and started to sing a happy song, so all the words could be heard by all the whales in the distance.

To everyone's amazement a humpback whale swam towards the boat. When he reached the boat he slowly raised his head out of the water and looked straight at the surprised passengers. Mudpoo kept singing, and everyone joined in. Soon there were three whales swimming around the boat, happily listening to the singing passengers.

All of the other fast and shiny boats from the wharf were now watching from a distance with amazement. Mudpoo and the passengers of the little old fishing boat were singing songs to happy humpback whales.