The ferry docks at Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island and Danger, Mike, and I disembark down the gangway to be picked up by the chauffeured car that the driver is now driving off the ferry. Mike ushers us along and we walk up a slight hill before sliding into the car and driving off toward a nice looking pub for breakfast.

I’m excited because it doesn’t look like there are many visitors over here. The ferry was almost empty, so it’ll be great to be able to have breakfast in a pub and not have to be worried about being recognised. Danger takes my hand as we step out of the car and walk into the hotel. There’s no one here except for the staff who are smiling so brightly it makes me want to smile in return.

“Everyone seems so happy here,” I whisper.

“I know, there must be something in the water,” he says and I giggle as we take a seat at a free table.

A waitress takes our orders and we eat a beautifully cooked breakfast overlooking the crisp, clear and sparkling ocean which is looking back at the coastline of Australia. It really is gorgeous. We talk, and it seems so effortless, like we’ve been together for a lifetime. I’m having a great time and we’ve only been on this day-long date for a few hours.

We finish up our breakfast by grabbing two large coffees to go, and we head back to the car ready to take a drive to Stokes Bay. Apparently it has a wildlife park that Danger wants to visit so we can see all the Australiana animals that I’ve been dying to see while being here in Oz. We talk casually in the back seat of the car for the hour and forty-five minute drive to Stokes Bay.

The wildlife park is called Emu Estate, but it has heaps of other wildlife, not just emus. I look through the brochures I picked up on the ferry and I’m getting so excited about holding a Koala. It’s one of the many things on my bucket list, so I honestly can’t wait.

We finally pull up at Emu Estate and Mike and the driver are laughing and having a good time. It’s so relaxed and there’s hardly any people, and if we do see anyone they don’t seem to recognise us or if they do they’re leaving us alone. I take Danger’s hand as we get out of the car. I wore my flats and jeans today, not my usual girly high heels and dresses. And for once I’m glad because even though this is a well looked after establishment, it is still dirt paths and I can see I’m going to get dirty. But I don’t mind, as long as I get to cuddle animals I’m happy. I smile as we walk through the gates and down toward the entry.

“You look so excited,” Danger says.

“I am, I’m so happy you brought me here.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “We haven’t even gotten through the gate yet.”

“I know, but I know this is going to be a great day. Thank you.” I lean up on my toes and kiss his cheek.

“That’s all I want for you, sugar,” he says and tightens his grip on my hand.

We walk through the gate and into the park which is very open and spacious. The ground is covered in grass and as we walk through a gate, I’m greeted by a swarm of free roaming kangaroos, ducks and an array of animals all roaming around together. I laugh as they slowly hop, walk and waddle over to us. When a small kangaroo hops over to me, I slowly reach out and pat his head.

“Oh my God, Danger, I’m touching a kangaroo!”

“This is kind of cool,” he says.

A man wearing a Christmas sweater, even though it’s nowhere near Christmas, makes his way toward us. He has grey hair shooting up all over the place, and kind of has a crazy homeless look about him. I look at Danger and giggle.

“G’day folks, welcome to Emu Estate. You want a full tour or are you happy to roam around?” he asks with a full-on Aussie accent.

I look at Danger and shrug.

“Umm…the tour, I guess?” Danger replies and the man smiles and throws his hands in the air in celebration.

“Yes,” he accentuates the word. “Two willing subjects. Come with me young lovers. Where you kids from?” he asks as he starts to walk off. We follow the guide through a gate and into another area.

“I’m from California,” Danger says.

“Oh, a Yankee Doodle Dandie. You too, Sheila?” he asks.

I raise an eyebrow at Danger wondering what on earth he’s talking about. “Umm…I’m from Oxfordshire in England.”

“Right, a Pommie Bird. Excellent. You guys love the koalas, right?” I nod. “Right, well, the name’s Johnno, and I’ll be your guide for today. Make sure you keep inside the white lines, don’t pat the Dingos they bite, same with the Tasmanian Devils. Little bastards will tear your finger right off.”

I open my eyes wide open. “Do they roam free like the kangaroos?” I ask and Johnno laughs.

“Of course Sheila, all our animals roam free,” he says and I tense up in Danger’s grip.

Johnno laughs and shakes his head. “I’m just messing with ya. We don’t have any Dingos or Tassie Devils but watch out for the sheep. Don’t bend over or they might ram your arse,” he says and I burst out laughing and so does Danger.

“Seriously?” I ask and Johnno nods.

“Yep, that one I’m not kidding about,” he says. I look at Danger with a smirk. I think today is going to be fun!

“Righto, let’s go visit, Tanya,” he says.

“Who’s Tanya?” I ask.

“You’ll see,” Johnno says as we walk through a gate and into a paddock where there are more kangaroos roaming around, but these ones are bigger. There’s also emus and more ducks, and now some sheep, geese and peacocks. There are so many animals, all happily roaming around the green paddock it’s exciting to watch.

“Tanya!” Johnno calls out loudly.

I start to giggle and Johnno looks at me and smirks. “Right, you!” He points right at me and then to a bench. “Sit down, love.” I look at Danger and shrug. He smirks and let’s go of my hand. So I take a seat on the bench while Danger stands watching Johnno as he continues to call out to Tanya.

“What’s your name, love?” Johnno asks.

“Ella.”

“And you?”

“Danger.”

Johnno smirks and nods. “Right, nice name, won’t ask,” he says and then calls out to Tanya again really loudly this time. He walks over to a cupboard and pulls out what looks like a beer bottle with a teat on it like a baby bottle. I furrow my brows and chuckle at all this weirdness when I hear booming thunder behind me.

“Oh, here she comes. Come on Tanya, we’re waiting for you girl,” he calls out. I turn around to see a massive kangaroo jumping toward me. I freeze to the spot wondering if she’s going to actually jump on me or something.

“Danger, you might want to get a camera out if you have one mate,” Johnno says. Danger smirks and pulls his phone from his pocket as Tanya jumps up to Johnno and greets him like she’s madly in love with him. It’s brilliant.

“Right, Ella, love, hands out like you’re going to hold a baby,” he says and I furrow my brows and place my hands out. Johnno then picks up this kangaroo and places her in my arms like a baby.

“Oh my God,” I say as she’s so heavy. Luckily I’m sitting down and I can rest her on my knees. Danger cracks up laughing and starts taking photos.

“Right, give me your hand,” Johnno says.

I bring my hand up and he gives me the beer bottle, then Tanya starts to drink from it and I’m actually holding a kangaroo and feeding her like a baby. This is ridiculous, but so amazing and hysterically funny all at the same time.

“Oh my God, Ella, you should see your face!” Danger says as he continues to take photo after photo with his phone.

“This is crazy. Johnno, you’re crazy. Kangaroos don’t do this, do they? Is she real?” I ask as I pat her soft fur.

“Yeah mate, she’s real. She was hand raised, so she’s used to human contact. She loves it and would do anything for her bottle,” he says and comes over patting Tanya on her stomach.

This is unbelievable, I’m so excited right now.

“Danger, come pat her,” I say and he smiles and looks to Johnno for permission.

“Yeah, go on mate, she won’t hurt you,” he tells Danger, so he walks across and pats Tanya’s belly as she looks like she’s going into a drinking coma from her milk.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” I whisper.

“My pleasure, sugar.”

“Right, let’s move along,” Johnno says, but everything in me wants to stay with Tanya. Then I think there must be more to see because so far it’s been amazing. Johnno comes over and takes the bottle away and grabs Tanya. He places her on the ground gently and then she bounces away happy to have had her feed for the morning.

“Next stop, Emuville,” Johnno says.

I smile as Danger grimaces and grabs my hand tightly. I look at him as we follow Johnno through to the next paddock. “You okay?” I ask and he nods.

“Yeah, just those emu things are kinda freaky, don’t you think? They look prehistoric, and dinosaurs are kinda, well, evil right?”

“Danger, are you scared of the emu’s?”

“What, no, just…cautious of them that’s all,” he replies.

We walk into a fenced-off area where there are heaps of Emus. Danger tenses up which, in turn, makes me a little tense. The birds are big and majestic looking, but I must admit their feet look like they could cause some serious damage and their beaks look like they could definitely hurt if they pecked at you. So now I’m feeling a little on edge too.

“Oh, don’t worry love birds. These guys won’t hurt you, not at all,” Johnno says. “Here, have some food and feed them, they’ll love you forever.” He hands us each a bucket full of seed and the emus flock to us. Then they start to frantically take the seed from the buckets. It’s like a feeding frenzy. I start to laugh as I’m having trouble holding the bucket and Danger is looking more and more terrified by the second. He throws his bucket and stands to the side, which makes me laugh. I watch him as he slowly backs away from all the emus.

“Danger they’re not that bad,” I call out and he shakes his head.

“They’re savages!” he yells and I laugh as they keep attacking the food bucket.

Johnno comes over and takes the bucket away from me, and saves me from having my arms ripped off by the force of the birds trying to take the bucket away from me. I’m thankful for that, but it was fun.

“I want to conduct a little experiment. Danger, you happy to be my test subject?” Johnno asks and Danger looks at me with an expression I can’t read.

“Yeah, okay, what do I have to do?” he asks.

Johnno grabs Danger and pulls him away from me and stands him up against a tall iron fence as the emus walk all around us.

“Just stand at the fence, I want to see what the emus do when I do this,” he says and then grabs some of the seed and places it on Danger’s head. Danger frowns and nods like he knows he’s the butt of the joke and goes to wipe the seed off when two emus from the other side of the fence reach over the top and start pecking at his head to get the seed. I laugh so hard as Danger screams like a little girl. We were concentrating so hard on the emus around us in this yard we had no idea they were also in the next one. Danger is jumping around trying to get the seed off of his head and cursing at the same time. I can’t stop laughing at the scream he let out at the Emu’s pecking at his head. Johnno is laughing too, and I actually have tears streaming from my eyes.

“Thanks for the support, Ella, those birds are terrorists!” he says swiping his head and shaking his body like he’s disgusted. I walk up to him and wrap my arms around his neck as he frowns and pouts like a girl.

“That was not fun,” he sulks.

“That was so much fun,” I say. “And I have it all here recorded on my phone for you to watch later.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he says wrapping his arms around my waist.

“I really am. This is amazing.” He leans in kissing me strongly.

“Okay guys, let’s go hold a koala, shall we?” Johnno asks breaking our kiss.

I jump up and down on the spot. “Oh my God, yes!” I reply and Danger takes my hand again and we race off after Johnno and continue our tour.

 

***

 

After we finished up the most fun I’ve had in a long time at Emu Estate, Danger took me for lunch at a wine centre. We polished off a really nice bottle of wine and ate some fantastic food. This date couldn’t be any better. He has outdone himself so far. After lunch, we drove down to a beach. To get there, we had to walk through some rocks which the locals told us are haunted. Danger was quite excited about that, but we didn’t see any ghostly apparitions as we squeezed through the rocks to get to the beach.

When we arrived at the location, it was full of pebbles which were quite rough and jagged, with mountainous boulders scattered around. But once we walked through the craggy cliffs and got through to the other side, the beach was pristine and secluded, surrounded by rugged cliffs. The sand was pure white and there was not a blemish anywhere and deep blue water was crystal clear.

“Oh, wow! Danger, this place is breathtaking,” I say as we glance upon the beach in all its immaculate beauty.

“I know. I heard it was awesome, but I thought when I saw the beach on the other side of the rocks, I never imagined it could look this flawless on this side. Even I’m awestruck,” he says. I walk to the left and see a little section of rock pools with tiny fish and starfish.

“Danger, look,” I say as he looks down and we both smile and shake our heads at the clarity of the luminous, sparkling water. It truly is marvelous. No wonder people say this place is a little piece of paradise.

“C’mon, let’s go and sit down for a while,” he says. I smile as Mike and the chauffeur walks off in the other direction leaving Danger and me to simply be with each other. We slip off our shoes and walk hand-in-hand along the white sand until we find a nice spot to sit down. The day has faded quickly because we spent so long at Emu Estate, and now the sun is setting. We won’t be able to stay here for too long because the tide is coming in, but Danger places his arm around my shoulders and I wrap my arm around his waist and cuddle into him. I place my legs over his and cuddle into him completely. There’s a chill in the air, and being close to him is just what I need. He’s proving to me today, that without a shadow of a doubt, he’s trying to be different for me.

“So, have you enjoyed your day, sugar?” he asks breaking the silence of the peaceful moment.

“Oh, so much. You have no idea how perfect today has been for me, Danger,” I say and look up at him.

“You know I want to be better for you, right?” I nod and smile. “I’m trying, and I think I need to tell you a little more about myself so you know I’m really trying.”

I sit up straighter because this is what I’ve been waiting for. I want Danger to open up and talk to me more about himself, but after the way he treated me when I asked about his name I’ve never tried again.

“I’d love to know whatever you’re willing to tell me,” I say.

“Okay, well here goes. My parents, they’re not your typical type of people. They’re very out there, flamboyant. They laugh at everything and think the world and everything in it is a joke. They look at themselves as hippies and they think everything should make people laugh.”

I furrow my brows wondering what’s so bad about that.

“So, you see when I was born they thought it was hilarious that I was delivered on April first, on April Fools’ Day. So every year my birthday is a joke to them,” he says and I bite my lip and nod.

“I can see how that would suck.”

He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “That’s not the worst part, though, sugar,” he says and runs his hand through his hair. “They thought it would be funny to name me Dwayne.”

“Well, what’s wrong with Dwayne? That’s a nice name, thank you for finally telling me your name by the way that means a lot to me.”

“I know, but wait till you hear the rest. My last name is Pipe,” he says and it takes a second before it clicks.

“Dwayne Pipe – like as in drain pipe?” I say trying to hide my smirk. I’m not sure if he's serious or not, and I can’t hold back my laugh.