‘There’s a kettle and tea on the counter, and long-life milk in the fridge,’ Sarah said. ‘Main thing to know is where the air con switch and your power box are.’ Sarah pointed at the switch by the front door and flicked it on. A low noise hummed through the house as air gushed from the ceiling vents. ‘You’ve got a swampy system, so it’s water cooled, which means it’s never going to get lower than around twenty-five, but it does the job.’
Alice nodded.
‘Your power box is out the back by the water tank, so if anything shorts, that’s where you’ll reset it. And that’s where your power card goes. There’s five dollars’ worth in there to get you started. You can top up at the Parksville store.’
‘Parksville?’
‘Where we are,’ Sarah chuckled. ‘Staff housing and community.’ She gestured around them. ‘On this side of the dune,’ she pointed to the red sand dune rising behind Alice’s back fence, ‘is where park staff live. On the other side of the dune is a small general store, oval, hall and visitor housing. Twenty clicks away is the resort, where all the tourists stay. That’s where you’ll find the supermarket, post office, bank, petrol station, and a couple of pubs and restaurants.’
Alice nodded again.
Sarah’s face filled with compassion. ‘One step at a time, mate. Soon it’ll be second nature. I’ve arranged for one of the rangers to come by this arv and give you a tour.’
‘Thanks,’ Alice said.
‘I’ll leave you to get settled. See you bright and early tomorrow.’
‘Thanks,’ Alice repeated. ‘For everything.’
As Sarah’s ute faded into the distance, Alice pressed her back against the door and closed her eyes. The house filled with a silence that made her temples pound. I’m here. She breathed in. And out. I’m here.
Pip licked her ankle. Alice opened one eye and peeked at the puppy. Pip cocked her head to one side. Alice nodded. She faced her new home.
Against the wall stood a tall wooden bookshelf. Beside it, a bulky grey desk and chair. Alice sat and splayed her hands on the desk, thinking of her flower notebooks. She looked into the backyard, taking comfort from the wild native plants. This is where she would write, she decided. Memories of writing at her desk as a girl gathered in her fingertips: the cool, creamy wood, the smell of crayons, pencil shavings, paper. The velveteen green ferns in her mother’s garden. Alice shook her head, refocusing on the desk in front of her and the view ahead. Red dirt, green bushes, and a wire fence that sectioned off the yard from the surrounding dunes, all under a jewel-blue sky.
Next to the desk was an archway that led into the main bedroom. Alice left her new desk and went to make her new bed.
Afterwards she stood at the bedroom window. In the distance the red rock wall of the crater shimmered in the heat like a fiery dream.
20. Honey grevillea
Meaning: Foresight
Grevillea eriostachya | Inland Australia
Kaliny-kalinypa (Pitjantjatjara) is a straggly shrub with long narrow silver-green leaves that produces bright green, yellow and orange flowers. Commonly grows on red sandhills and dunes. The flowers contain thick, honey-like nectar, which can be sucked from the flowers; a favourite treat for Anangu children.
At five o’clock that afternoon a horn beeped outside. Alice peeked through her kitchen window and saw the profile of a woman sitting in one of the park utes. She set down fresh water for Pip, gave her a rub behind the ears, grabbed her house keys and hurried out the front door. Her thongs kicked up little clouds of red dust in the late afternoon light.
‘Alice!’ The woman pushed her sunglasses off her face and greeted Alice like an old friend. ‘I’m Lulu.’ Her eyes were the colour of eucalyptus leaves: pale green and hazel brown. Around her neck a silver star-shaped pendant hung from a thin piece of leather.
‘Hi,’ Alice said shyly as she got in.
‘Let’s check out the sunset, chica,’ Lulu said, as if they’d been mid-conversation. She put her foot down and the ute bounced over the graded dirt track, away from Alice’s house. Pink and grey galahs streaked overhead.
‘So where are you from, Alice?’
The crater loomed ahead of them, its edges gilded by the light.
‘Uh, east coast, then inland. On a farm. Kind of all over the place.’ She gulped. ‘You?’
‘Down south. The coast, not the city.’ Lulu glanced over, smiling. ‘So, we’re both girls from the sea.’
Alice nodded silently. Dunes and gullies of red sand and brownish-green bushes passed her window in a blur. The passenger mirror was caked in red dust. It had begun to calm her somehow, the searing colour of it, the way it stuck to everything. She turned her hands over. The tiny creases in her fingers were filled with it. Alice folded them together in her lap.
Lulu turned onto the ring road. ‘Sarah suggested I point out who lives where but there’s no point really since you don’t know anyone yet. So, I reckon I’ll just take you straight to the sunset viewing area.’ She peered at the violet underbellies of a few stray clouds. ‘It should be a corker.’
The red wall of the crater rose in the distance. Above, the chopping sound of helicopter blades. Camera flashes caught Alice’s eye.
‘Tourist flights,’ Lulu said. ‘Sunset circus, chica.’
Alice watched the helicopters circling. ‘Sunset circus,’ she repeated curiously.
The car park was full of coaches, rental cars, camper vans and four-wheel drives. There was a rising cacophony of tourists’ chatter, cameras clicking, the hum of coach generators, and the erratic opening and closing of car doors and camper-van hatches. Lulu pulled up by another park ute and put on her hazard lights.
‘Welcome to your first Kililpitjara sunset.’ Lulu whistled as she got out.
Alice swung her door open to follow, stopping short. Lulu was talking to the ranger with the slouched hat and sunglasses.
Her cotton dress felt suddenly flimsy. She crossed her arms over her chest, wishing for the obscurity of Lulu’s unisex park uniform and the sturdiness of her work boots. Though it was warm, Alice shivered. She tried to look anywhere other than at him, until Lulu gave her no choice.
‘Alice, this is Dylan Rivers. Dylan, Alice Hart. Our newest comrade.’
She forced herself to look up at him. Her reflection was small in the mirrored lenses of his sunglasses.
‘G’day,’ he said with a nod, tipping his hat at her. ‘Welcome to Wonderland.’
A thrill rippled through her body. Alice willed herself to stay calm. ‘Thanks.’
‘First time down the rabbit hole?’ Dylan gestured to the crowds.
‘Yeah. I start tomorrow.’
‘Let the baptism of fire commence,’ Lulu said.
Alice raised her eyebrows.
Lulu laughed. ‘Don’t worry, chica, you’ll be fine. We all go through it. It’s the nature of the place.’
Dylan was about to respond when his attention was diverted by tourists.
‘I’m going to have to ask you to come behind the barrier please.’ He corralled a group back from the low fence they’d jumped, trampling plants and wildflowers to get a photo with the crater. When he returned to Alice and Lulu, he stood close enough to Alice for her to smell his cologne.
‘Sometimes I wonder, if they didn’t have their photos, would they even remember being here?’ He shook his head.
‘It’s like this every day?’ Alice asked.
Dylan nodded. ‘Sunrise and sunset. Two years ago guide books started listing this place as ‘one to see before you die’. Since then, our visitor numbers have doubled.’ He turned suddenly to Lulu. ‘Hey, did Aiden tell you about last night?’ he asked.