5 Peppermint Grove (21 page)

After landing on terra firma, Ruth assured Julia that she knew exactly how to get to their accommodation. Steve had suggested the Rottnest Lodge as a good base and the location was perfect. After a short stroll past the general store and Rottnest Bakery they were at the front of a brightly painted orange building.

“Look out for the quokkas!” Ruth said.

“For what?”

“Quokkas – they’re like tiny kangaroos – Steve said they are everywhere!”

Julia dragged her bag behind as they entered the reception of the Rottnest Lodge. The shimmering pool just outside the main entrance beckoned.

“Oh, I think that’s our first port of call!” Julia said.

The male receptionist was tall with jet-black curly hair and translucent blue eyes like the azure shades they had seen on the water in
Thomson Bay.

“Hello, are you staying with us today?” he asked with a warm smile.

Ruth gave him their details and took the key.

“Breakfast is at seven in the morning and runs till ten.”

The girls thanked him and didn’t have to go far to find Room 26. The buildings and pathways were quaint and distinctly colonial.

“It feels like we are going back in time on this island,” Julia remarked.

“It does have a certain feel – reminds me a bit of Martha’s Vineyard.”

“Yeah, that’s it,” Julia agreed as she opened the door to the basic but clean
accommodation. “I thought this was a deluxe room!”

“Yeah, pretty basic – but at least the pool looks nice.”

They changed into their bikinis and poured on some Factor 30 sun lotion.

“It’s hot out there today.” Ruth said.

Julia nodded. “I can’t wait to get into the pool.”

The loungers were covered with fresh towels for guests to use and the palm trees gave natural shade from the sun. Ruth jumped straight in and Julia quickly followed. Like most Australian pools it was deep and so refreshing the girls stayed in it for half an hour.

Ruth got out first and sat on the sun-lounger that she had reserved with her wrap. She put on her sunglasses and lay in tranquillity.

When Julia got out she decided to dry off and apply more lotion. She reached down beside Ruth’s bed and let out a yelp.

Ruth jumped up. “What’s the matter?”

Fear and trepidation were written all over Julia’s face. She pointed to a spot beside the large palm tree that was offering them shade.

“There – don’t move – there’s a massive rat!”

Ruth looked over to where Julia was pointing and started to laugh.

“That’s not a rat – that’s a quokka!”

“It’s a rat – I know a rat when I see one!”

“Julia, I swear – I saw them in the zoo – that’s what they look like.”

“What are they doing here by the swimming pool?”

“He’s probably just looking for a bit of shade!”

With that the quokka turned on his paws and hobbled off through the gaps in the metal gate, to find another place to rest.

“I can’t believe that thing!”

“It’s a marsupial – Steve told me about them – the first visitor to the island thought they were rats too and that’s why they call it ‘
rottnest
’ – he was Dutch apparently and that’s ‘rat nest’ in Dutch.”

“Well, Steve is a mine of information – I’m so glad we were warned or I’d have been straight up to reception to check out.”

“Lie down and relax – you’re on holidays.”

Julia did as she was told and the girls basked in the sunshine for an hour before hunger prompted them to find somewhere to eat. They returned to their room and changed into cool sundresses – not too out of place for the laid-back island but enough to make them feel and look good.

“Did Steve suggest anywhere to eat?”

“Aristos apparently is good but there is usually a session of some type in the Hotel Rottnest so we’ll go there after.”

“Sounds good to me.”

They dined on scampi and fries with salad and drank white wine as the sun slowly set. The cool breeze had left and a still calm fell on the island as night drew in.

The clumps of trees that were a dense green mass when seen from the sea were now lit up with fairy lights forming a magical path to the Hotel Rottnest. There were no private vehicles allowed on the island. Apart from the old colonial train that was really a novelty for sightseers, only one little bus did a circuit of the island. Holiday-makers were expected to walk or hire a bike. And there were plenty of families and young backpackers breezing along the pathways on bikes at all hours of the day and night.

The Hotel Rottnest, painted a bright white, beckoned them with the strains of a guitar and singing. Crowds of Aussie college students and international backpackers filled the tables, drinking from the necks of beer bottles.

“It’s certainly buzzy,” said Ruth. “Looks like all the tables are taken but we can squeeze in somewhere.”

The midges were out but the girls had sprayed themselves before leaving the hotel room. Ruth got three massive bites on the first night at Steve’s barbie and made sure that never happened again.

They walked over to the bar and ordered a bottle of chilled white Sauvingnon Blanc. They took the bottle in a bucket over to the quietest table where only one couple sat. The music was good and with the stars twinkling so brightly above in the sky it was difficult to see where the fairy lights in the trees stopped and the real stars began.

“Oh, I’ve got the nibbles – can’t believe it after that gorgeous dinner – will I get us some nuts?” Julia asked.

Ruth nodded.

Julia went up to the long white bar counter which had filled considerably in the few moments since they had bought their wine. A stag party had arrived and the bar staff were working frantically to serve the crowd. She was considering whether to go back to Ruth or wait patiently for her turn when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hey there – Miss Peppermint Grove!”

She turned around and didn’t recognise the speaker for a moment.

He wasn’t wearing his yellow helmet but his white smile gave his identity away.

“Hello – you’re the guy from the building site, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s right – Brian!” He held out his hand. “And your name is?”

“I’m Julia – my friend Ruth is with me too. Are you with all these guys on the stag night?”

“Stag night? Oh, you mean buck’s party! Yeah, my mate Ross is getting hitched in a couple of weeks. Rotto’s a great spot to go on tour! Where are you staying?”

“We’re at the Rottnest Lodge.”

“Oh, we’re staying in the Quad.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s the round building – right by the pool. Used to be an Abo prison.”

Julia was horrified. She wasn’t sure if she more disgusted that he called the indigenous people Abos or that he was staying in what used to be a prison. “What? I didn’t know that – am I staying in a prison?”

“Whereabouts are ya?” Brian asked.

“I’m to the left of the entrance.”

“Oh, then you’re probably in the boys’ reformatory.”

“Boys’ reformatory!” 

“You don’t like the sound of that?”

“No! And it’s not nice to hear the aborigine people being called Abos either!”

“Hey, I hate the way they were treated and still are, to be honest. But us Aussies always make words shorter. And as for the prison, I agree that it is kinda creepy. I think us Aussies are the only race on earth that would turn a prison into a hotel.”

He laughed out loud and took a bottle of beer from a tall blonde unshaven guy wearing a sleeveless T-shirt. “Hey, Marty, meet Miss Irish here – she has a cute mate too!”

“Hello, sweetheart,” Marty said, winking. “Don’t ya just love Rotto!”

“It’s very quaint.” Julia was taken aback.

“Can I get you a beer?” Marty asked.

“No, thanks, I was looking for . . .” she hesitated, “some crisps – eh, chips – or something to nibble.”

“There are plenty of blokes here that would love a nibble later!” Marty laughed cheekily. He spoke with the bartender and gave her some assorted packets of cashew nuts and crisps.

“Eh, thanks very much.” Julia was a bit disconcerted by the forcefulness of the Aussie guys – she couldn’t find her usual retorts that came naturally when she was out in
Dublin. It wasn’t that her confidence was shaken but she had to admit she did feel like a fish out of water around Australian men

“Sorry if Marty is a bit brash – he can’t help it – and he has a heart of gold.” 

“Oh, he’s grand. Eh, I think I’d better go back to Ruth.”

“Maybe I can join you later?”

Julia looked up into his big blue eyes. There was something different about Brian. He was gentler in his manner than Marty and the other Aussies that were dotted around the bar. And it had been a while since she’d had her last holiday fling. She weighed up the options – she had nothing to lose.

“Sure – come over to us – we’re sitting at the beach front over there at the last table.”

He smiled. “See you in a bit. By the way, I’ve found out a little about the people who lived in that house.”

“Oh! What?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

Julia was elated when she returned to Ruth. “You won’t believe who I met at the bar?”

“Who?”

“The builder from Peppermint Grove. Isn’t it a small world?”

“Oh, he was gorgeous!”

“And he’s found out something about the house! He’ll come over and tell us later.”

“Fantastic!”

“He’s with a stag party – a ‘buck’s party’ as they say here. I hope he brings a nice friend!”

Ruth smiled. It was like old times when the girls used to be on the hunt and she missed this in being with Julia in recent years, where she turned away every guy who approached her with a smart retort.

“I’m glad to hear that you’ll give Brian the benefit of the doubt! He is cute.”

Julia nodded. “He has lovely teeth and it has been a while since I’ve had a holiday romance.”

Ruth thought that Brian was gorgeous but she was so pleased that Julia was interested in him she wouldn’t get in her way.

They had barely finished their first glass of wine when Brian came over with Marty in tow. The two men sat down at the table beside them and Brian launched into chat with Ruth about the owners of the house in Peppermint Grove. He had looked up the papers belonging to the site and discovered that the house he had demolished at Number 5 was owned by an Emily Walters who was second-generation English. She had been a widow for many years and it was her nephew who was commissioning the new build.

“The nephew’s surname name is Arthurs so I was thrown a bit but that seems to have been the
old dear’s maiden name.”

“You’re very kind to find out for me,” Ruth smiled. She was a little uneasy – she didn’t want to be the centre of Brian’s attention after Julia had expressed an interest in him. “But, you know, I think Julia is even more intrigued to find out about the house than I am – aren’t you, Ju?”

Julia was delighted to be brought into the conversation as Marty was heading straight in for the kill and she had no interest in continuing a conversation with a guy who insisted on calling her ‘sweetheart
’
all the time. She didn’t want to land Ruth with him either but Ruth seemed happy to talk to Marty and moved seats to be nearer to him so that Julia was now beside Brian.

“Yes, I’m intrigued to find out about Ruth’s mother’s connection with that house.” Julia explained. “She wrote a letter to a man called Charles Walters who lived there and didn’t post it.”

“Hey, he must have been Emily Walter’s husband?” Brian suggested.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Ruth agreed.

Brian turned to Ruth. “And would you not just ask your mum about it?”

Julia and Ruth looked at each other, not sure what to answer.

“Eh, Ruth’s mum doesn’t like to talk about her time in Australia for some reason and we can’t figure out why.”

“Ah – sounds like a skeleton in the cupboard – I think this calls for more drinks. Would you like another bottle of wine, ladies?”

“Oh, that would be lovely, thanks – I’ll come up to the bar and help you!” Julia said with a wide smile. It was a good opportunity to see if Brian was interested in her and let Marty switch his attentions to Ruth.

“Do you come over here much?” Julia asked Brian.

“To Rotto? Nah, only if there’s a reason like the buck’s night. There are plenty of people from Perth who have only been on Rotto once or twice – some have never been. I used to come as a kid when I was a scout and we’d camp over at the Abo graveyard and tell ghost stories all night.”

“That sounds a bit creepy.”

“Yeah, it felt weird. I think there are plenty of old ghosts stomping the island at night – it was bad the way the Abos were treated here and nobody ever put up a headstone for them.”

Brian was smart and intelligent in a non-intellectual way, thought Julia. She waited with him while he paid for the drinks and they walked back to the table.