Pete Pelican Flies High
by Margaret Bennett-Hall
Pete Pelican lives on the Gold Coast in Australia. He spends his days floating around the blue waters of the Broadwater, fishing, with his little Black Duck friends. Pete loves the Broadwater. He watches the humans sail their boats and ride their jet-skies. He thinks they are quite strange. Sometimes they hold on to a rope and get pulled along behind a boat. When they fall off into the water there is a big splash. Then they all laugh and laugh. Pete laughs along with them. They are all very funny.
WHAT WERE THE HUMANS DOING? ……
One day Pete met a Curlew. He had flown to Australia from a land far away. Pete was amazed to hear there were lots of other lands. He decided to pluck up his courage and discover some of them for himself. So he said goodbye to all his feathered friends on the Gold Coast. Like all birds Pete has a GPS in his head. But he was feeling nervous and a bit scared. HOW WILL PETE FIND HIS WAY?.....
He flew south towards Sydney. He was very pleased with himself. He had found his way. There he saw a beautiful big harbour with lots of boats and big green ferries. There was a big fancy bridge. His Seagull friends told him it was the Sydney Harbour Bridge. WHAT COLOUR ARE FERRIES ON SYDNEY HARBOUR?........
There was also a funny shaped building. His Seagull friends told him this was the Sydney Opera House. There were Kookaburras in the trees around the city.
They loved to laugh and laugh at anything happening near them. There were also more Seagulls. But no Pelicans like him. HAVE YOU HEARD KOOKABURRAS LAUGHING? …..
The next day Pete set off flying further south towards Melbourne. On the way he talked to some Cockatoos. They were flying around in a big group, squawking and talking. Pete liked the Cockatoos. They were so funny. They made Pete laugh. The Cockatoos introduced Pete to their friends the Galahs. They all had a great time together. HAVE YOU HEARD COCKATOOS TALKING?
There were lots of humans in Melbourne. Some of them gathered in a big round football ground. They were yelling out to other humans who were kicking a ball around, trying to kick it between tall white posts at each end of the ground. Pete’s Seagull friends said they loved to fly to the ground and watch the game. There were lots of other birds too, but no Pelicans like him. WHAT GAME WERE THE HUMANS PLAYING?......
On his long flight west to Perth he flew over the big dry Nullarbor Plain. He saw Kangaroos jumping and Emus running along.
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