Under the Southern Cross by Claire McNab

Author:Claire McNab [Claire McNab]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Lesbian
ISBN: 9781594930294
Google: qJHdAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 1594930295
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 1992-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

We drove on towards the coast and Cape Tribulation, Vince still buoyant with enthusiasm. "Want to know why it's called Cape Tribulation?" It was a rhetorical question. He went on before anyone could respond, "Seventeen-seventy it was, and Captain Cook who was in the middle of discovering Australia, hit a reef just off this headland. The Endeavour didn't sink, but the whole thing caused him so much trouble he called the place Cape Tribulation." He shook his head. "Sailing round the world in those little wooden boats — that took real guts."

We stopped at a beach where we were to have lunch at the luxury resort nestled in the rainforest. Vince leaped out of the Toyota and made a grand, encompassing gesture. "Reef, rainforest and beach!"

The lush vegetation balked at the edge of the pink-beige sand, which, deserted, stretched towards a distant headland. Green water washed in lazy ripples, and overhead the arch of the sky held so deep a blueness it seemed to vibrate.

I was tired, both emotionally and physically. The sunlight was too bright, the beauty too overwhelming. Suddenly I felt the weight of time pressing upon me — the realization that the landscape had looked very like this for at least a million years. Bizarre creatures — gigantic kangaroos, rhinoceros-sized wombats, huge ferocious marsupials — had roamed in primeval forests crowding the shore as the rainforest did now; the sea had teemed with monstrous creations while tiny coral polyps were beginning the foundations of the bulwarks that would become the Great Barrier Reef.

I started when Lee spoke close beside me, her words echoing my thoughts. 'This is such an ancient continent."

Vince overheard her. "The oldest in the world," he said proudly. "We've got rocks in the Outback scientists can date to three thousand million years."

Otto, whose passion was for information, wanted to know more details. Mr. Moto had lost interest as there was nothing to videotape. Hilary smiled winningly as she said, "Lunch, Vince? I'm starving."

The meal was a success, with fresh seafood served simply, to enhance its flavor, but I did not taste what I ate. Vince was to drive us back to the helicopter so we could fly down the spectacular coastline between Port Douglas and Cairns. Fatigue had almost swamped me, and I sat mute in the middle of the back seat, with Otto's bulk on one side and Mr. Moto and his ubiquitous video camera on the other. Hilary and Lee were deep in conversation and I felt a twinge of... jealousy? I closed my eyes, deciding I was too tired to think straight...

I could almost smile — straight wasn't what I was thinking at all.

The eggbeater chatter of the helicopter was an irritation, and I barely glanced at the magnificent beaches — secluded stretches of sand lapped by a jewel sea, fringed with palms — that ran in a continuous stream beneath us. I wished that Vince had come too. He would know every headland, every beach, plus some unique point or story for each.

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