James and the Jenolan Knights

By Cathy Segal

Hidden away in the heritage parklands of Australia’s Blue Mountains are the magical Jenolan Caves. James lives there in the Keeper’s Cottage with his parents and grandfather, Jeremiah.

James has many exciting adventures in the nearby bush land on his own, but that is about to change. Someone is watching and waiting for the right moment to take him on the adventure of his life!

An exciting new dimension is revealed to James in which he will meet new friends, new animals and be given the opportunity to make a real difference to the natural world.

Jeremiah and James are strongly connected by their love of the land and together they will uncover the magic of Jenolan Caves and a new world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483530642

Book preview

FOREWORD

JAMES AND THE JENOLAN KNIGHTS

Hidden away in the heritage parklands of Australia’s Blue Mountains are the magical Jenolan Caves. James lives there in the Keeper’s Cottage with his parents and grandfather, Jeremiah.

James has many exciting adventures in the nearby bush land on his own, but that is about to change. Someone is watching and waiting for the right moment to take him on the adventure of his life!

An exciting new dimension is revealed to James in which he will meet new friends, new animals and be given the opportunity to make a real difference to the natural world.

Jeremiah and James are strongly connected by their love of the land and together they will uncover the magic of Jenolan Caves and a new world.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author and the publisher Girraween Enterprises Pty Ltd

For information regarding permissions, write to

Girraween Enterprises Pty Ltd

PO Box 527 Edgecliff NSW 2027

Sydney Australia

First published in Sydney Australia in 2013 by

Girraween Enterprises Pty Ltd  

© Copyright 2013 Cathy Segal

Illustrations by Odette Larner Copyright © 2013

Cover design and layout by Dan Segal at Brand Organic

www.brandorganic.com.au

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. 

Cathy Segal has asserted her moral rights.

A CIP catalogue record of this book is available from the Australian National Library

ISBN 978-0-646-91236-3

First Edition

www.jenolanknights.com.au

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

More than 20 years ago our family visited Jenolan Caves. We all fell under its magical spell!

It was my fascination with the caves, the interesting history surrounding Jenolan and my love of our country that inspired me to write this story.

I have always been happiest outside with nature and thank my parents, husband and sons for always listening to my stories created from these adventures.

Thank you Alan, my husband, David and Daniel, my sons and my best friend Louise for your love and support during the writing process.

My thanks also to Bill Payne, my manager and mentor for his guidance, enthusiasm and editing skills, which have been instrumental in reaching the finishing line.

DEDICATION

To my amazing parents who are celebrating

their 65th wedding anniversary this year.

CHAPTER 1 A NEW FRIEND

CHAPTER 2 THE SANCTUARY

CHAPTER 3 A GIFT TO SPEND

CHAPTER 4 THE COTTAGE FAMILY

CHAPTER 5 HIDDEN MEMORIES

CHAPTER 6 A SECRET PLACE

CHAPTER 7 AN IMPORTANT LESSON

CHAPTER 8 THE PINE

CHAPTER 9 THE AWAKENING

CHAPTER 1

A NEW FRIEND

The rain pelted against the windowpanes and a wild gust of wind shuddered the house waking James from a sound sleep. He sat up in bed shivering. As he looked around his bedroom in the half-light of dawn the wind howled a scary and mournful song around the cottage.

James quickly sank under the warmth of the covers again. He was disappointed it was raining as he was planning on going into the bush for a few hours. He lay there thinking for a few seconds and then looked at the clock. You never know what animals may be feeding at this time of the morning, especially the platypus. He wasn’t going to let a bit of rain stop him, was he?

With that thought he jumped up out of bed, slipped on some old jeans, tee shirt, and his favourite, well-worn jacket and raced down the stairs. He ran out of the house and all the way to the stream, which was quite far from the house. He stood in the nearby bushland for a bit of shelter puffing and trying to catch his breath.

James became aware of a huge wombat about a metre away looking straight at him. They stared at each other for a bit and then the animal looked away. James knew better than to approach the wombat as it could have quite a nasty bite if provoked. Eventually the wombat waddled past James, gave a bit of a sniff in his direction and disappeared into the bushes. James smiled to himself; they were funny animals all right.

James was scanning the water for any signs of the platypus when he heard a twig snap behind him and he turned around in the direction of the sound. He couldn’t see anything at first but then as he sharpened his sight he saw two huge grey ears protruding from amongst the bushes. James held his breath, the animal was huge and held its head up sniffing the air. Big Red James whispered to himself fearfully. This was not any old kangaroo, this was Big Red who was almost a myth according to James’ grandfather. Pop told James to stay clear of Big Red as he was capable of slicing someone in half without them even knowing it he had warned.

James stood motionless. He remembered his grandfather’s words, when you see any wildlife, be a tree my boy, become part of the bushland that way you get to see so much more and the animals won’t be afraid of you. But for some unknown reason James didn’t take his grandfather’s advice and lowered himself into a crouching position, hoping to make himself small. He looked over at Big Red who was watching him with great interest now. The kangaroo emerged from the bushes. James guessed when he stood up on his huge hind legs he would be over two metres tall. The animal began hopping towards him.

Oh no James thought, I should have just stayed still. The animal was moving quickly towards him and James felt his heart beating uncontrollably. He squeezed his eyes shut and covered them with his hands. He could hear the thumping on the ground as the kangaroo hopped closer, then it stopped.

James sat for a few seconds not knowing what to do. He sensed the animal was close to him so he separated his fingers a little and peered through them. He could see the huge hind feet of the animal right in front of him, the claws looked strong and sharp. James nearly lost his balance and toppled over, he was so scared. He could smell the animal, that earthy, furry smell. James loved that. But this wasn’t a time to think about anything else except staying alive.

Suddenly all the sounds of the forest stopped. James couldn’t hear any birds chirping or the wind rushing through the trees. Just silence. All he could hear now was his own breathing. He was thinking about how Pop and his father, David, would find him after hours of searching and how they would know that Big Red had killed him by the claw marks