Page 6 - Publication2

The Bush Grub of Duckinwilla.

Tormenting younger siblings is a rite of passage!

What can I say? I am a big brother who learnt from his big brother. I retell this story at great personal peril for I know
that my four siblings will instantly and delightfully retell a hundred stories about me, flaying any pride or decency that I
may think I have.

Or as Mum used to say it’s all fun until someone losses an eye – or in this case gets poisoned.

This story takes place somewhere on the road between Sydney and Perth. It occurred on our family trip to the sandgrop-
er cousins in WA. We had all packed into the combi and set off on a five day adventure across this great brown land.
Needless to say we got bored fairly quickly, and the teasing and fighting kicked in. What family trip would be complete
without it?

In the days of our family trips we did not have the service centres with maccas and KFC. Although David did insist on in-
specting every ablution block we passed. Plus we didn’t have the readily disposal income to frequent them. We stopped
where ever we could boil the billy and have a cup of tea. More often than not this was just an open section along the
road.

We would pull up and scramble out of the car grateful to stretch legs and breathe fresh air. Five males in a car for any
period of time can be quite challenging to the olfactory senses. In addition we were an inquisitive bunch and we would
explore every nook and cranny of the pit stop.

At one particular stop while the tea was brewing I explored the local flora and discovered a large and rather pointy cater-
pillar. A spectacular specimen of the BBBBBB species. A harmless caterpillar that morphs into a non descript butterfly.
Still the caterpillar did have a lot of spikes and was a multitude of colours. It was then that a little devil appeared on my
shoulder whispering Machiavellian plans to torment my younger sibling.