We Are All Blessed

• Billie Ward, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

Morning sun awakes me in my bed. I rush to my luggage and fly down the stairs. The suns shines down onto the breakfast table. We leap into the car and begin to drive. Spoonfuls of cereal float in my stomach as the car bumps up and down, jam packed with clothing, towels, swags, sleeping bags, pillows and others camping needs. We had set of to a river that rested in a small town of dimboola. We had been told that it had a awesome camping range and a caravan park suitable for families. Our car came to an almighty stop at a sandy bank of the river. We looked around and found ourselves unpacking all our supplies and setting up the tent. As we unpacked a
curious emu watched us with a weary eye.
“It must be a mother.” Whispers dad pointing to the two emu chicks, that too watched curiously.
“It is a father then, daddy emus look after the chicks.” The sun began to fade and the moon began to rise, I took a colossal spoonful from our pre-made dinner (mum was 1 step ahead of the trip) And i placed my special kangaroo plushy under my pillow. It was my dream to see a kangaroo. Living in the boring city with traffic that growls like dads tummy after a long days work isn’t that interesting, the day repeats itself (eat, school, sleep,), but here in the bush each day is new, you have a different adventure each time you wake up. You bush-kids are lucky! I crept into my tent, snuggled under the fluffy blankets and shut my eyes and listened to the quiet chatter outside my comfy cove of a tent. Soon my loquacious family began to the same, I started to dose off to dreamy land… I awoke to the crackling fire beside me, embers floating into the night sky then turning to dust and floating away in the soft, gentle wind that brushed beside my cheek. Shy kangaroos galloped softly through the bush( i went “OMG” in happiness) , and curious geckos scuttled from the fire. We are lucky. I thought looking into the oh so hypnotising flames that danced to the wind. The orchestra of singing birds began to awake. These bush-kids are real lucky. I thought to myself. But we are all lucky to live in Australia, a peaceful country full of loving people, who always have a helping hand. So, in the end we are all lucky!