‘It all comes down to money, Mum. Matt grades most of the roads, but this one isn’t driven that often, so I suppose he thinks it has a low priority.’ Or maybe, she thought, catching Connor’s eye in the mirror, it was more about discouraging the rangers’ use of it. Movement off to the right caught her eye and she pointed. ‘Look, brumbies!’ The mass of brown and bay bodies flashed through the scrub in a burst of moving legs and flying manes.

Elaine clapped her hands, thrilled. ‘You never told me there were wild horses here.’

‘I suppose I’m just used to seeing them about. Heaven knows there’re plenty of them.’

‘And they just run wild and free? That’s nice.’

‘Only because wildlife’s protected here,’ Connor said. ‘Some of the stations trap them, and sell them for pet meat.’

‘That’s horrible,’ Elaine cried.

‘It’s economics,’ he said. ‘They’re a pest. They foul the waterholes, break fencing, eat feed – there’re thousands of them. The graziers have to protect their livelihood.’

‘Well, I wish you hadn’t told me. How come they’re here, anyway?’ Elaine asked.

‘Binboona used to be station country and it was all open range back then. No fences. So the stock – all the stock – cattle, buffalo, brumbies, wild pigs, spread right across the north. They—’

‘Oh, look,’ Elaine interrupted him. ‘Emus! Four, five – no, seven . . .’ She twisted in her seat. ‘Oh, I wish I’d brought a camera. Why didn’t I think of that?’

Binboona, Tilly thought, was really turning it on for her mother. She nudged her, nodding ahead. ‘Hang on now. This creek is a bit rough. Don’t bounce or you’ll hit your head.’

At the coast they found the same tamarind tree as before. Connor boiled the billy in its shade, and they ate some of the cake Elaine had packed with their cuppa.

‘So where’s the sea?’ she asked.

‘Just a bit further on. We’ll drive along the coast track,’ Connor said, ‘and see what we can see. The Gulf is pretty flat, so it’s not very spectacular. Not like the WA coast with its big tides. Still, the trawlers work it. Tilly said your husband was a fisherman?’

‘Yes. Cold water though, and a lot of bad gales. Not an easy life.’

‘No,’ he agreed. ‘So many occupations aren’t. Everybody finished? Shall we then?’

They started off again, driving slowly, with Connor pointing out the first glimpse of blue to Elaine. He was looking, Tilly knew, for Matt’s tracks from the previous day. She kept a sharp eye out and was first to spot the flattened area of coarse grass where a vehicle had turned around.

‘Somewhere here,’ she said, meeting his eye. She jerked her chin just as he trod on the brake, exclaiming as he did so.

‘What is it?’ Elaine asked.