The Perfect Swimming Spot

Chapter 2

The girls gasped and Alyssa screamed for his name. A moment later his head burst through the water, rubbing his hands from his forehead down the back of his hair.

"It's fricken beautiful. No crocs either, sure I'd be dead by now if I had missed one." David grinned up at them.

The rest of the group smiled and laughed along with David. Alyssa however, appeared upset. She had called David a dick head for scaring her like that and then proceeded to walk across the wall also. When she got to where David had jumped, she took a big deep breath and aimed to jump on him. He was quick to move before she had landed on him.

"Gotta be quicker than that if a croc tries to get you." She joked to David and then made her arms out to resemble crocodile jaws and started chasing after him, to grasp him with her arm-jaws.

One by one, Ryan, Lexie and Tristan had all jumped into the middle of the small deep pool which the weir had created over time.

Tristan chose to only jump in for a minute to cool off before getting straight out. He was less comfortable with the idea of swimming here than Alyssa was. Tristan was just less verbally expressive about how it made him feel. He confessed he wasn't in the mood for swimming and grabbed Ryan's car keys in order to start setting up camp. Lexie added that she wouldn't mind following suit and setting up before it got too dark. They had the following day to spend in the swimming hole before heading back to town. Lexie also wanted to explore the surrounding tracks to see if any of David's story was true.

Once they had set up camp for the evening, they decided to go exploring before the sun started to set. They followed what looked like an old path which started through the trees to the left of their camp. As they walked, Tristan marked their way with bright red tags and broken branches.

Tristan was always bush savvy. He carried a compass and flint whenever he set out for a walk, ensured he had enough water and steriliser tablets and never forgot the bug spray or first aid kit. The tree marking was something he had learnt from his dad while out exploring unmarked tracks. His dad used to help the rangers keep crocodile numbers down around the local water ways. That was before the practice was completely outlawed. His dad passed down all the knowledge he had learnt from those early days. Living so far inland from any major town meant survival skills were crucial; or at least that's how Tristan's dad use to relay it.

The group wandered down the path they had chose for about ten minutes before they reached another clearing. This one was slightly bigger than where they were camped and on the opposite side of the shallow creek, was another clearing.

Both Lexie and Ryan noticed worn down stone columns inline with each other on opposite ends of the creek bank.

"Think they had a bridge connecting the two sides. I'm guessing this is the settlement you were told about David." Lexie pointed out.

"Was probably a wooden bridge at one stage. Unless the stone just wasn't as well made as the weir." Ryan added while observing the ruins.

"We should walk across to the other side once we're done here." Suggested David.

"Nah, I'm not in the mood to stumble over rocks if it gets too dark before we cross back." Alyssa declared.

"Let's just explore this side first, there seems to only be small portions of the buildings remaining." Tristan added, much to Alyssa's relief.

There wasn't much to find among the stone foundations and the three-foot walls that remained here and there. The buildings were never built to withstand the cyclones that would've greatly affected the settlements occupants.

"Were you given any background about this place from the guy you met?" Lexie curiously asked as they scoured the ground for coins and old trinkets from an era long gone.

"No, not really. He didn't say much about the history. Only that they couldn't withstand the weather and floods, being so close to the creek bed." David recalled.

"The maps had the name of the creek on it. I think it was a local name. Can't remember exactly, but it was something like Wara Kinga Creek." Ryan shared.

The group discussed the tales they hard of mining settlements as well as loggers, yet none of them had heard of the one they were walking through.

Usually when they've visited similar places, they've been apart of Parks and Recreation services and have provided maps with locations all around their area. No marker was on this particular place and only the creek was named on phone maps. This place was either lost to time and history or completely forgotten about. The possibility was always there that it could simply be apart of someone's property or station, and they just don't monitor tress passers.

As Lexie and Alyssa were nearing the end of the settlement on the side of the creek, they noticed what appeared to be a tent. The tent was on the other side and just passed the other clearing, almost obscured by bushes.

The girls took that as their cue to grab the guys and walk back to their camp. Having not seen anyone's car parked had made them wonder who would be staying out in the wilderness, so far from civilisation and without any near by transport. From satellite view, the road that led them to their location was the only access point.