An Aussie Afternoon with Bob Grandpa In My Pocket

Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

Come down, Grandpa!

'There are lots of lovely places in Sunnysands.

'One of my favourites is the harbour, where Bob keeps his boat,

'the Boomerang. We were going to see him today,

'but first, Auntie Jules wanted to finish something.'

-See if he's bouncy enough.

-'A kangaroo for me!

'Making stuffed toys was her new hobby.'

Yes, he's bouncy enough.

Good. Now, what shall we make for Josh? How about a rhinoceros?

'Just then, Josh and Grandpa came in.'

'We'd been playing in the meadow.'

Have you seen the time? The children are due at the Boomerang.

Sorry, got a bit carried away. We must go right now.

Anyone seen the keys to Campo?

Cool kangaroo, Elsie! Take it to show Bob.

It will remind him of home.

'I knew he'd love the kangaroo, cos it's an Australian animal.'

And today was the day for... an Aussie afternoon with Bob!

I found the keys, I'll get Campo started.

Josh, Elsie, see you outside.

-What's wrong, Elsie? Don't you want to go?

-I do, but I'm shy.

-I want you to come, Grandpa.

-I'd love to, but I'm not invited.

-I'm inviting you.

-You'll be OK, Elsie. I'm coming along with you.

Bob will think we're really babyish if Grandpa comes along.

Not if he doesn't know I'm there.

-Why don't I come along for a while just to settle you in?

-Yes!

-No!

-It's too risky.

-I'll be careful and I won't stay all afternoon.

Not the shrinking cap, Grandpa!

Catch me if you can!

'When Grandpa shrinks, he runs about all over the place.

'He zooms around in Jason's toy car

'and even gets into my helicopter and flies.

'But today, he was going to ride in my backpack.'

-I've been sitting in Campo for ages.

-Sorry, we're ready now.

I see Grandpa's gone for a lie down.

I expect he's glad he won't be running around all afternoon.

Come on, let's go.

'So off we went in Campo to Bob's boat.

-'Me, Auntie Jules, Elsie and Grandpa.

-And Auntie Jules said...'

-Do you know why Bob's boat is called the Boomerang?

-'And Josh said...'

Because when it goes out to sea, it always comes back!

'When we got to the Boomerang, we couldn't see Bob on deck,

'so we guessed he must be down below.'

-Sorry we're a bit late.

-No worries.

Gave me more time to make our tucker.

-"Tucker"?

-It's Australian for "food".

I went out fishing this morning and caught a load of fresh prawns.

-Even took their shells off for you. See?

-Oh, they really smell!

It all looks fantastic. Do you mind if I pop out for a bit?

-I'm making a rhinoceros and I've run out of stuffing.

-Yeah, sure.

Elsie, show Bob who's hiding in your backpack.

'For a moment, I thought Auntie Jules had guessed! But then...'

I know who she means.

'Of course, she wasn't talking about Grandpa.

'She was talking about Elsie's kangaroo.'

-You can't get more Australian than a roo! Boing!

-Boing!

-Boing!

-Boing!

'While we were all playing with the kangaroo,

'Grandpa jumped out of the backpack and looked for somewhere to hide.'

'And he found a good place, behind the musical boat.'

Tucker time!

Come on, dig in.

'So, while we dug into our "tucker", Grandpa relaxed.

'And the relaxing turned into a nap, and then turned into a proper sleep.

'But we didn't know, because we were eating Bob's Aussie tucker.'

-Aussie tucker is the best.

-It must be fun to live in Australia.

Oh, yeah, Australia's great.

We've got so many great beaches and all sorts of really cool animals.

-Do you miss home, Bob?

-Well, sometimes.

But I just play an Aussie song and it cheers me up again.

I've never heard an Aussie song.

Hang on. I'll play you my favourite on my musical boat.

'Of course, Grandpa was hiding behind the musical boat!

'I had to do something.'

I'll get it!

(Grandpa, wake up! Sorry, but Bob wants this.)

What?

Oh, oh, it's you, Josh. Is Elsie all right? Can I fly home now?

Yeah, she's cool.

But we didn't bring anything for you to fly home on.

Oh, no, we didn't. That was silly of me. Bother!

'There was no choice. Grandpa had to wait for us.

'Which meant he had to find another place to hide.'

I've wound the little beauty up. Let's hear her play.

'But the little beauty didn't play.'

Oh, no. Something is broken inside.

I'll take a good look at her later.

Right. What other Aussie thing can I show you? Oh, I know!

-My lucky Aussie dollar.

-What's an Aussie dollar?

-It's Australian money.

-'But the Aussie dollar had gone.'

I'm sure I had it this morning when I went out fishing for those prawns.

(Make sure he doesn't find Grandpa!)

-(I'd forgotten all about him.)

-Got to be here somewhere.

I know, we can turn it into a game. Hunt the lucky Aussie dollar!

This could be tricky!

'While we all started to hunt for the Aussie dollar,

'Grandpa did his best to keep out of the way.'

No, it's not here. I've looked.

-OK.

-Oh, maybe it's over here!

-Bob, Bob, is it there on the floor?

-Where, show me?

'This was not good. Soon, Bob was going to see Grandpa.

'I had to do something.

'So I dropped him into this funny long pipe thing. He was safe.'

Bad news, guys. I've lost my lucky Aussie dollar.

No wonder my musical boat is broken, I've run out of luck.

I think we should stop looking. The dollar will probably just turn up.

I hope so. Still, we mustn't get on a downer.

Let's do something else Aussie to take our mind off it.

-Maybe you could play us your didgeridoo.

-Oh, yeah, ripper!

-What's a diddly-doo?

-Didgeridoo. It's an Aboriginal instrument.

It looks like a funny long pipe. Now, where did I put it?

'That was where I'd put Grandpa!

'Bob started to blow down the didgeridoo.'

That's odd. I can't get a sound out of it.

Looks like there's a thingamajig stuck in the middle.

'And I knew what the thingamajig was!'

I can't make out what it is exactly.

'Poor Grandpa was stuck in the didgeridoo!'

Josh, can you pass me that fishing net?

-I'm going to try to poke the thingamajig out.

-No, don't do that!

-You might hurt it.

-You think the thingamajig might be alive?

I'll tell you what, I'll take a real deep breath and see

if I can blow whatever it is out.

'Bob took a really deep breath, then he blew as hard as he could.

'And this happened!

'Grandpa shot out of the end

-'and landed in the bucket of smelly prawn shells!

-But he was safe.'

All that didgeridoo-ing has made me feel really dizzy.

-Why don't you go up on deck and get some fresh air?

-Good idea.

My head is spinning.

'The minute Bob left, I picked Grandpa out of the bucket

'and put him on the table. He smelt terrible!'

Phwoar, Grandpa, you're all prawny!

Never mind about that, I know where Bob's lucky Aussie dollar is.

-At the bottom of the bowl.

-I'll get it.

'I fished Bob's lucky dollar out of the prawn shells.'

I think we should go before there's more trouble.

There's just one job I want to do. Won't take long.

'Grandpa went to the musical boat

-'and Josh went to tell Bob the good news.

-Soon, Bob was back below deck

'and he was really pleased to have his lucky Aussie dollar back.'

How come you found it in the bucket of prawn shells?

-It was the only place we hadn't looked!

-We ought to celebrate.

If only my musical boat wasn't broken,

we could have a good old Aussie singsong.

'But we knew the musical boat wasn't broken,

'thanks to Grandpa.'

Maybe you should give the boat another chance.

-'Now that you're feeling lucky, it might work.

-Well, you never know.

Let's try.

'And while Bob wound up the boat, Grandpa found another hiding place.'

Oh, it works! My luck's come back!

BOAT TINKLES

# Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda

# You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me

GRANDPA JOINS IN: # And he sang as he watched

# And waited till his billy boiled

# You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me. #

Hey, your kangaroo can sing!

'Of course, it wasn't the kangaroo, it was Grandpa.

'He just couldn't stop himself.

'When our Aussie afternoon was over,

'Auntie Jules brought us back home in Campo.

'I let Grandpa out of my backpack.'

Grandpa, quick!

-That turned out to be quite an Aussie adventure!

-I'm glad you came.

You found the lucky dollar and fixed the musical boat.

I couldn't have done it unless you two had kept me from being seen.

-Teamwork.

-BOTH: Teamwork!

Oh, Grandpa, you're up and about. I got the stuffing for the rhinoceros.

Look! Oh, I think you need a shower. You smell like a prawn.

ALL: Teamwork!