CHAPTER 57
Our massive picture window faced West, so our morning was lit up by the light falling on jarrah and sheoak foliage. Kookaburras were cackling away as the sun rose, and as Maz stirred she mumbled something about bloody introduced species. I kissed the tip of her nose.

“Morning, you”

A smile.

“Morning back, you. Bloody good choice for team-building crap, this. What’s today’s plan?”

“Brekky, then a try-out of those wineries. Prefer to get some time in today rather than leave it to the weekend, when there might be a crowd of people”

“And Ronnie’s lad won’t be down till later today, and the same argument applies to the cliffs, and the beach. I want to see that natural jacuzzi thing the woman in the shop mentioned, just without half the city sharing it”

“Ask the others, then. Team decision, woman. Team event”

She smiled up at me, as we lay side by side.

“Not all of it, Mister R. Hmmm… same initials. Well, if I ignore all the stuff in my passport about being the daughter of so and so, cause that would add a B”

“And if my middle name were Brian?”

“You’re joking!”

“I am. It’s Benjamin”

She was silent for a few minutes, before starting to tickle me, with some gusto.

“Out and get the kettle on, Rhodes! Day’s wasting, and there’s loads to see and do, and this girl wants to do active activities”

I grabbed my shorts from the floor after giving her another kiss, then padded down the solid wooden stairs to the kitchen area, where Chad was examining frying pans before starting his own breakfast efforts. He greeted me rather loudly, clearly so that Maz could hear him.

“Yup. Gets called ‘Memsahib’ once, and it goes straight to her head. Kettle was already on, Rahman, because some of us aren’t as slug-a-bed as you!”

“Well, would you want to get up if you were sharing with Mike? Ah… perhaps not the best thing to ask”

Chad was blushing a deep pink, but he held his ground.

“Can’t be that, because you kicked him out, and he’s down here and you are still in bed. Hot stuff is going on now, and your tea will stay down here for you to collect, Miss Lazy Bloody Arse”

We assembled at the bus after our food, and it did feel a bit like school assembly, and I half expected a register to be called. Kul visibly relaxed as he saw Maz and myself holding hands, but he couldn’t stay sensible for long.

“Oh great Sahib and Memsahib, where is your humble servant to deliver you today?”

Maryam stuck her tongue out at him, then started to work through the logic of her plan, and I saw Ronnie nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, makes sense. Thing is, if we are doing meals at the wineries, we can book them. Can’t do a beach reservation, ey?”

I held up my little rucksack.

“Got my swimming kit in here, as well as my rock shoes. If people want a go at the cliffs, we can stop by and pick up the rest of the necessaries.

Kul looked at his wife for a decision.

“Bit of climbing before lunch, then a picnic and the beach?”

Geeta nodded.

“We can stop by that shop we saw. Probably be mostly meat pies, but we’ll manage. Works for me”

The climbing turned out to be very much to my liking, and fitted my style. Vern summed it up quite neatly, or at least in a way that fitted his prejudices.

“See? Do my sort of climb, and it’s grab a quickdraw and clip, you’re done”

“I will just say ‘Aussie bolts’, Vern”

“Yeah, but they’re all the same size. You don’t have to try out six different bits of pro until you find one that fits. And the second doesn’t have to hang around for half an hour wriggling each bit to get it back out!”

I still think he enjoyed himself, and Dal most certainly did, his balance and confidence coming on in leaps and bounds, and I did the old trick of letting him lead an easier route while soloing just beneath him so I could offer advice and spot any bad choices before he moved above them. The sun was out, naturally, the rock was rough, warm and solid, Maz had both the climbing and the birds to enjoy, and Geeta was so busy with her camera I wondered how many memory cards she had with her.

The ‘rock climb’ to get to the natural pool was nothing but a walk where a stabilising hand was useful a couple of times, but the pool itself was just as described, with waves of white suds sluicing through gaps in the surrounding rocks to enliven the water. It wasn’t like the hot tub, but I came out feeling a lot more invigorated. Everyone was laughing, and even more so as we worked through our picnic before heading off into the ocean itself for the usual face-mask-and-snorkel silliness.

I was having fun, and, from the sounds and grins around me, so were the rest. I was out of the water, stretched out on a towel as Maz explained to one of the others that ‘it’s a pacific gull, just look at the size of its beak’, when there was a shout of “Some of us bastards have to work, unlike you bludgers!”

My worries were erased when Ronnie launched her self at the speaker, and, rather than smacking him in the mouth, gave him a smacker there instead.

“Mates, this is Rufe. Sweetheart, that’s Kul, his wife Geeta, their lad Dal, Chad and Vern, Mike and Maz”

“Hiya, all of you! Bloody long drive, so I am going straight in”

He quickly stripped to a pair of ‘budgie-smuggler swimmers’ and charged into the water, coming up a few seconds later to shake the water from his hair.

“Coming in, Ronz, or do I have to fill a bucket with seawater?”

He was going to fit in very nicely. As he stood in the water, he waved at his pile of clothing.

“Got some snacks and stuff in that bag. Help yourselves!”

Dal had a look, before passing out a selection of fresh fruit and a couple of pieces of flapjack. I worked my way through an orange, segment by segment, before plunging back into the sea. I was quite clearly not in That Place anymore.

Vern drove us back to our units, Rufe and ‘Ronz’ following behind, and as we passed a winery, he told Maz to look at the sign.

“Your sort of place, Maz, Vasse Felix. Great picture of a peregrine falcon as a sign”

She chuckled.

“It’s a sign, Vern, but it’s no kind of falcon”

“But their website says it’s a peregrine”

“Not with wings like that. Some sort of accipiter, I would say, like a sparrowhawk, or maybe a harrier”

“Bollocks to that, then. Anyway, they do really good food, I hear, and I don’t think that bit’s wrong. Where are we eating tonight?”

“Well, if we already have a recommendation. I can ring up and see if they’ve got room. Eat early?”

Kul made a comment about designated drivers, and Vern laughed out loud.

“My liver needs a break after that Sydney trip, mate! I’m happy to share the duties this weekend. Anyone else happy to volunteer? That has insurance, that is, so Mike, you’re out”

Geeta surprised me, in my unconscious sexism, by volunteering for the Saturday duties, and once we were back at the cottages, Rufe put his hand up for the Sunday evening, on the basis that he had to be up early to drive back to the city. I was literally getting an easy ride of it, and as I showered off the salt before putting on some slightly more respectable clothing, I was joined in the cubicle by a close personal friend, and we were nearly late for the meal.

The food was excellent; with the sun still up, we sat on a wooden raised decking thing, and had a few samples of the local vintage before tucking into a very interesting menu.

“Vern? Anyone? What on Earth is a Moreton Bay Bug?”

Vern and Maz answered simultaneously, Vern with “Mini lobster” and Maz with “Crayfish, mmmm!”, so that became my main course. The inner part of the restaurant was surrounded by large glass patio doors, and, as we ate, a sparrow-sized bird, an incredibly bright blue, hopped onto the decking, spotted its own reflection in a pane of glass, and promptly went berserk.

“Maz?”

“Yes?”

“What the hell is it with Aussie birds?”

“That’s a superb fairywren. They get a bit territorial”

“A BIT?”

That weekend was a delight, in so many ways. We fitted in several more winery visits, more great food, some half-decent routes on nice rough rock (To Rufe’s comment ‘bugger that for a game of soldiers’) and three more evenings of warm bubbles and chilled wine. All the time, Maz was smiling, I saw no reason not to do the same, and once back at Butt Towers, I started my research on the points-based system.

I was too far away from Caro to be at home, but each day in Australia chipped away at that thought. If things continued on their current course, that might change.