The Crocodile Nest (7 page)

Luke was sick of watching movies. Perhaps they might have been more enjoyable if the constant drone of the plane’s engines hadn’t made listening so difficult, but he doubted it. He’d decided a couple of hours ago that international flights were boring. For all he knew, internal flights could be as well, but he’d never been in a plane before. Nor had Beth, sitting in the aisle seat beside him. Unlike Luke, she’d had a smile on her face ever since they’d left Whitianga. Not even the hassles of ticketing, emigration or security had dampened her enthusiasm. Now she sat reading a travel magazine, breaking off every so often to have conversations with the flight attendants.

Sitting in the window seat was Lora, reading a novel. Her black hair had been cut shorter, giving her a much friendlier look. She was even wearing colourful clothes. Luke found the new Lora a lot more attractive than the one he had last seen ten weeks before. Already he was beginning to think of her in different terms.

Those ten weeks had passed quickly for Luke. One of the more difficult things had been applying for a passport, which had meant getting a birth certificate. He got quite a shock when it arrived and he saw the entry:

Father’s Name: unknown

He’d sort of expected it, but seeing it printed on an official form was disturbing. And, of course, it was wrong. Nevertheless, Luke had decided to wait until after meeting Hamish before deciding whether to have him officially recognized as his father. It depended on what happened about the stolen money.

In the emails between them, Luke had made no mention of his suspicions. All they’d covered were the arrangements for the trip. Hamish had agreed to support Luke for the time they would be in Cape Tribulation, saying that the place where he worked—The Crocodile Nest—had suitable accommodation, and money would not be a problem.

Nor had Luke said anything to the bank about Hamish. They, like the police, had made little progress in their investigations. From what Brian at the bank said, the Cairns police had given up. Maybe the bank had, too, for they’d recently agreed to refund Beth’s money.

However, while everyone else might consider the matter closed, Luke did not. And he wouldn’t until he knew exactly who was responsible and why. He hoped to have the answer within the next few days.

It was late afternoon by the time they made their approach into Cairns. Luke got glimpses of the Great Barrier Reef before the plane banked to reveal a waterfront of high-rise hotels, backed by a patchwork of roads and buildings stretching deep into the surrounding hills. Fifteen minutes later, he stepped onto Australian concrete for the first time. He was now in the adopted land of his father.

Lora took charge of guiding them through immigration and customs. She’d been overseas several times with her parents and knew what to expect. As they left customs, a woman carrying a sign saying
Anderson Party
approached and took over the organization. Twenty minutes later, they were at the hotel where they would be staying for the next couple of nights.

Once again, Lora’s previous experience proved useful as she gave Luke a guided tour of the features in his room: how to use his swipe card; how to cheat the minibar; how to use the airconditioning remote. But even she was stumped by the bidet toilet which squirted water and hot air into all sorts of private places. It took lots of messy experimentation before Luke had it sorted. By then, he’d decided that in future he would avoid selecting the ‘feminine wash’ option.

Over dinner they used a bunch of brochures to plan the next day’s activities: Skyrail to Kuranda in the morning, and a tropical zoo in the afternoon. After that, they went to their rooms. Luke looked at his watch and saw that it was only five past ten, and yet it seemed much later than that. Then he realized his body
was still working on New Zealand time, which was midnight. No wonder he was so tired. Yet he didn’t go straight to sleep: images of Lora kept coming into his head. Surprisingly pleasant images that had him imagining all sorts of things that might happen in the days ahead.

In the morning, Luke’s body still hadn’t adjusted to the different time zone, waking him at five-thirty. He decided it was a good time to do some exploring.

The air outside was crisp to the point of being cold. Much cooler than the tropical heat he had expected. By the time he’d walked to the waterfront, the sky was brightening over the Pacific Ocean. Birds of all sorts were beginning to squawk in the trees that lined an esplanade along the shore. Others were already out on the mudflats searching for breakfast.

He strolled along the esplanade, enjoying the feel of being in a different country. The sun rose out of the ocean, giving the sense that it had just been created by the sea. As sunlight hit the trees, hundreds of multicoloured parrots stopped their squabbling and took to the air, wheeling for a moment before heading off towards the suburbs. A kookaburra laughed loudly to celebrate their departure.

Then people began arriving: cyclists, joggers, walkers, many of them accompanied by a dog. The sounds of the city changed from natural to mechanical as delivery trucks began their morning rounds. Cairns was now awake, which probably meant it was time to head back to the hotel. Yet he continued along
the path attracted by a yellow warning sign by the water’s edge.

The rest of the message was too small to read until he got closer. But when he did, his face split into a smile.

Crocodiles inhabit this area—attacks may cause injury or death

• Keep away from the water’s edge and do not enter the water
  
• Take extreme care when launching and retrieving boats
  
• Do not clean fish or leave fish waste near the water’s edge
  
• Camp well away from the water
  

And for those who couldn’t read English, there was a warning rectangle showing a swimmer crossed by a red line. Alongside was a triangle showing a crocodile with an open mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Luke now looked out to the mudflats with greater interest. While the number of birds had increased, none of them seemed worried that they might be attacked at any moment. He watched for a time, but no crocodile leapt from the water; nor did he see any log-like shapes drifting by. If there were crocodiles out there, then they must have had their fill of food sometime during the night.

The Skyrail cableway gave Luke his first experience with a tropical rainforest, both from above in the gondola, and from ground level at the midway station. However, he found Kuranda disappointing. They scarcely had time to visit a few tourist shops before it was time to get on the Skyrail again.

The tropical zoo was better. There were snakes, lizards, koalas, cassowaries, kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, dingoes…And there were crocodiles. Lots and lots of them. The big ones were there because they’d got into trouble with humans: Zac terrorized fishermen; Cooper ate dogs; Zont enjoyed bigger meals, such as cattle. None had been imprisoned for eating wild pigs, possibly because that was considered a public service.

Luke remained in the crocodile area while the women went to hear a talk about koalas. He much preferred cold, prickly creatures over warm fuzzies any day. He marvelled at the scaly plates of their skin; their dinosaur-like tails; their teeth, which, while not needle-sharp, were embedded in powerful jaws.

By the time he was pulled away to catch the bus back to the hotel, he’d rearranged his must-do list for the holiday in Cape Tribulation. When he’d left home, top of the list had been pig hunting. Now it was crocodiles: he wanted to see them in the wild. Seeing them in pits behind bars had been exciting, but he knew that meeting them where there was nothing between you and those jaws would be something else. That had to be number one on his list.

The Crocodile Nest was a short distance up a side road not far from Cape Tribulation beach. The tourist shuttle from Cairns had dropped passengers off along the way until there were just the three of them left. Beth and Lora had then got off at an expensive-looking resort about half a kilometre back, leaving only Luke.

The driver unloaded Luke’s bag, wished him an enjoyable holiday, and sped off back down the road. Luke looked around, more to postpone meeting his father than to see what sort of place he’d landed at. The general impression was that everything was green. The bigger trees of the rainforest had been left in place, with only the undergrowth removed to make space for the buildings. Even the car park had several big trees growing through the gravel so that little of the midday sun filtered through to the ground.

A sign with a cartoon crocodile pointed the way to the office
and restaurant. The path was spongy underfoot and had the musty smell of composting leaf litter. Signs alongside identified some of the plants, but Luke scarcely noticed them. His mind was consumed with thoughts of the meeting that would surely take place within a few minutes.

Luke had half-expected Hamish to be waiting at the office. He wasn’t—instead there was a smiling Asian woman.

‘Yes?’ said the woman. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Um. Ah. Yeah, I’m—’

‘Luke!’ declared the woman, her face bursting into a smile. ‘You made it!’ She said it as though Luke had tramped all the way from Cairns, swimming rivers, and fighting off crocodiles along the way.

Luke smiled, relieved by her reaction. ‘Yes, I’m Luke.’

‘Great! I’m Ellie. I’m the manager. Welcome to The Crocodile Nest. Everyone’s looking forward to meeting you.’

‘Where’s Hamish?’

‘Ham is in the kitchen. He gets off at two.’ She glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘Just enough time for him to cook you lunch. Come, I’ll take you to the restaurant.’

They moved into the dining area. Most of the tables were taken by a mix of older couples, family groups and backpackers. At the end of the room was a high bench separating the eating area from the kitchen, where people were busy preparing food. Luke had no trouble identifying his father, even though his sandy hair was covered with a white bandana—the twinkling grey eyes and fair complexion were more than enough identification.

‘I see him,’ said Luke.

‘Yes,’ replied Ellie, ‘that’s him.’ The way she spoke made Luke glance sideways. Her face was glowing as she gazed at Ham, suggesting something more than just friendly feelings for a workmate.

It took some time for Ellie to catch Ham’s attention, but when she did his eyes opened wide in shock before softening to a smile. He gave Luke a wave. ‘Take a seat and order some lunch.’

He looked at the clock. ‘I’ll join you in about half an hour’s time.’

Ellie took Luke to the restaurant desk to be attended by a waitress. While he waited, he studied the certificates mounted on the wall. Top of the three was one from Sydney TAFE for Hamish Boyd Sloss, Master Chef. Luke was surprised at how proud he felt of his father’s achievements. For a moment, the matter of Beth’s stolen money was forgotten.

A waitress guided him to a table out on the deck, poured some water into a glass, and then left him to choose his lunch. There was a range of steak and seafood meals, along with a couple of vegetarian dishes. Then, under a separate heading, came the bush tucker: kangaroo steak sandwich, emu sausages, witchetty-grub stir-fry, and crocodile cannelloni. Luke ordered hamburger and chips from the kids’ menu—the witchetty grubs could wait for another day.

His meal arrived along with his father, who was carrying a plate of food and a glass of beer. Before he sat down, he offered his hand to Luke. They shook hands silently, holding the grip longer than was usual.

Only when he was seated did he speak. ‘Hi, Luke! This is some moment, isn’t it?’

Luke nodded, knowing that if he said anything it would betray his deep emotions.

Hamish picked up his knife and fork. ‘Let’s eat.’

They did so, and with each mouthful Luke relaxed a little more. After a time, he asked, ‘Do you work every morning?’

Hamish shook his head, finishing his mouthful. ‘No. There are three of us chefs. We each do three afternoons, then three mornings, and then have three days off. This was my last morning, so now I’ve got a break, which will give us time to do some things together.’

They went back to the eating.

‘Have you been pig hunting lately?’

‘No. Haven’t been out for months.’ He gave little chuckle. ‘It gets a little wet around here during the rainy season. It’s only starting to dry out now. It’ll be right for the next few months.’ He looked up at Luke with a cheeky smile. ‘I don’t suppose you’d want to go pig hunting, would you?’

Luke returned the smile. ‘I might do,’ he said in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘If you were going out, I could come to keep you company.’

Hamish nodded, before attacking his food again. Silence returned, but it was a more natural silence.

‘What should I call you?’

‘Ham, of course. Everyone else does.’ Then his eyes twinkled. ‘For God’s sake, don’t call me Dad or you’ll scare all the women away. They’ll think I’m old.’

‘You are!’

A chuckle. ‘Yeah, but don’t tell anyone.’

The conversation continued in this vein, mostly talk about Australia and what it was like living here. Nothing of consequence was said. Alice was never mentioned, nor why Ham had avoided his responsibilities for so many years. Neither of them was ready for a discussion that cut too deeply below the surface. It was still not clear whether they ever would be.

After the meal, Ham took Luke through the forest to his room. They passed a dozen or so chalets scattered amongst the trees before reaching the staff accommodation.

‘We’ve got a full staff quota at the moment,’ explained Ham, ‘so I’ve organized the old caretaker’s place for you. He moved in with a widow up the road a couple of months back. But before we go there, though, there’s a couple of fellas I want you to meet.’

He led the way off the formed path into an area where there was more undergrowth, with vines climbing up the trees.

‘Watch that stuff there,’ said Ham, pointing to a vine with spines on the stems. ‘You get caught up in that and it’ll take some time to get free. That’s why it’s called wait-a-while.’ He chuckled. ‘There’s another one with longer spines called Hairy Mary. Then there’s the strangling fig, which you’ll see in a moment. You’ll find that Aussies have interesting names for lots of things.’

Fifty metres into the forest, they reached their destination—a cage built around a huge tree. The trunk seemed to be made up of a whole lot of thick vines. The middle was hollow as if there might have been another tree that had rotted away. This had to be the strangling fig.

Before they got to the wire, two dogs leapt out from under the tree.

‘Meet Spock and Kirk,’ said Ham, ‘my two pig dogs.’

Kirk was a brown colour with flecks of white, whereas Spock had more black, with white paws and big ears. Both were highly excited.

‘Are they friendly?’ asked Luke.

‘Towards humans, they are. But to a pig, they’re not. You’ll see.’

‘Can I exercise them?’

‘Yeah, they’d love that. They’ll run all over the place to begin with, but they’ll soon settle down. Take them out the back way so that they don’t disturb the guests. Here, I’ll show you the way.’

They took another bit of a track that soon opened into a clearing containing a garage-sized building. Attached to one side was a lean-to.

‘This is your room,’ said Ham, opening the door.

The room had the smell of recent cleaning. Everything was neat, not that there was much to be untidy: a bed, a dresser and an ancient sofa. Through a door were a shower, washbasin and toilet. It was hardly five-star, but it would do.

‘You can thank Ellie that it’s so tidy, but from now on you’ll have to keep it in order.’

‘OK,’ said Luke.

‘Also,’ continued Ham, ‘Andy will still need to use the bathroom. Andy McKenzie. He’s the caretaker. That’s his workshop alongside. He’s up in Cooktown today, but you’ll soon recognize him when he gets back. He’s over two metres tall with
wiry grey hair. You should get on well with him. If you want to know anything about the forest, ask Andy. He knows everything.’

Luke nodded.

For a while they stood looking around the room until the silence became embarrassing.

‘Look,’ said Ham, ‘I’ll let you get settled in. I usually have a bit of a nap in the afternoons. I start pretty early in the mornings. Let’s say I’ll meet you up at The Nest about five, eh?’

‘The Nest?’

‘The building with the restaurant. We call it The Nest.’ At the door, Ham turned and said, ‘You can have a swim in the pool if you want. Just make sure you keep the gate closed.’ Then he was gone.

Luke wasn’t sure whether he wanted a swim or not. Probably a look around Cape Tribulation would be best. He lay down on the bed to test the mattress and have a bit of a think.

The mattress was pretty comfortable, with only a few hard spots. Much the same as his thoughts. Ham seemed like an OK sort of guy. Perhaps a little quiet, but that was better than being a loudmouth. Luke was beginning to like him. Which would make it all the more difficult to confront him about the scam—something that had to happen fairly soon.