Mudpoo and the Magic Tree Stump (8 page)

(
The horrible pirates were never seen hunting whales again. In fact, someone I know heard that they had given up hunting altogether, sold their pirate boat and used the money to open up a flower shop, somewhere in tropical North Queensland... in Australia).

C
aptain Pete was dosing as the early morning sun gently patted his face. He'd been dreaming that he was dressed like Ned Kelly,
(the famous Australian Bush Ranger, who made his last stand at Glenrowan in North-East Victoria, dressed in armour, around 1878)
and was fighting a fierce, bouncing goanna. A wonderful aroma filled his nostrils and he awoke with a grin. 

Rod and Liz were already up and wide awake, cooking some yummy pancakes for breakfast. 

“The others must've gone for an early morning walk,” said Rod cheerfully, “I've got the billy on the boil.” 

“Let's follow their tracks in the sand . . . ”
suggested Captain Pete,
“ . . . AFTER breakfast!”
As Liz, Rod and Captain Pete tucked into their very yummy breakfast, they were blissfully unaware of the extraordinary events unfolding just around the corner at Bluff Beach. 

And those events were very extraordinary indeed . . . 

“GATHERING-GUMNUTS!” cried Clancy Koala from her vantage point way up in her gum tree, “WHALE HO!” 

“SiZZLinG-SauSaGeS!” squawked Sammy silver gull, “Whales! Flying whales!” 

“SQUARK, BUST-MY-BILLY,” shrieked Kev, “Look down below!” 

Mudpoo, and all the animals ran to a vantage point from where Kev was pointing. 

The sight before them was something none of them had ever seen before. Humpback and minke whales were appearing like magic, out of thin air, high above the water near Bluff Beach, each dive-landing into the ocean with an enormous KERR-SPLASHHH! 

Mudpoo, Harry and Jess looked at each other with a grin. 

“WE DID IT!” 

Together, Mudpoo, Harry and Jess bounced up and down with joy. 

“Well WIGGLE-MY-WHISKERS,” cheered Percy Possum. 

“SHEESH-KA-BOB-A-ROOEY!” danced Foggerty, hugging Mudpoo.“Amazing,” said Andrena ant. 

“Amazing! See? That's what GET-A-LONG-ABILITY can achieve,”
smiled Sally Snake. 

Grumblegoo felt enormously proud. She knew that they had achieved an amazing rescue, only this time they had achieved it with humans and animals working together. 

Grumblegoo was so proud of her Magic Tree Stump and her friends (especially Foggerty Frog) that she leapt out from her hidey spot shouting,
“THREE CHEERS for the magic tree stump and all its friends!”

Mudpoo, quickly replied,
“THREE CHEERS for Grumblegoo!”

Grumblegoo blushed as a rowdy chorus of several ‘HIP-HIP HOORAYs' echoed throughout the Iluka Nature Reserve. There was lots of squawking, cheering, flapping, hopping and hugging, as the animals and Mudpoo celebrated the rescue and safe return of their whale friends. The whales sang a special rendition of the ‘Blue Danube', slapping their enormous pectoral fins against the water to play the beat for their song;

From the shore, it sounded like an orchestra of whales; which is of course, what it really was! Several of the humpbacks breached high, up out of the water, creating a spectacular display as they celebrated their miraculous escape from the pirates. 

Each time a humpback crashed back into the water, it sent up a shower of sparkling, glistening spray, and Mudpoo and the forest animals cheered each one! 

“Did you know that the scientific name for a humpback whale is
Megaptera novaeangliae
, which means ‘big wings,'” announced a smiling Foggerty.

“THREE CHEERS for Foggerty Frog,”
shouted Grumblegoo, who knew that without little Foggerty's amazing knowledge, they may never have saved the whales. 

“HIP-HIP, HOORAY!”
they all shouted and the whales added their approval by sending up enormous jets of vapour clouds from their blowholes. 

They might have continued to celebrate all day, except that they heard the concerned voice of someone calling from afar; “MUDPOO? HARRY? JESS?”

A
fter their yummy breakfast, Captain Pete and Liz had decided to follow the trail the others had left. Rod said he'd stay back and have another ‘cuppa' as he wanted to write another poem for kids. 

“Fair enough,” said Captain Pete, “we'll leave you to it.” 

It seemed like a peaceful morning as they strolled along Back Beach, following one set of foot prints, two sets of paw prints and occasionally another print that Captain Pete couldn't quite make out. “They love exploring don't they,” smiled Captain Pete. 

Then they heard some strange sounds coming from Bluff Beach. There were several loud “KERR-SPLASHHH!” sounds followed by a strange kind of rowdy racket. 

You and I know what was happening, but Captain Pete and Liz could only guess.

“It must be that Monstrous Goanna!”
cried Captain Pete,
“C'mon, they could all be in trouble!”
and he started to run as fast as his legs could go (which was not very fast . . . if you've ever tried running on dry beach sand, you'll know it's not easy!). 

Puffing and out of breath, Liz and Captain Pete stopped at The Bluff picnic spot.

“Look over there,” beamed Liz, “isn't that a whale?” 

Captain Pete and Liz looked out to sea and spotted the incredible sight of dozens of humpback whales, breaching and swimming, waving their enormous tails. 

“Wow,”
said Captain Pete,
“wait until I tell Mudpoo and Harry about this!”
“Mudpoo and Harry!” cried Captain Pete, who'd almost forgotten why they were there in the first place, “we've got to save them from that monstrous goanna!”

Liz was a little doubtful about the ‘Monster Goanna' theory, but still hurried along behind Captain Pete. 

When Captain Pete reached the spot where everyone had been, only Mudpoo and Harry could be seen; all the other animals went into hiding. Jess was on her way back to camp, thinking that Rod might be waiting for her with some yummy blueberry pie. 

“Great to see you, did you see the scary, horrible Goanna?” asked Captain Pete wildly waving his arms about. 

“No,” replied Mudpoo truthfully as he didn't consider Grumblegoo to be horrible. 

“Phew,” replied an exhausted and puffed-out Captain Pete, as he sat right in the middle of the Magic Tree Stump. 

“Did you hear all the noise?” inquired Captain Pete. 

“Yes,” replied Harry, “we were yelling out in excitement when we saw the whales.” 

Captain Pete smiled, “Aren't they wonderful? It's hard to believe anyone in the world would dream of harming them.”

“Monstrous goannas on the other hand . . .” he went on, “ . . . are a different thing altogether. (Mudpoo and Harry could sense Captain Pete might be getting ready to tell another tall story).
“Why I'd show a goanna a thing or two. As a matter a fact, I wish Ned Kelly could be here for a few seconds, he'd show that monstrous goanna a . . . ”

It all happened too fast for Mudpoo and Harry to stop it from happening. In a flash, Captain Pete was covered in a silvery dust and there was a familiar ‘SWOOSHING' sound, right before a very surprised Ned Kelly appeared out of thin air, wearing his full suit of armour. 

Captain Pete's jaw dropped. 

He glanced at Ned Kelly for a few seconds and then, just like that, Ned Kelly vanished. 

“Wha . . . ? Did you see . . . ? Was there . . . ? Am I dreaming . . . ?” stammered poor Captain Pete who couldn't understand if what he'd seen was real, or just his imagination. 

“Did you see? Was there? Did Ned Kelly . . . ?” he shook his head, “. . . oh never mind,” sighed Captain Pete. He convinced himself that the long walk must have given him a severe case of sunstroke. 

Liz, who had her back to Captain Pete the whole time, had missed the whole thing. 

Ned Kelly was just as surprised as Captain Pete. He was under a police siege in the Glenrowan Hotel in 1883 when Captain Pete had accidentally wished him to Iluka. When the Magic Tree Stump returned him to the siege at Glenrowan, he found himself suddenly behind the police lines. Ned shook his head; ‘I don't know how I got here, but I think I'll have a little nap and surprise the troopers in the morning. 

The rest is history . . .