Read some of my stories for children:

Pet Problems ( Rainbow Rumpus, August 2008) , Double Trouble (Rainbow Rumpus, January 2010)

Drop Bears and Barbies    (first published in Fandangle Magazine, January, 2007, © Susan Stephenson )

 

Crack! Matt froze. His heart raced, and hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He swung his head, searching for whatever made the noise. Then he remembered drop bears. Oh no! He peered at the tangle of leaves above his head.

 

Uncle Rick told him about drop bears just after Dad and Matt arrived in Australia. He said they were giant, meat-eating koalas that dropped down on people from gum trees. Australians all smeared Vegemite behind their ears to keep drop bears away. Aunt Katie told Uncle Rick to quit teasing him and Matt laughed to show he knew it was a joke. Right now he wasn’t so sure.

 

“Coo-ee! Coo-ee!” The call came from the track just ahead.

“We’ve got enough wood for the fire now, Matt,” called Dad.

 

Uncle Rick grinned. “Yeah, come and help with the barbie.”

 

“Barbies?” Matt made a face. “They’re for girls! I don’t play with Barbies!”

 

Uncle Rick laughed. “A barbie is a barbeque, a cookout. It’s a tradition with a lot of families to have a barbie to celebrate Australia Day, today.”

 

“What is Australia Day?” Matt asked, dropping his sticks near the fireplace.

 

“The First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove on the 26th of January, so that’s when we have our national day,” said Uncle Rick. “It’s when we reflect on what’s great about being an Australian, a bit like your 4th of July holiday.” He struck a match and got the fire going. “Now I need you to find some green sticks, about this thick, Matt.” He held up his index finger.

 

Matt frowned. “Green sticks won’t burn and you said we had enough firewood.”

 

Dad laughed. “Your Uncle Rick wants to show us his Aussie way of cooking lunch, Matt. On sticks!”

 

While the fire died down to hot coals, Uncle Rick showed Matt how to make damper. They mixed flour, water, milk powder and salt until it clumped together. Then they rolled lumps of dough between their hands to make a snake. They wound the snake around the top half of a green stick, and joined the dough together so there were no gaps.

 

Matt held his stick over the hot coals, and turned it so the damper cooked evenly. “When is it done?” he asked.

 

Uncle Rick showed him. “When it’s nice and brown, and comes off your stick easily, it’s done. If not, cook it a little more.” He put his damper on a plate, scooping some honey into the hollow inside. “Hmm, that’s yummy.”

 

Matt bit into his own cooked damper. He grinned and honey ran down his chin. “It IS good! Are there other Aussie cookout tricks?”

 

“Let’s cook some eggs,” said Uncle Rick.

 

“On sticks?” Matt was so surprised, his voice squeaked.

 

Uncle Rick set out a container of eggs, a blue dish, some oranges and a knife. He smiled at Dad and Matt. “That’s all we need.”

 

Matt wondered if it was another joke. The dish was plastic – no way you could cook eggs over a fire in that. The knife? Maybe you could beat eggs in the dish with it. And what the heck were the oranges for?

 

Uncle Rick explained. “Here’s what we do. Cut an orange in half; scrape out the flesh into this bowl. We’ll eat that later. Crack an egg into each empty orange half and slide the orange “bowl” close to the hot coals. Your egg will be cooked in no time.”

 

Matt ate two orange eggs and made some more damper. Uncle Rick presented Matt with his own souvenir jar of Vegemite. “Go ahead and try it,”he urged.

Matt looked at the black spread inside the jar his uncle held out. He put a tiny blob onto his tongue and pulled a face. Yuk, it was salty and tasted disgusting.

 

“Gee, thanks, Uncle Rick, but you know what?” Matt smeared Vegemite in dark stripes on his cheeks like a commando. “I think I’ll just use it this way. As camouflage, in case we run into any killer koalas on the way home.”

Lots of Australians like to eat

Vegemite on toast or a sandwich.

It’s a yeast extract that tastes

a bit like strong beef soup and

is very thick and salty.