Lewis journeys to the Red Centre of Australia

“Friends are like flowers: they add colour and beauty to your life. But don’t forget that friendships need nurturing too, just like flowers,” remarked Lewis the Lion’s travelling friend Helen. And she was right. Lewis the Lion felt that his life was infinitely richer for the good friends that he had in his life and he would try his best to be a good friend too.

Lewis the Lion is happy to be travelling with Helen to Australia's Centre

Lewis the Lion is happy to be travelling with Helen to Australia’s Centre

First of all there was Helen herself without whom he wouldn’t be able to have such an incredible worldwide adventure. Luckily for Lewis the Lion, for all Helen’s hesitancy, she had eventually decided that yes, they would visit Australia’s Red Centre. Even though it was very expensive, she figured that because of the great distance it took to get there, it was never going to get any cheaper and furthermore, it was recognised as being one of Australia’s biggest tourist attractions due to a rather special rock: the largest rock in the world – Uluru. Next, there was Karen who had hosted them in Melbourne. She kindly got up at stupid o’clock in the morning to drive Helen and Lewis the Lion to one of Melbourne’s airports. What a lucky and grateful lion he was!

Two of Lewis the Lion's good friends: Karen and Helen

Two of Lewis the Lion’s good friends: Karen and Helen

On arriving at the airport, Lewis the Lion was surprised that there was nobody at the check-in desk for his flight to Alice Springs but rather he simply needed to weigh his own rucksack, print off his own luggage label and then check it in himself onto the conveyor belt. He wondered if machines would replace humans altogether one day?

What do you think?

Flying past Sydney Harbour at dawn

Flying past Sydney Harbour at dawn

Unbelievably, that early morning flight via Sydney took an unexpected detour right past the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Another passenger close to Lewis the Lion said that even though he was a frequent flyer, in all the years that he had made this trip, this had never happened before! With the sun rising in the sky, shining on the glowing jewel that is Sydney, Lewis the Lion felt his heart was full of gratitude for this magnificent and one-off experience.

His connecting flight in Sydney then set off for Alice Springs. On the long flight, Lewis the Lion noticed the ground below him turning from yellow,

Lewis the Lion sees the ground below gradually turning redder

Lewis the Lion sees the ground below gradually turning redder

to orange, to red.

Lewis the Lion flies over Australia's Red Centre

Lewis the Lion flies over Australia’s Red Centre

As the aeroplane drew closer to Australia’s middle, the red of the earth almost looked fiery and he could understand why it was called the Red Centre.

The earth below looks fiery red

The earth below looks fiery red

However, after a few days of being here he preferred to think of it as the beating, central heart of Australia, especially after learning more about the cultural significance of the place. It was in fact the spiritual homeland for one of Australia’s main Aboriginal tribes, the Anangu tribe.

The pilot gave the usual announcement about the height of the plane, the weather on arrival in Alice Springs and the change of time. Lewis the Lion thought that he must have made a mistake at first as he said that they were an hour and a half behind Sydney. He’d never heard of half hour’s time zone change before on his travels but to his surprise, the pilot was quite correct. How peculiar!

Lewis the Lion feels the heat as he steps off the plane

Lewis the Lion feels the heat as he steps off the plane

As he stepped off the plane in Alice Springs, the heat hit him like a wall and he could see the stewardess shielding her eyes from the sun. Temperatures at this time of the year were easily in the high thirties and he would have to make sure he was drinking lots of water here, that’s for sure.

Lewis the Lion lands at Alice Springs Airport

Lewis the Lion lands at Alice Springs Airport

Lewis the Lion was surprised that even though this was an domestic flight, at the airport there was still quarantine measures in place on fruit and vegetables.

An Aboriginal welcome to Alice Springs

An Aboriginal welcome to Alice Springs

He also noticed welcome posters in a range of languages and a babble of languages filled the shuttle bus on the way to his hostel. It was clear that tourism was big business here.

Lewis is welcomed in a range of languages to this magnet for tourists

Lewis is welcomed in a range of languages to this magnet for tourists

Driving away from the airport, he spotted a sign for the famous ‘Flying Doctors,’ doctors who had to fly to remote places to serve the community.

He also noticed that the sunshine and heat were indeed big features here as he could see many people wearing broad-rimmed hats and solar panels seemed to line the fields. It made sense that in such a hot and sunny place, people were harnessing the energy of the sun like this.

Feeling the heat gathering around his mane and the nape of his neck, suddenly Lewis the Lion realised something was missing: his blue spotted neckerchief! He must have left it behind in Melbourne. Oh no! However, he quickly realised that it was perhaps no bad thing with this oppressive heat. Furthermore, at least he knew it was with people he could trust, his good friends Caoimhe and Liam. Maybe they would be kind enough to send it on to him at his next destination?

Lewis the Lion's good friends: Liam and Caoimhe

Lewis the Lion’s good friends: Liam and Caoimhe

Lewis the Lion felt so so lucky for all these travel opportunities but perhaps he felt even luckier for the good friends in his life.

What do you think it takes to be a good friend?

About Helen Molloy

Helen Molloy has been a Primary Learning and Teaching Consultant, leading on the introduction of Primary Languages in the City of Stoke-on-Trent for the past 5 and a half years. She is passionate about language learning and inspiring children into developing a curiosity and awareness of other people's languages and cultures.
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