AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURES

Chapter 14:  Sydneysiding

"Let's go back to the SUVs," he said.  "I've called for my private jet to meet us at Connelan Airport.  Looks like we're going to Sydney."
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It was night as Rose followed Jack out onto the open terrace of Himself's large penthouse in the Northern Apartments at the very end of Woolloomooloo Wharf in Sydney's harbor.  He leaned against the rail, sucking in great slow breaths of sea air. The desert and he would never be friends.  The air was soft...warm...and rather than look to his left at the bright lights of the city, he tipped his head far back, gazing at the stars and the curve of the waning moon.

                  

She stood watching him a long moment in all his white and ecru, it still being too hot for the heavy wool coat.  The moon cast silvery highlights down his blond hair, pooling itself comfortably on his brow, his cheekbones.  It took little imagination on her part to transport him to the deck of his ship.  

 

 

He turned, smiling, holding out his hand to her.  "All it lacks is the creak of the rigging and the flap of a bit of canvas."  Looking at her intensely then, he added, "Someday, I hope you will come aboard my ship."

 

She blushed unseen in the darkness, her mind having wandered already into certain thoughts that involved boarding. Taking his hand, she joined him beside the railing, looking out across the harbor.  She was a gentle, intuitive woman with not only a love of history, but an understanding of the living that was the heart of it all.  In spite of its recent restoration, this very wharf had seen so much in the last century. She closed her eyes, letting a sense of the place surround her.

"What are you thinking, my Rose?" he asked after a long silence.  

 

 

She opened her eyes, leaning her shoulder against his arm.  "This place knows of longing looks, mon cher capitaine, between the shore and the ship. In its timbers it contains the memory of the pangs of separation and, sadly, less often, the joy of sweethearts reunited." She looked directly into his eyes.  "It holds within itself the thrill of new beginnings, the finality of ends."  

 

 

He lifted his hand, running his forefinger down the line of her cheek. "You are a rare woman, Rose," he whispered as he leaned toward her. "Rare, indeed."  His lips, soft yet seeking, found hers as his arms encircled her small form, pressing her firmly, yet gently, into his chest.

Himself had made arrangements to accommodate the entire cast...no easy feat. Several of them were staying with him and Phyllis in his penthouse, others in the rental apartments that were available on the wharf, while the rest he'd gotten rooms in the "W"...the five star Wharf Hotel occupying most of the other end of the pier.  

 

 

Already Ando, Sue, and many of the cast had discovered the wonders of the hotel's famous Water Bar.  This marvelous place had been given "top 10 bar in the world" status by Conde Naste Traveller and was considered the hottest watering hole in the city.
                              

Ando made her way through all its black, grey, chrome, and neon, smiling expectantly at one of its expert bar tenders as she said, "I'll start with a mango daiquiri."

 

 

"Start?" Berti asked, cocking an eyebrow.  

 

 

"Yeah," Ando sighed contentedly, "after what we've just been through, I think I'm gonna like WoolLOOmooloo."

 

 

"WOOL-a-ma-loo," BertiWise corrected.  "Was built mostly for the transport of wool."  

 

"Never particularly liked sheep," the former Welshwoman grinned, downing the daquiri with amazing rapidity.  

Joimus opened the jar of unguent Franki had given her on the plane. Maximus sat, leaning his back against the headboard of the large bed, as she carefully smoothed it on his forearms and knees.  

 

 

"You see well enough to do this?" he asked, watching the sure movement of her hands.  

                                     

 

"Better all the time," she smiled, adding, "but I know you well enough with my eyes closed."  

 

He held his arms wide, inviting her to cuddle against his bare chest.  She lay her cheek over his heart, its steady beating her favorite sound in all the world. Closing her eyes, she traced her fingers over and around his bicep, sighing with her sense of being "home."

Sid sat cross-legged atop the highest girder of the Harbour Bridge.  He had intended to make the rounds of all the clubs in Kings Cross, but instead had made his way past the now-closed portals of the bridge, driven by some great sense of separation, of aloneness, to its height.The lights of the great city spread out before him on all sides and beyond the Opera House, beyond the darkness of the Botanic Gardens, he could see Woolloomooloo Wharf. They would be there...all of them.
         

 

"Bunny," he sighed, knowing his wabbit would be amongst them.  
          

At that very moment Bunny sat on the western edge of the wharf, looking toward the bridge, wondering where Sid might be, if he had even made it to Sydney yet.  She was worried about something, more worried than she'd ever been in her life...but there was no one she could tell. Sighing deeply, she comforted herself with the thought that it might not even be so at all. It couldn't be so.  It just couldn't.  She listened to the rhythmic slap-slap of the water against the pilings, against the side of the large white yacht moored just in front of her.
                                

 

"Where ARE you, Sid?" she whispered.  "I need you."  She sighed again.  "Or maybe...not," she breathed, a tear brimming in one eye.

Later, Maximus leaned his head on his right hand, watching Joimus sleep. She had awakened him with her restless turnings and he was concerned that she was still disturbed by events in the Olgas or perhaps still in physical pain from her fall.  Finally he slept again, awaking in the morning to find her coming out of the bathroom, pale, and wiping her face.  

 

 

"Are you ill?" he asked, his brow knitting.  

 

 

"Something I probably ate on the plane," she replied, attempting a smile.  "I'm fine now."  

 

 

She sat on the edge of the bed, her shoulders sagging a bit, and he slid over behind her, positioning himself as a backrest.  Reaching around, he rested his palm on her forehead.

 

 

"No fever," he pronounced.  

 

 

"No," she agreed, "no fever." "You know what I'd really like to do today?" she asked.  He cocked his head, waiting.  "Something as different from the Simpson as possible.  I'd love walking with you through the Royal Botanic Gardens."

 

 

"Then that is what we shall do!" he said, scooping her up across his legs.  

Putting on the thick white terry robes Himself had provided, they wandered out to join the others in the huge apartment for breakfast. Rose had just broken off half her croissant, handing it to the Captain. Maximus noted she looked particularly rosy this morning, but decided not to comment upon that fact. Phyllis filled a large pitcher with freshly-squeezed orange juice and set it in the middle of the table.

 

 

Unable to resist, Himself inquired, "Joimus, would you like some Fwute Wupes?"  (Journey Into Jeopardy)

 

 

She started to return his smile but went a bit white around the gills and saying, "Excuse me," darted back toward the bedroom.  

 

 

"She OK?" Himself asked.  

 

 

"She said something she ate on the plane disagreed with her," Maximus explained, starting to follow to make sure she was all right.  The bedroom was empty and he heard water running in the bathroom.  Shortly she stuck her head out asking him if he would get Franki to come in for a minute.
                                   

"Franki?" he repeated, getting worried.  

 

 

"It's nothing," she said.  "I just want to ask her a question."  

 

 

As the, um, older of the male characters had ended up in Himself's apartment, Maximus had only to go back out to the main area where Nash and Franki stood by a window wall, looking at the Opera House. Franki, accompanied by Maximus, returned to the bedroom.

"Ah...might I speak with her...alone?" Joimus asked.  He looked puzzled, but went out, closing the door.  

Annsmac was plowing through the kitchen drawers.  "Surely there must be...something," she muttered under her breath.  Turning her head, she looked over her shoulder at Terry, standing there talking with Himself. 
 

 

Seeing what she was doing, he excused himself and came to join her.
                               

"Don't be quite so, um, obvious about it," he whispered.  "I know something will turn up sooner or later."  

 

 

"It's 'later' that concerns me, Terry," she sighed.  "This is the longest you've ever had to endure such bluntitudiness...that...I've...had to endure it."  

 

 

"I know," he said softly, massaging her shoulders affectionately.  "I'm frustrated, too."  

 

 

"We must DO something," she said urgently.  "I don't know how much longer I can bear...this." Her eyes dropped inadvertently down to his equipment. He blushed slightly and she was instantly sorry.

Looking into his seagreen eyes, she said seriously, "You know it's you I love, Terry, and not just because of your equipment?"  Standing on tip toe to kiss him, her brain silently added, "Though, of course, it doesn't hurt that you have it."  She would never SAY that, though.  

Ando was grumpy.  It was bad enough that she had had to unentangle herself from Hando's arms and legs, but now she was being forced to go look at...flowers??  In bright sunlight? She stood just outside the entrance to the W,  a large floppy-brimmed hat on her head, huge wraparound sunglasses over her eyes,  aspirins dissolving in her throat, a frown plastered on her lips.  "Do I HAVE to go?"  

"You do!" Berti said, grinning at her.  "It's all in the spirit of 'togetherness'."

 

 

"I was 'together' just fine with Hando," she groused. "That's all the 'togetherness' we formerly Welsh really ever need."  

 

 

"But obviously not all that you are going to get, eh?" Berti replied brightly. Berti was in a good mood. Bud was not only back with her, but he seemed happy.  She, too, had wanted to see the Botanic Gardens, especially when she'd heard the purple Tibouchina granulosa would be in bloom now.  

 

 

No one seemed more eager to go, however, than Jeff.  "My movie ended there," he explained.  "I'll show you the exact spot where I was wheeling my Dad."  He was practically hopping with excitement.  
                               

Together, the cast walked to the end of the pier, curving on Cowper Wharf Roadway around the narrow inner tip of Woolloomooloo Bay and, keeping to the coast pathways, headed out to Mrs. Macquarie's Point.  

 

 

"There," Franki said, pointing to a step cut out of sandstone with a huge stone plaque on top bearing the name, Elizabeth Macquarie.She guided Nash up to it. "This is part of Mrs. Macquarie's Chair.  I sat there, in the smaller chair itself, when I was in Australia before...but I had no one to take my picture."  

                                      

Steve grinned, holding up his camera.  "Allow me to rectify that situation," he said, snapping several of her sitting there, then her and Nash sitting together.  

 

 

"That means a great deal to me," she told him.  She looked at the entire cast milling about the point, thinking how wonderful it was to have 25 Russells and all her women friends with her this time.  

 

 

When Wanda and Lachlan came up to try out the "chair", Franki said, "Elizabeth was married to her very own Lachlan, you know. He was the Governor and she would come out here and sit, admiring the view."

 

 

"I wonder what it was like when she was here?" Eryn mused.  

 

 

"No Opera House, for sure, and no bridge," Colin said.  

They continued following the path, curving around along the shores of Farm Cove. When they had gotten just barely past the middle of the bottom of the "U" the cove made, Jeff ran down the paved path where it made an "X" shape just north of the Oriental Garden.
         

"This is it!" he cried, pulling Marti along.  "Right here!"  He ran down the northeast leg of the "X", then stopped, looking suddenly stricken.  

 

 

"What is it, Jeff?" Marti asked.  "I miss my Dad," he sighed.  "This is the last place we were together." He looked at her sadly.  "Then the movie was over." 

                                   

Himself knew, of course, just what Jeff was feeling.  "He was going to be Nicole's Dad in 'Eucalyptus'," he commented.

"Well, he was MY Dad first!" Jeff blurted.  

 

 

"Wasn't he Luke Skywalker's great uncle?" asked Andy.  

 

"Yes," Himself agreed, adding, "but he didn't have all that much to do."

Walking back to the shore, they sat near the edge, just looking at the harbor. "Why is this part called 'Farm Cove'?" Susan asked.  

 

 

"Because the Botanic Gardens started out as a farm," Himself explained. "But the soil was poor and the convicts of the First Fleet had little agricultural experience.  It was a dismal failure. They almost starved until the supply ship arived in 1790.  The colony only survived because they moved their farming attempts to the west where there's good alluvial soil. Then in 1816 this was turned into the Royal Botanic Gardens.  Over there through the trees you can see Government House just before you get to the Opera House." 

                                      

"So Elizabeth would come from there to sit in her 'chair'?" Susan asked.  

"Nice, eh?" Himself smiled.  "And the Gardens are the oldest scientific institution in Australia."

After a bit, they walked more deeply into the Gardens, heading for the palm grove.  It was cooler in there and pleasant to follow the paths, looking at the palm specimens, some of them dating back to the 1820's.

 

 

Joimus was delighted that she was able to see most of the plants quite clearly now.  Time and the creatively-acquired medicines were doing their job.  As they approached a large planting of begonias, she bent down to admire a plump yellow bloom and almost lost her balance.  Maximus quickly caught her arm. 

 

"I...I...was just dizzy for a second," she said.  

 

 

She exchanged a brief look with Franki who said, "Why don't we find a nice cafe and have some lunch?  I'm ready to sit a bit I think."

Joimus mouthed a silent, "Thank you."  

 

 

Maximus insisted on holding onto her arm as they walked toward the southern end of the Gardens.  Sid, tucked into the fernery, watched them pass.  How often he had been close like that in epis, yet not part of the group itself. He frowned as Maximus and Joimus walked within  five feet of him.  He did not miss their friendship!  The whole thing had been only...amusing. Yes, that was it! Amusing!  

                                     

Then he caught sight of Bunny and he remembered  loving her with Maximus' body.  He bit his lip till a bit of blue oozed.  If the blue of the aurora was gone, sunken into Ayres, why, then, were his memories not gone with it?  Having the memories but not the feelings was...hell. With a rustle of fronds, he turned, sprinting back to the bridge.