Chapter One

Six months ago, Lizzie McGiven and her family moved from Edinburgh to Maroochydore in Australia. Lizzie hated everything at first. She didn’t like her school, the tiny apartment, her cousin or Australia. She just wanted to go home to her big house in Scotland.
She had even hated her sister. Lizzie had to share a bedroom with Bella. She even had to be in the same class as Bella at school, even though Bella was five and Lizzie was seven and grown up.
But now, Lizzie and Bella were the best of friends, even though they were very different. Sometimes they fought over toys and clothes, but mostly they played on the beach together. They both loved the beach.

Lizzie and Bella lived very close to the Pacific Ocean. Lizzie loved to surf and Bella loved to create big sandcastles. She decorated them with shells and stones. Lizzie fell in the water a lot and Bella got worried. But she knew how much Lizzie loved surfing so she was happy too.
One Friday, daddy came home from his garage early and clapped his hands together.
“Lizzie! Bella! Come and see this!”
The girls ran down the steps to the car park. In daddy’s parking space was a very funny looking motorbike. It had one wheel at the front, but two wheels at the back.
“It’s a trike,” said daddy, “I bought it today. And I thought we could try it out together!”
“But I can’t ride a motorbike daddy!” said Bella.
Lizzie tutted. Bella was so silly!
“We sit in the back, silly!” she said, and climbed into the big seat that looked like a small sofa.
Daddy and mummy told the girls that they were going away for the weekend. They packed the tent and clothes onto the back of the trike and daddy told Lizzie and Bella to get on. They were both scared. Daddy’s bikes could go very fast.
Daddy, Lizzie and Bella rode out first and mummy followed on her bike. The girls waved to people as they went past, but they also held hands tightly. This was going to be such an exciting trip!


Chapter Two
Daddy’s trike roared onto the big highway. Lizzie and Bella squealed! It was so noisy! They wrapped a blanket around their legs and held hands even tighter. The wind blew their hair all over.
After a while, Bella fell asleep. Lizzie put her arm around her sister to keep her safe. It was a big responsibility being a big sister.
After a long ride, the family arrived at the camp site.
Daddy set up the tent and mummy put their sleeping bags inside. Lizzie jumped off the trike and went to explore. Bella was still asleep.

Lizzie looked around. There were in Alligator Creek. There was a bubbling river and lots of twirly, curly trees. They were no where near a beach. There was a little wooden house with tables outside and a big board with a map on it. It was very hot.
In a little clearing was another family in a big blue tent. They called hello and waved. Mummy waved back.

Bella woke up and rubbed her eyes. Where was she? She looked around. Mummy and daddy were busy making a fire and Lizzie was looking at a big map.
“Lizzie, I need the toilet.” she told her sister.
“Me too,” said Lizzie and she took Bella’s hand. They went into the little house. It had showers and toilets and a big sink for washing clothes. It was cool and dark.
Bella went into the toilet.
Suddenly, Lizzie heard Bella scream! She ran over to the door.
“What’s wrong? Is it a spider?” Lizzie’s new teacher had told them all about the dangerous spiders that liked to live under toilet seats.
“No!” Bella said. “Look!”
The back of the toilet had no lid on. And there, in the fresh, cold water, were a family of frogs. They were swimming and jumping and croaking.
It was so hot in the Creek that the frog family had decided to live inside!
Lizzie laughed and hugged her frightened sister, and they went to use a different toilet, instead.


Chapter Three
Outside, mummy and daddy were cooking dinner. They wanted to go for a bush walk afterwards.
Daddy put a frying pan on the fire and started to cook. Lizzie and Bella carried on exploring.
They tiptoed around the trees, looking for insects and animals. Sometimes they heard a rustle, but they were too slow.
Suddenly, a big fat bird stopped in the branch above them. Lizzie looked up. Leaves fluttered down onto them. The bird took off again and flew to another branch, closer to daddy. Then it flew onto the top of their tent! It wasn’t scared of daddy at all!
“Lizzie! Bella! Hot dogs are ready!” called mummy.
They all sat at the picnic table for dinner. The girls were very hungry after their long journey. The bird watched them eat. Lizzie watched the bird.
After a minute, it jumped off the tent and landed on the table next to them.
“Mummy, what’s the bird doing?” asked Bella.
The fat bird hopped onto their table.
“That,” said mummy, “is a kookaburra. It just loves to eat meat! Give him some of your sausage.”
“No!” said Bella, and sat closer to daddy. The bird looked very hungry. Bella didn’t want it to eat her.
“I will!” said Lizzie. She broke off some of her hot dog and put it on the edge of the table.
The bird moved closer. With one last look at Lizzie, it grabbed the meat and flew off into the trees again.
“Wow! Toilet frogs and hot dog birds! Let’s go exploring some more!” said Lizzie.
Mummy, daddy, Bella and Lizzie walked into the forest. There was a path that ran through the middle of the trees. The leaves crackled under their feet as the sun started to go down.
“Shh!” said daddy and stopped. He crouched down. “Look,” he said, and pointed.
“What is it, daddy?” asked Lizzie. Bella hid her face in mummy’s shirt.
“That’s a goanna,” said daddy. “A big lizard with a funny long tongue.”
A long, scaly lizard stood on the path. His tongue flipped in and out. He looked at daddy.
Bella peeked out from mummy’s shirt. She watched the goanna with one eye.
But the goanna was not as brave as the kookaburra.
He turned around and ambled off the path. His legs moved one by one.
Left, right, left, right, left, right. His long purple tail followed, swishing side to side.
“Wow!” breathed Lizzie, “More, daddy, lets see more!”
“Not now, girls, it’s time for bed.”


Chapter Four
Lizzie and Bella lay in their sleeping bags and listened. They could hear insects cheeping in the trees and animals scurrying around the tent.
Bella cuddled up to Lizzie. She liked fish and horses and koala bears. She also likes stones and shells. Bella wasn’t so sure about scary birds and lizards that were bigger than she was!
“I wonder why they call it Alligator Creek?” Lizzie asked. Bella shut her eyes. She didn’t want to know!

The girls slowly drifted off to sleep. Lizzie dreamed of birds grabbing sheep and flying off to eat them. She dreamed of giant frogs living in the creek.
Bella dreamed of daddy carrying her on his shoulders. Nothing could get her up here! She dreamed of mummy cooking over the fire. She could even smell breakfast.
Bella woke up. She wasn’t very tired, because she slept on daddy’s trike. Yes, she thought she could smell breakfast cooking. She got out of her sleeping bag and went to the tent door. She opened the zip.
Funny, it was still dark!
But she could still smell cooking.
“Lizzie! Wake up! I think it’s breakfast time.”
“Huh?” Lizzie sat up. “What? Don’t be silly, Bella! It’s late, go to sleep.” But just as she said that, Lizzie sniffed the air.
“That’s a fire!” she said, scrambling out of her sleeping bag.
She crawled to the door and looked out.
In the clearing, where the other tent stood, Lizzie saw an orange glow. But it wasn’t coming from a car or a house. It lit up the dark trees around the other tent and Lizzie could see small, yellow flames.
“Fire!” she called and ran out of the tent. She ran over to where the glow was brightest. Bella followed her, holding her favourite teddy.
“Fire!” she shouted again, and ran to the big blue tent. She tried to open the zip but it was inside. There was nothing to knock on! What should she do?
Bella stood behind Lizzie and pulled on her nightie.
“We need water, Lizzie!” she said.
“Yes! Water!” Lizzie raced back to their camp and grabbed their water bucket. She dashed to the creek and scooped up some water. It was so heavy!
Lizzie held the bucket with two hands and carried it as close as she could to the fire. She tried to pour water on the flames, but it was too big.
“Fire! Daddy, mummy!” she called, louder. She walked back to the creek and tried again.
Suddenly, Lizzie saw daddy jumping out of the tent. He rushed over to Lizzie and took the bucket from her. Daddy easily carried the bucket to the fire and threw the water on. Mummy ran over to help.
Lizzie stood back. Daddy and mummy would sort it out. Just a minute? Where’s Bella?
Lizzie twirled around and around. It was so dark! She couldn’t see Bella anywhere! Oh no!


Chapter Five
“Bella! Bella!” called Lizzie.
The night was very quiet before, but now it was noisy with the fire and mummy and daddy shouting. She would have to find Bella herself. She was the only one who could do it.
Lizzie took a deep breath. Now, where had she last seen Bella?
‘Ok,’ Lizzie thought, ‘she was behind me at the blue tent. I went to get water and left her there. I’ll start there.’
But Bella wasn’t at the blue tent.
‘Now where?’ thought Lizzie. She started to get very upset.
Just then, the people inside the blue tent began to stir. Lizzie heard the zipper being opened and out ran a man and a lady. She was holding a little baby. The baby was crying.
The man ran to his van and picked up a spade. Then he started to help daddy and mummy with the fire. He dug into the sand and then threw it onto the flames. Between them, they fought the bush fire!
But Lizzie still hadn’t found her sister. It was the most important job right now.
“Bella! Bella!” she called again.
Lizzie knew that Bella was a thoughtful girl.
When Lizzie threw herself into the sea, or picked up snakes in the garden, Bella squealed.
Bella didn’t want to have dangerous adventures like Lizzie, she liked to sit and arrange sparkly stones. She liked to read her books and draw pictures for daddy’s desk.
Lizzie was always running around in shorts and getting bruises. Bella preferred to wear pretty dresses and have tea parties with teddy.
Just then, Lizzie looked down and spotted teddy, lying in the dry leaves. She picked him up. Bella would never go far without him. She frowned again. She must think hard!
So where would Bella go? Lizzie frowned and thought hard. Then, she had an idea!
She ran off to the little wooden house. She ran around the tables where the kookaburra had sat and threw open the door to the shower block.
“Bella!” called Lizzie.
The cool room was quiet for a moment.
“Has daddy stopped the fire?” said a small voice from the corner.
Lizzie peered into the dark room. Then she began to laugh. There was her little sister.
Bella was sitting in the clothes sink. It was big, white
and cool and Bella had filled it with water!
“What are you doing there?” Lizzie asked.
“Being a frog.” replied Bella.
“Why?” asked Lizzie. She helped her out of the water.
“Because the frogs got too hot out there so they live in
here. The fire is too hot, so I made myself a frog house.
Do you like it? It’s very cool.”
“Very cool,” laughed Lizzie and handed teddy to Bella.
“Teddy!” she said, and hugged him.
“Teddy doesn’t like the bath,” she said seriously, “so he
stayed to help mummy and daddy.”


Chapter Six
Daddy and mummy had put out the fire. The man scooped lots of sand onto
the fire and that helped to cool down the leaves that had caught alight.
Daddy and mummy were very proud of their two little heroes.
They all sat around a picnic table. The other family joined them. They were called Jill and Murray.
“Bella smelled breakfast!” said Lizzie, “but it wasn’t breakfast, it was the
fire!” she gulped down the real breakfast in front of her.
“So we started to shout for you. Then Bella got lost.”
“But I wasn’t lost, mummy!”
“No, Bella. You were so clever! Where else do you go when it’s too hot? Into a cool bath of course!” Mummy laughed.
“What started the fire, mummy?” asked Lizzie.
“I didn’t put my fire out properly.” said Murray. “The leaves and ground are very dry. Their burnt wood stayed very hot for a long time and the fire started after we all went to bed.” he explained.
“Mummy?” asked Bella.
“Yes, Bella?”
“Do you know what else is good for being too hot?” she said, screwing up her nose.
“What else?” said mummy.
“Ice cream.” she said. “Yeah!” cried Lizzie.

They packed up the next day to go home. Murray shook Lizzie and Bella’s hands and then got down on his knees and shook teddy’s paw. Bella went shy and hid in Lizzie’s shirt.
“If it weren’t for you girls, we could have all been badly hurt.” he said.
“so here, take this.” Murray pressed a fifty dollar note into Lizzie’s hand.
Lizzie gasped! Fifty dollars was lots of money! Mummy only had this much money on grocery day!
“You can buy ice creams all week for this,” he said.

On the way home, they stopped by the beach at Agnes Water.
Mummy ordered four ice creams. They were all huge!
“Where’s teddy’s?” asked Bella. “Teddy helped put out the fire too!”
Daddy laughed and went to get another one. After teddy had a lick, Bella decided to share the rest of it with Lizzie.
Lizzie looked out over the wild, crashing sea. A surfer tried to get up on his board but the waves kept pushing him off.
“I am glad to be at the beach again,” said Lizzie. “It’s so much safer here!”
Daddy and mummy laughed at their two funny, brave girls.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.02.2011

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Widmung:
To my children, Bea and Ingrid. With love