Valley of Australian Monsters

V.E. Armstrong

Description

This is a fantasy story that tells of the adventures of Alex, a 10-year-old boy, who finds himself unexpectedly in underground caves where he meets many odd and strange creatures. Read of his struggle to survive against all the challenges that beset him.

Sujets

• Children's

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 10 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528913744
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Valley of Australian Monsters
V.E. Armstrong
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-12-10
The Valley of Australian Monsters Chapter 1 Alex’s Adventures Chapter 2 In an Ancient Dragon’s Cave Chapter 3 The Hostile Rabbits Chapter 4 The Angry Snake Chapter 5 A Mob of Outraged Kangaroos Chapter 6 The Emu’s Rage Chapter 7 In a Dingo’s Den Chapter 8 The Scary Spiders Chapter 9 The Helpful Wedge-Tailed Eagle Chapter 10 The Guardians of the Valley Chapter 11 The Wild Brumbies Chapter 12 The Ancient Bunyip Chapter 13 The Dangerous Mud Crabs Chapter 14 A World of Sea Creatures
V.E. Armstrong lived all her life on sheep stations in outback Western Australia. This is her second children’s book, the first book being The Awesome Adventures of Sam the Lamb .
To my children – Vicki, Buster, Bethny and Joseph.
Copyright © V.E. Armstrong (2020)
The right of V.E. Armstrong to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528905695 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528913744 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
My thanks to Molly Thompson and John Gaze for all their help in the writing of this book.
Chapter 1 Alex’s Adventures

Alex, at the age of ten, longed for adventure. But when he found himself lying at the bottom of a hole underneath the earth in the Australian bush, he began to wonder if he would regret making such a wish.
The day had not started well, while hurrying downstairs into the dining room, he knew he would be in trouble for being late for breakfast, having slept in yet again the night before, too engrossed in the latest, thrilling book he had been unable to stop reading.
As he entered the room, he could hear his step-mother’s angry voice, complaining to his father about his behaviour.
Alex quickly apologised and muttered, ‘I’m sorry,’ and he slid into the chair beside his younger step-sister.
‘You’re always late. It’s no good apologising, and stop muttering,’ his infuriated step-mother said in an angry tone of voice.
Alex; furious at her criticism, began to argue with her trying to explain.
She refused to listen saying, ‘Now, you have missed breakfast.’
He opened his mouth to object at her unfair treatment but realised it would be of little use. For no matter how hard he tried, and whatever he did, he always found it impossible to do anything to please her.
From the day his father had remarried after the death of his mother, when he was small, his life had become miserable and unhappy. He was convinced his step-mother held a dislike of all children, except her own sweet, gentle, four-year-old daughter, Roslyn.
Once he had been contented, living with his mother and father on “Twin Rivers Station”, a large rural sheep property in an isolated spot in the outback area of Western Australia. The property carried over 10,000 Merino sheep, 300 head of Shorthorn Cattle and 200 horses, and Alex loved the vast distance from the nearest town.
Both, he and his father, preferred their Merino breed of sheep to cattle, for these woolly creatures brought in a very high income from the wool sold at auctions in the city.
Alex was expected to attend school every day, learning by Correspondence lessons, sent from the city, and taught by a governess in a classroom on the end of the homestead veranda. He was expected to take care of all of his chores which were to attend to the care of his pets: a Border collie sheep dog called “Wag”, his brumby colt “Thunder” “Big Red”, a pet kangaroo, a pink and white galah called, “George” and his many budgerigars which lived in a large aviary under a tank stand, and a pet snake named “Bill”.
Life was never dull, for there was always something happening on the station. He enjoyed being allowed to escape from the schoolroom and ride his horse with Wag by his side and looked forward to being allowed to help with all the work, when it came time for mustering the sheep in for shearing, or the cattle to be branded and trucked to markets – or the horses to be broken into saddle and bridle and ridden by the station stockmen.
As the only child, he never felt lonely, for he had his horse and motor bikes to ride when free of lessons for the day. But sadly, his mother had died, leaving him and his father to grieve at their loss.
After many years of loneliness for them both, his father, leaving Alex in the care of a housekeeper, had left on a trip to the city. On his return he had arrived home, bringing with him his new wife and her small daughter. Alex was shocked.
‘Now, you will no longer be lonely,’ his father informed him.
Alex liked his step-sister, but could not see, how they would have anything in common, because of the age difference between them of four years.
As the years passed, his step-mother’s resentment of his relationship with his father increased, and so too did her hostility towards him. Every day, she accused him of laziness as well as any misdemeanour, she felt he had committed. But Alex had become so accustomed to her bossy, scolding, strident voice, that most of the time he did not hear her continual criticism.
When he had reached his teens, her complaints that he was clumsy and always breaking things infuriated him. He could not help it if his hands and feet seemed to have a mind of their own, for he found it difficult to control them, for he did not think he was in any way different from other boys his age.
Weary of the constant battle between them, he accepted, as best he could, all her taunts, rages and scoldings. He often thought of running away, but aware, his father would suffer, if he did. He tried to ignore her and escaped from the house, whenever he could.
He was the first to admit, he had faults, and every morning, he found it increasingly difficult to appear on time in the dining room for breakfast. This had led to her complaining to his father about his behaviour at the breakfast table this morning.
After his father had left the house, his step-mother again accusing him of rudeness to her at the table, told him to go upstairs and remain there until dinner time.
Alex, pleased to be banished upstairs, away from her harassment, climbed the stairs and headed to his room, knowing, he would have his iPad, computer games and his beloved books to help the long hours of the day pass.
To his surprise, she followed him and taking hold of his arm in a strong grip, led him instead to his step-sister’s bedroom.
Opening the door and giving him a shove, she pushed him inside, where he fell to his knees on the soft, pink carpet.
Turning to leave she said, ‘As a punishment for your rudeness, you are to remain here all day. And if you attempt to try to escape by climbing through the window, I will be only too happy to see you break your ugly neck, when you fall two stories below.’
Alex was shocked by her malicious words.
Hearing the click of the door key, he knew there was no way he could escape from his step-sister’s frilly bedroom. Not only had the ill-tempered woman locked him in, he was aware, she knew that having to spend a whole day locked away from his books and computer games would upset him; but there was not a thing he could do so he climbed to his feet and looked around.
Looking up at the ceiling, he gazed at murals of the moon, stars and fluffy white clouds that had been painted by his late mother. She had been an artist and he was overcome with sadness that she was no longer with him.
His eyes then turned to the drawings on the pink painted walls of the room. These showed teddy bears and fairies dancing around a maypole. These were unlike the scenes of the galaxy and rocket ships travelling through space, that Alex loved, and was accustomed to seeing in his own room.
His step-mother, jealous of his dead mother, had wanted to remove any trace of her artistry. But Alex had spoken to his father and the murals had remained.
Now, because of his step-mother’s animosity towards him. Here he was, locked in his younger step-sister’s toy-filled, bedroom. Wishing, he were anywhere, except where he was, how he longed to escape. Horrified at the thought of having to spend a day in a room full of dolls, teddy bears and stuffed toys, Alex gave a deep sigh and lay down on the frilly, pink-doona cover to wait for his father’s return to the homestead, that night.
Forced to go without breakfast, his stomach grumbled and groaned in protest. To take his mind off his longing for food, he looked around for something to read. Lying on the bedside table was a book Alice in Wonderland .
A keen reader, the story was not one to his liking, but bored stiff and desperate for any sort of reading material, he picked it up and began to read. Finding himself falling, he screamed.
Alex’s adventures had begun.
Chapter 2 In an Ancient Dragon’s Cave

Alex awoke with a start, nothing looked familiar. The last thing he remembered was, when he found himself falling asleep on his step-sister’s bed in her pink-painted bedroom, while reading a children’s storybook. To his surprise, he found himself lying at the bottom of a small cave. High above his head, a small glimmer of light shone down from what looked like the entrance through which he had fallen.
Puzzled by his surroundings, he sat up, and feeling a little shaky, waited for his eyes to adjust to the semi-darkness. Feeling his head, arms and legs to see i