Lionel Seeks His Fore-Lions: Pt 4: To Emu Country

Hello, fellow Baffled Ones. In Pt.1 we met Lionel The Lion and Gavin. In Part 2, Lionel made up his mind to search for his long lost fore-lions. They hitched a ride in Part 3 and arrived in Geraldton. Next day they set off full of hope that they would arrive Somewhere and properly start their search. But the road seemed just as long as ever. (To see bigger versions of the pics, just click on to enlarge.)

“We are not nearly there yet, are we?’ asked Lionel, who had begun to realise that finding his fore-lions might not happen quickly.
“Not yet, Lionel’, yawned Gavin, who was climbing over to the back to sleep in a comfortable hat. He spent most of the day there. Lionel stayed awake and kept watch. He saw dry river beds and stray animals.

Eventually they came to a little place called The Overlander road house. It was just a few buildings very far from everywhere as you can see from the sign. Their chauffeurs turned off here for Shark Bay (the bit on the map sticking out into the Indian Ocean.) Lionel perked up. Surely this was prime country for finding fore-lions.

But what they saw instead were emus. It was incredible. They saw a father emu with three chickadees. One of the little ones decided to cross the road and big Dad had to round him up.

And they saw another family, this time a father with seven young ones. Seven! Two stayed close to Big Dad and often looked like one emu with two heads.

Two brave chicks, or perhaps they were the naughty ones, kept running ahead. Big Dad got annoyed when they ran over the road on their own. He called them back.

They often disappeared into the bushes to eat. Can you count all seven? Lionel and Gavin stayed well back, of course, because these were wild animals! They had probably never slept on pillows and cushions. And they were big too, even the chicks.

Lionel did wonder if they might have something to do with his fore-lions but finally decided against it. They only had two legs.

After this excitement they journeyed on and what do you think they saw? Yes, even more road.

Lionel fell asleep and Gavin had to wake him when they finally reached a little town called Denham which is the biggest place, almost the only place, in the whole of Shark Bay which is a UNESCO world heritage region. Around here you can see dolphins and dugongs and turtles and lots of sharks, of course, and the dolphins of Monkey Mia.

Lionel perked up again. They explored all around the coast line for possible fore-lions but sighted none.

But they did see a lovely turtle at Monkey Mia. (The dolphins were not close to shore at the time.)

As the sun went down the two explorers reflected on how they may not have seen Lionel’s fore-lions so far but they have already had a wonderful adventure.

Next day, they will journey on to an even smaller town called Coral Bay. The Ningaloo reef runs close in to shore there and you can walk out from the beach and see coral! But how will the fore-lion search turn out? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of …. da da da daaah dummmm … Lionel The Lion Seeks His Fore-Lions.

The Guardian adds: Mawson’s Guardian and Guardian-ess (Lionel and Gavin chauffeurs) have travelled thousands of kilometres in back country Oz-Stray-Ya and never before seen emus in the wild. It really was a great hour.

Mawson Guardian Says: Gavin and Lionel live with Mawson Bear. Mawson writes little books full of muddles , bafflements, and even some accidental wisdom.
Where to find Mawson’s Books: Our publisher is OdysseyBooks where you can find fun and beautiful books with pictures for grownups. At Amazon everywhere, including at Amazon India, and at Amazon Australia (where Mawson Lives), Amazon UK and Amazon France, among others.

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