Lizzie McGiven Goes Wild - Samantha Cochrane (primary phonics books TXT) 📗

Chapter One
Lizzie and Bella finished school and raced home. Daddy had promised a big surprise this weekend. The girls couldn’t wait!

At home, daddy had already packed the truck. There were bags of clothes and a picnic. Lizzie also spotted fishing rods.
“What’s that?” she asked mummy.
“My diving gear.” Mummy replied. “Daddy is taking us all to Frazer Island. I can dive, daddy can fish and you can snorkel. And I know Bella loves boats!”
“What’s a snorkle?” asked Bella. Mummy laughed and tapped her nose.
They drove to a quiet empty plain. There was one large building with a small door on the side.
Daddy went inside. Suddenly, Lizzie heard a great big growl! Bella put her hands over her ears.
Then, two enormous doors opened and out came a small aeroplane!
It drove slowly along the ground until it reached mummy and the girls.
“Wow!” breathed Lizzie. “Come on mum!”
Daddy helped Lizzie up the small steps. She counted six seats in the back and two in the front.
“I want to sit in the front!” she said.
“No problem,” said the pilot. His name was Gerry.
“Come on Bella!” said daddy.
“Scared!” shouted Bella, over the noise. She clung to mummy and teddy. Mummy carried her into the plane and they all sat down.
“Seatbelts buckled!” called Gerry.
Lizzie looked at all the dials and controls. It was so confusing!
“Do I have to do anything?” she asked.
“No, Lizzie, just enjoy it,” replied Gerry.
They drove along the long, dusty plain. It was just like being in the car. But suddenly the plane began to lift into the air.
Lizzie squealed with delight! Bella screamed and held teddy tightly.
Up, up they went into the bright blue sky. Lizzie looked out of the window. Her tummy felt funny as they flew higher. She looked down at the ground. It looked so far away.
Gerry flew out over the sea. The little plane soared over the reef. Lizzie could see all the way to the bottom of the ocean. She was sure she could see fish shining in the sunlight.
“Nearly there!” called Gerry. He pointed to the island below them. They flew lower and lower.
“Where do we land?” asked Lizzie. All she could see was sea and sand and trees. “There’s no airport!”
“You’ll see!” laughed Gerry as the plane came down, rumbling and bouncing.
Lizzie couldn’t believe her eyes! They had landed right there on the beach. There were fishermen and big trucks on the sand! They just landed next to them!
“Cool!” she said. Even Bella clapped her hands in delight.


Chapter Two
They opened the door to their room. There were four beds inside.
“Oh no! Do we all have to share?” moaned Lizzie.
“Now, Lizzie, you are too small to have a room to yourself.”said daddy sternly.
“It’s not that, daddy. But you snore! Bella and me won’t sleep!”
Mummy and Bella laughed at daddy’s cross face. Daddy tickled Lizzie until she nearly wet her pants.

Lizzie and Bella tore onto the beach. The sand was gold and soft. A man was fishing, standing in the water. His rod was very long. Daddy went for a chat.
Mummy put on her running shoes and started to jog up the beach. “Be good girls, I’ll be back in a few minutes!” she called.
Bella began looking for stones and sticks to make a sandcastle. Lizzie went exploring in the dunes, looking for dangerous spiders. Mummy always asked her not to, but Lizzie was not scared. She was a bush girl now! She turned a cartwheel and fell on her bottom.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Lizzie spotted something. She lay in the sand and watched. A small golden dog with big ears trotted out of the trees. It sniffed the air. Lizzie was very still. The dog walked towards Lizzie. It stared at her for a while, then ran off up the beach.
Here was mummy, coming back from her run. Mummy jogged along in the sand. The little dog went to join her, bounding along at her side. Lizzie watched.
Mummy waved to the girls. “Hi girls!” she called.
Suddenly, the dog jumped back! He twirled around and bit mummy on the leg!
Mummy yelled very loudly and the dog ran off into the bush.
“Mummy! Are you ok?” Lizzie raced to her side.
“I’m fine, Lizzie, it’s just a bruise.” Said mummy, sitting in the sand. Bella ran up too and sat on mummy’s knee.
Mummy explained that the dog was called a dingo. Wild dingos had lived on Frazer Island for many years and humans were not allowed to hurt them.
“But he bit you!” said Bella.
“I know, but I startled him. It’s ok, we must just be careful.”
Lizzie frowned. Maybe mummy and daddy were right, she really did need to watch out for dangerous creatures!
She went to help Bella with her sandcastle, instead.


Chapter Three
The next day, the family climbed aboard a small boat. Lizzie went to explore. There was a wheel house, where the driver, Ben, stood and a room with tables and chairs. There was a small kitchen with tasty looking picnic on the counter.
Bella and Lizzie had to wear life jackets. Lizzie didn’t want to but mummy insisted. Then they set off towards the reef. The sun shone and the sky was blue but on the boat it was very windy. They flew over the waves until suddenly engines stopped and they sat bobbing up and down on one spot.
With a big splash, the anchor fell into the water and the chain followed.
“That’s to stop the boat moving about on the waves,” daddy explained.
“I know that daddy,” said Lizzie. She knew so much about the ocean now that she surfed every day.
Then they saw mummy. She was wearing a black wet suit. Ben helped mummy with a big, heavy tank of air and mummy jumped feet first into the sea.
“Where’s mummy gone?” asked Bella.
“Underwater, she’ll be looking at the fishes now.” Said daddy. Bella cuddled up to daddy.
“I want to look at the fish!” shouted Lizzie.
Daddy chose a mask and a snorkel for Lizzie to breathe through. Lizzie put them on and jumped into the water. Ben went in too.
“Now, put your mask over your face,” said Ben. “Then put your face in the water.”
Lizzie did as she was asked and was shocked at what she could see! When she fell in the water off her surf board, all she could see was sandy sea water. Mostly she kept her eyes shut.
But this was beautiful! Lizzie saw red, blue and yellow fish darting through the seaweed. Ben pointed at orange coral and swishing anemones. Lizzie watched mummy below, blowing out bubbles.
After a while, Ben pulled Lizzie back onto the boat. It was lunchtime! Mummy came to the surface, looking funny.
“But I want to stay, Ben!” Lizzie moaned.
“You cannot swim alone in the sea. It’s dangerous. You must never go off the boat by yourself, Lizzie. Promise?”
“I promise,” said Lizzie. But she was grumpy. She wanted to stay in the sea all day.
“Lunch!” called daddy. He was holding up five big silvery fishes.


Chapter Four
All morning, the girls had played on deck and in the water. Bella went in once, but she squealed when the waves went over her head, so mummy pulled her out again.
Bella was happier in the kitchen, helping Ben cook the fish. He even gave her an apron to wear, even though it was too big.

Slowly, as the afternoon went on, the sun began to sink lower in the sky. Ben looked at his watch. “It’s four o’clock. We had better get back to the dock.”
Daddy pulled in his fishing rod and mummy put the diving gear away. Ben started the engines and away they went.
Bella sat with mummy, holding teddy tightly against the wind. Daddy and Ben stood together and talked.
Lizzie looked over the railings at the rocks and other boats. She loved being on the sea. It was wild and cool and....suddenly Lizzie’s hand slid off the slippery rail!
She fell forward with a squeal and splash!! Lizzie fell face first into the sea.
For a moment she didn’t know which way was up! She kicked her legs and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t breathe! Lizzie began to panic!
But the life jacket she was wearing pulled her back to the surface. Lizzie bobbed around on the waves, kicking her legs. She coughed lots of water out of her mouth. Yuk! It was so salty!
She rubbed her eyes and pushed her hair out of her face.
Oh no! OH NO!!!
The boat kept on going! It was disappearing into the evening! Daddy and mummy must not have noticed! Oh no!
“Mummy! Daddy!” she called over the noise of the waves. But the boat did not stop.
“MUMMY! DADDY! BELLA!” Lizzie shouted again but the boat kept on going. Lizzie began to cry.
Her face was already wet, but her hot tears dripped onto her cheeks. This was really bad. What if they never found her? She would have to swim all the way home! But Lizzie couldn’t quite see where the docks were. She didn’t know which way to swim!


Chapter Five
The boat rumbled across the sea. Mummy and Bella shared a chocolate bar. Ben let daddy steer the boat, which made him very happy. They couldn’t wait to get home to a big dinner.
“Lizzie, did you have a good time?” mummy called.
“Lizzie! Are you listening to me?” mummy called again.
But Lizzie was not there. Mummy raced around the boat looking for her. Mummy was very scared.
“Lizzie is overboard!” shouted mummy, “We have to go back!”
“It’s getting dark,” said Ben. “We may not find her. But we’ll try.”
Poor mummy and Bella began to cry.

In the scary, dark sea, Lizzie had stopped crying. She told herself to stop being a baby. Daddy would come back for her.
She looked all around and decided to start swimming. After all, she couldn’t just sit here, doing nothing.
Just then, she saw something swimming towards her.
David, her surfing teacher, had always warned her about sharks. He said they had a big grey fin on their backs. If Lizzie saw a shark, she was to try to get to the beach as fast as possible.
Right now, Lizzie saw a big grey fin swimming towards her.
She held her breath in fright. What if it wanted to bite her?
The big fin stopped close by. Lizzie stared with big eyes. She did not want to be shark dinner.
Then, coming out of the water, Lizzie saw the friendly face of a dolphin.

Of course! Dolphins were grey too! And they had fins!
The dolphin looked at Lizzie and then put her head back in the water. She swam around her in a big circle.
“Hello, dolphin,” she said, and put her hand out.
The dolphin looked up again and moved towards her hand. She touched its nose, it was smooth and cold.
Lizzie forgot how scared she was. The dolphin was friendly. It made Lizzie feel less alone.
The sky got darker, but the dolphin stayed with Lizzie. It swam around her and nudged her legs with its snout. It seemed to be telling her to swim.
“Ok, dolphin, I’ll go this way,” said Lizzie. She began to paddle as well