GIDGEE HILL

GIDGEE HILL

In the morning when I wake up
the verandah blind still crinckles up at one end,
my tree is still there,
and the Little Brown Birds are chirping.

Then I get out of bed
and sit on the verandah step
and look at the world waking up.

On the cotton paddock the machines are working.
In the Lignum Swamp the Moor Hens and the Black Swans and the Blue Cranes are swimming.
On the Queensland border road the Mail Truck is passing.

Then I do my jobs.
Feed the chooks and the turkeys and the dogs.
Check the water and fill up the troughs.
Clean my boots.

Then it is breakfast time.
Breakfast is whatever Dad and I have left over from last night.
It always tastes better for breakfast.
But sometimes on his day off we have scrambled egg toasted sandwiches
make in the jaffle iron in the camp fire.
That is the Best Breakfast.

Some days my Dad goes off early.
He says "Write a note if you go off anywhere".
So when Mr. Joe says, "Do you want to come to open some gates"
I write a note to Dad  [ Gone with Mr. Joe] and I put it by the tea pot.

But today I just sat on the back step and looked and looked,
all the way to Gidgee Hill
behind the cotton paddock
behind the Lignum Swamp
and up behind the red sand ridge.
And I thought it isn't too far afterall.

Blue and green and grey and brown
secret and still
is Gidgee Hill.
And I thought, "That's where I'll go today".
So I wrote Dad a note,
[ Gone to Gidgee Hill back for tea]

I put on my boots and my hat.
I put some water in the tucker bag.
I ate another stew sandwiches so I wouldn't get hungry
And I found some wrinkled up apples in the bottom of the fridge.
I put them in the tucker bag too.

Then I checked the water trough again to make sure that everyone had enough.
Just in case Dad asked when he came home.
Then I climbed through the gap between the gate and the fence
and set off down the boundary track by the cotton paddock.

The cotton grows in long straight rows and mostly there is machines in the paddock or the crop duster about
but today it was very quiet.
Not time yet for the cotton chippers to start weeding the rows.
But that was alright. Just nice and quiet.

I had a rest at the end of the cotton paddock on top of the irrigation canal.
There were little fish swimming in the water
but I didn't go and see if they were Perch or Carp.
Dad said, "Never play near the canal". He doesn't say that often so I don't.

Next there was the Lignum Swamp to cross.
The shortest way was across the middle but it looked very squichy.
So I went around the edge.
There were lots of Teals with baby ducklings.
There were Moor Hens with young ones.
There were Spoonbills and Blue Cranes
and frogs

And while I was looking where I was going so I didn't step on anything new and very special
A Black Swan hissed at me and started to fly at me
and I ran and ran
as fast as I could.
I must have been too close to her nest
and she was very fierce protecting her baby signets.

I found a high spot and had another rest.
It still looked a long way to Gidgee Hill.
It must be lunch time I thought. I'll have an apple when I get to the other side.
Then I thought about all the things that lived in Lignum Swamp that I didn't see in the morning when I watched the world wake up.
I was just thinking and there was a rustle in the grass
and a black snake wriggled out and across the bare patch where I was.
I sat very still until it had gone then I gentle got up and started off again.
Black snakes are very timid but it was a bit close.

Then I walked a lot more
and suddenly there was a red box tree, and a wild orange tree
and a coolibah tree all around the edge of the Lignum Swamp.
I had crossed over.
An apple tasted very nice just then.

Up the red sand ridge to Gidgee Hill.
I stopped to see if there were any wild oranges and I found two.
Delicious. Lucky me.
I felt very happy.

Gidgee Hill is a very special place.
No-one ever goes there at all.
The trees have black trunks and look very gnarly.
They have a grey kind of green and blue leaves.
It is very still and quiet.
I sat on a log and thought about being still and quiet all the time like the Gidgee trees.

Then I watched the ants, and the butterflies, then a robin came past
then the light started to dance on the leaves and the grass began to sing
Gidgee Hill was magical and wonderful.
I sat beside an old tree log and watched and watched.

When I woke up I was still inside Gidgee Hill
Someting very strange and wonderful was happening.
Little brown birds were whirling about, but they weren't little birds
they were bats
with bright eyes
around and around
fluttering and squeeling.

Then I remembered that it must be very late if the bats were out.
Dad would be worried
so would the chooks and the turkeys and the dogs and the gold fish.
I should go home.

I tried to get up very slowly so I wouldn't disturb the magic in Gidgee Hill
but it got better.
Min Min lights were dancing in the shadows and on the trees and leaves.
The bats swirled faster
and far across the Lignum Swamp a car horn sounded.
That is my Dad looking for me.

I picked up the tucker bag
and hugged all the trees I could reach on my way to the edge of Gidgee Hill to say
"Thank You for a very special time"
then I cooeed across the Lignum Swamp so my Dad would know where I was
and then I sat and waited.

I thought about all the wonderful things I had seen today
all the things I could tell my Dad when he found me
and how happy I was
but I didn't look back to Gidgee Hill
because now I know how magic it is.

My Dad drove closer and closer in the old truck and called out
"Jeanie, Jeanie"
And I cooeed back again.
Then he was there and I ran out and he hugged me hard
"I thought the Min Min had taken you for sure" he said.
I hugged him hard back, "It is a special place, " I said "there are a lot of interesting things on the way too".
Dad said "Tell me on the way back".  So I did.

And Dad didn't say much but he made scrambled egg toasted sandwiches for tea.
When he tucked me into bed on the verandah that night he said "Thanks mate for the note. I knew you'd keep your head even with the Min Min"
I hugged him and said "They are really red eyed bats Dad"
And he said, "You are very special Jeanie my girl and Gidgee Hill knows that too".