Chapter 41

The flight, vehicle pick-up and hotel all went as expected and the strollers, while less than ideal, served as infant seats in the Rover for the twins. In the morning they got underway fairly early as Tessa warned they’d be making “frequent stops.” Getting out of Adelaide wasn’t a chore and they made their first stop just over an hour later at the Balaklava Bakery. Fed and dry, they drove on, stopping in Jamestown and Hawker, before a last leg to Iga Warta. At over seven hours, Sam was spent and Tessa weary. Luckily, Rob and Marge weren’t cranky, which was important as they were introduced to their grandparents and a host of other relatives.

They spent three nights with the family. Tessa’s grandfather spent several hours each day telling stories to the children in Adnyamathanha. The little he overheard meant nothing to Sam. The grannies kept the children dry and fed, so Sam and Tessa actually had a few days’ rest. Sam spoke to the men about Grabbaitch and about climate change. They were little affected by the latter. The Ranges were dry. They had been dry. There was little chance of flooding.

The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about 200 km north of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over 430 km from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabited the range for tens of thousands of years.

The Flinders Ranges form part of a highland chain extending from Kangaroo Island in the south through the Mount Lofty Ranges and Flinders Ranges to Marree and beyond in the north, to Olary in the east, and to Spencer Gulf and Lake Torrens in the west. During the late Precambrian era, the Earth’s crust in South Australia consisted of rocks formed between 2600 and 1400 million years ago. In the present, the only rocks from that time are exposed near Arkaroola. Rocks that now constitute the eastern states of Australia were yet to form and the ancestral Pacific Ocean may have had its shores in South Australia. To the south, Australia was still joined to Antarctica.

“Grandfather has told them of the two Akurra [serpents] that set out to travel south to Ikara. The Akurra Valadupa entered Ikara through Vira Warldu and camped at Akurra Awl, a large waterhole. He told them of the battles. The bodies of the two Akurra now form the sides of Wilpena Pound. He also explained that the Akurra are manifestations of the Rainbow Serpent and that your father, whom they met, is a Carpet Python,” Tessa elaborated.

“I wonder what they take in.”

“They take in everything. They process it over time. Tonight, you and I will go to Moro Creek, which is dry. And we will produce a brother or sister for the twins.”

“I know nothing of Moro Creek.”

“It is a spectacular spring feeding Moro Gorge in the Nantawarrina Indigenous Protected Area. We Adnyamathanha may go there.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes. It is my egg time.”

“I understand.”

Leaving the twins with Tessa’s mother, Sam drove the Land Rover overland, following Tessa’s instructions, and parking where she indicated. The slanting light made the dry landscape stand in stark relief. There was sparse brush, but Tessa pointed north-east. There was a raven, followed by a far larger raptor. “Eagle follows Raven,” Sam said. Tessa laughed. A few meters from where he had parked, there was an area of tufted grass. Tessa took off her top.

“Here we are!”

It was still before midnight when they returned to Iga Warta. In the morning Tessa said: “I was visited. It will be a boy.”

“I’m glad. Can names wait?”

“Nine months. But I will tell my mother and grandfather.”

They remained in the Flinders for a few more days and then drove directly back to the Atura hotel at Adelaide airport. Sam went in, booked a room, and had Tessa, Rob and Marge moved in. He then returned the Land-Rover to the rental agency and took a shuttle to the hotel. He stopped at the desk in the lobby to confirm the next morning’s flight to Darwin, leaving the booking to Kununurra to the next day. It turned out that they spent a night at the Novotel. It took nearly three days from Iga Warta to Gabbaitch.