Australian Beach Holiday

Orko and his toddler sister Furaha were on holiday in Sunshine Coast, Australia. In the hotel they booked, it was still early in the morning, and it was turning out to be a lovely sunny day. Orko and Furaha were still asleep in the soft, crisp white cotton bed in their hotel room, and all seemed peaceful as the wind blew gently, causing the curtains to wave like ghosts in the dead of night.

Furaha was the first to wake up. She ran over to the window and looked out. It was a lovely, sunny day - just right for going down to the beach! Furaha leapt back onto the bed and tried crawling all over Orko to wake him up, but he just turned over sleepily. So, Furaha knew what she must do: she tickled Orko awake, to which he sat up and and tiredly laughed, “Oh. So you’ve woken me up, eh?” He yawned and scratched his knickerless bottom. “Alright, I’m up, I’m up,” Orko said as he floated out of bed and went to brush his unseen teeth.

Once Orko had done his morning routine, he said to Furaha, “I know! Why don’t we go down to the beach today?” “YAY!” Furaha cheered. She loved playing on the beach. “But first we need to go to the supermarket in town.” Furaha’s face fell. She was so looking forward to going to the beach. “I’m going to just get a little surprise for our picnic.” Furaha instantly beamed. She loved surprises! “Well, no time to waste, come on, let’s get a move on.”

Furaha and Orko went to the Woolworths supermarket in the middle of town. It wasn’t too busy at this time of morning, as everything was amazingly quiet. As well as the ‘surprise’ meant for their picnic, Orko and Furaha got a few other items as well: milk, cheese, eggs, sausages, bacon, bread, carrots, apples and a nice box of chocolates for a good little girl like Furaha.

At the checkout, Furaha couldn’t help staring at the bear-shaped charity box on the counter. “No, Furaha, it’s not a toy, it’s a charity box,” reminded Orko. Instead of throwing a tantrum, Furaha took it all in, realising she can’t just steal things from the supermarket if there was any need to.

When they went out of the supermarket and back to the hotel, Orko praised Furaha for being a good little cub. “You are so good, little Furaha. Good enough to deserve a halo on the top of your head!” Orko clicked his fingers and, due to his magic, a golden halo appeared above Furaha’s head, which then melted like butter over a stove. Furaha giggled. How funny it was to watch Orko perform magic! “I hope it doesn’t melt all over the groceries,” Orko hoped to himself, then he spoke to Furaha. “Okay, so when we get back, we’ll unload the shopping, and then, we’ll head down onto the beach!” Furaha bounced up and down in excitement. She was so looking forward to going to the beach!

Once Furaha and Orko had got back to the hotel and unloaded all the groceries, they went down onto the beach to have some real fun. Furaha ran ahead of Orko, squealing with delight. “Slow down!” shouted Orko, “I can’t float that fast!” When Furaha finally reached the sand, she jumped up and down wildly. She had finally reached the beach! “You win again, Furaha,” puffed Orko as Furaha giggled, “Now, let me put some zinc suncream on you.”

Orko produced three sticks of zinc suncream from his sleeve: two for Furaha and one for him. First, he applied the blue and green zinc suncream to Furaha’s body. When he had finished, he looked like a real tribescub. Orko applied some purple zinc suncream to his arms (thank god he was wearing a small T-shirt) and his ears, but due to him having no legs, he decided to leave it out.

The two friends decided to build sandcastles together. Furaha had a bit of trouble making her sandcastle, but Orko was on hand to help. The two friends built a magnificent castle together, complete with shell and seaweed decorations. However, they were very careful to avoid the wobbly jellyfish trapped in the sand. So they jumped over them. For a toddler, Furaha was extra cautious. Orko even dug a moat around the castle so that the seawater can splash into it.

Next, they decided to paddle in the waves. Orko and Furaha played a game called ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ where Orko said “Ready…steady…” and when he yelled “GO!” the tide would at the right time come in and Furaha would jump over the waves. Orko clapped his hands and cheered for his little soldier, as she was very good at jumping in the waves. When he had the chance, Orko and Furaha would splash each other in the water, enjoying the frivolity of the ocean waves. When they returned to their beach blanket, Orko told Furaha about how far the sea is reaching back to the UK from Australia, and how many miles it takes for Australian people to reach the UK from that beach. Furaha was amazed. She hadn’t read all those toddler-friendly Australian fact books for nothing, specifically ones with Spot and the Mr Men. She found Australia a bright, sunny and hot place.

After a whole day of playing in the sea and on the sand, the two settled down to have lunch. It was a remarkable spread: cheese sandwiches, bottles of water, carrot sticks, apple slices and bananas, plus chocolates since Furaha was a good cub in the supermarket earlier. The two tucked in, and boy was it delicious. They had to be very careful that the crabs scuttling past didn’t pinch them. “That’s what crabs like to do,” explained Orko to Furaha, “Pinch stuff. And they’re very naughty at pinching.” That made Furaha giggle. Orko had a great sense of humor.

It was after the picnic, which they shared, that Orko presented his surprise to Furaha from out of the picnic basket: two ‘99 Flakes, which he found in the frozen food section of the supermarket earlier. Furaha was so excited, she gave a squeal of joy. The two tucked into their ice creams. As with any toddler, Furaha got an ice creamy mess all down her tummy and all over her face. What a good thing Orko had some wet wipes on hand. And what a good thing they happened to smell of tropical flowers and fruits.

After they were full up from their lunch, Orko settled down with Furaha to read her G’Day, Spot. Furaha loved this simple book, because in it, Spot met all the animals in the outback, and being mute, she could already say the names of each of the Outback animals as Orko pointed them out. A major highlight was when Orko pointed to the kangaroo on one of the pages, and Furaha pointed away from the book and said, “Kengaloo!” At first Orko didn’t realise it, but then he looked up, and there it was. A lovely, bouncy kangaroo digging in the sand. “You’re right, Furaha, it is a kangaroo!” said Orko. The two watched as the kangaroo went bouncy bouncy bouncy across the beach, and then out of sight as Furaha waved goodbye.

But Furaha needn’t have worried, for Orko used his magic to turn her hind paws into kangaroo feet so she can bounce. The two had a wonderful time bouncing across the beach, being extra careful to avoid

The sun was setting by the time Orko brought Furaha back to the hotel. He tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight, stroking her soft fur. Then Orko went to the balcony outside the hotel room and looked at the sun setting slowly in the orange sky. “What a day I’ve had,” he said calmly, “If only we had more days like this. Then, I would feel so happy.”

Orko went to brush his teeth and wash his shadowed face, then put on a clean pair of flowery white pyjamas and snuggled down right beside Furaha. Well, mate, that’s one Australian holiday story done for today. But I assure you, sport, there’ll be more coming soon. Just you wait and see!