Luke looked up. ‘Maybe they haven’t, except that it should go ahead. I mean, whoever builds it will need the same materials, and they’d likely want to get them in before the Wet. Graeme would tell them about that – how the roads close and the country shuts down for the duration. There’ll be another visitor too. Land Resources is sending a chiroptologist out once they contact him. Might take a few days, they said.’

‘And a chiro-whatsit would be . . .?’ Tilly asked.

‘A bat man. The bloke I spoke to sounded quite excited, so they’re not waiting on the photo – well, unless they can’t get hold of their fella before it turns up.’

‘Lotta bloody fuss over a flying mouse,’ Matt said. ‘Can’t see how it matters myself.’

‘You soon would if there weren’t any,’ Luke replied. ‘The insects’d carry us away, for starters. They’re great pollinators too, you know.’

‘Huh, that’s what we’ve got bees for.’

‘You can’t convert non-believers,’ Sophie said briskly. ‘Slide night again. Maybe you could include bats in your talk this evening, Luke?’

‘It’s an idea. Tilly and me, we’ll mostly be in the camp today. There are a couple of walks booked. I’ll do the gorge trail, and she can handle the other one.’

Trepidation seized Tilly. ‘I can?’

‘Course you can. I told those for the river walk a nine o’clock start. It’s simple. Stick to the trail. If there are kids, make ’em behave, and then just answer everybody’s questions. You can handle that. You know enough about the birds and vegetation now. And don’t forget to invite them to the slide show.’

‘Got it,’ Tilly said faintly. She had gone along and helped on previous walks, admiring the effortless way Luke had controlled the group. He had the attributes of a good sheepdog, she thought, keeping the stragglers up with the rest, and being polite but firm even with those who thought they knew better. And entertaining them to boot. ‘Right,’ she said, hoping she sounded confident, ‘so we’ll need our lunches then?’ A happy thought occurred to her. Connor might be free; if he was, she could ask him to join the group. It was enough to put a smile on her face as she pulled out the bread to begin making sandwiches.