Violet's Outback Adventure

• Emika Bailey, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2019

“Violet, time to get up!” called mum. The sun was up, but it felt too early to be awake. I got up and sleepily got dressed, and then walked down the old wooden staircase to breakfast. “Hello Violet,” said my Dad. “Hi Dad,” I mumbled. We ate breakfast quickly - we had a big day ahead! We packed our car with our suitcases, and everything we’d need for our outback trip. The caravan was attached to our car ready to go. I said goodbye to my room, then we locked up the house and hopped in the car. We were off on our adventure!
Dad pulled slowly out of the driveway. Mum was our navigator. Actually, Mum’s phone was our navigator. I looked out the window, wrote in my diary, and wondered how 9 hours could possibly feel so long!
It was very hot. We pulled into the little campground where we would be staying for the next few days. Mum the navigator turned into Mum the cook. Soon dinner was ready, and we ate hungrily. The sun was replaced by a dark sky, filled with hundreds of brightly shining stars. We were tired from driving, and it was cold, so we got into our warm beds in the caravan. When I woke the next morning, my parents were already up eating breakfast. I ate my breakfast slowly until Dad told me to hurry.
We drove to Uluru and took a long winding walk around the base. It took us nearly two hours. We saw a little stripy snake and several lizards scurrying across the path. Uluru was very colourful, and looked like it changed shape, each time we turned another corner. It was hot in the sun, so we ran between spots of shade to stay cool.
When we got back to our campground, we found a sign saying, ‘outback walk’. We climbed over rocks and down into sandy gullies and saw a small brown animal lying in the shade of a rock. It looked like a puppy and lifted its head to look at us. “Oh, Dad! A puppy!” I cried, “can we keep it?” “No!”, whispered my dad, “it’s a dingo, and we are not keeping it. Watch quietly, because his mother is probably close by!” Quietly we sat down in the shade. We watched the pup and took in the outback. Soon a lean, desert coloured dingo appeared with two other pups. She leaned down, licked the baby, and gently nuzzled him to follow. She looked in our direction and sniffed. We kept watching. The pup followed his mum behind the rock, and we smiled at each other. He was safe. We walked quietly back to our camp for dinner and wrote a story together to remind us of our adventure at Uluru. I knew that the beauty of Uluru would never leave me as I watched the stars rise across the huge dark night sky.