“Sounds like a good deal,” said Luke. “Have you seen some of their prices?”
“Art as good as this isn’t usually done for a student’s budget,” said Lucy.
We wandered back outside. Adam was already out there, and had joined in a game of kick-to-kick with some of the local kids, kicking an oval-shaped Australian football backwards and forwards between two groups. He had the height and skills to ‘mark’ (catch) the ball easily above the kids, but they were finding other ways to push him out of the contest, laughing as they ducked and weaved around him, and they were all having a great time.
“Adam’s trying to pick up some of the local vibe,” said Luke. “One of the big stars in the Australian Football League has got family from here.”
We rounded up sweaty Adam, and jumped back in the car for the drive back across the river.
Ubirr lived up to expectations. We walked past ancient, towering rock walls and to several well protected galleries of Aboriginal rock art, telling ancient stories and also of more recent events such as the European colonisation. One of the paintings showed a Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, which apparently became extinct more than two thousand years ago in the Australian mainland. Generation upon countless generations of locals had sheltered under these walls.
We got up to the top soon before sunset, and we were greeted by a stunning view across vast floodplains, which were still mostly dry, but with birds flocking near a pool of water nearby. Some thunderstorms were broiling in the middle distance, flashing continuously with thunder grumbling across the scene. I stood, awestruck, while some of my companions/lovers took photo after photo of the beauty in front of us.
After a bit, I heard some faint sounds from behind us. Tim had wandered away from the main group and the other tourists, and was kneeling in the shadows of a boulder, tuning his violin. He stood up, and began to play — at first, it seemed like random, choppy phrases, chasing the echoes of the thunder from across the plains in a musical call and response. Eyes closed, he slowly morphed it into something more organised, and I recognised some of the themes from ‘Summer’, part of the Vivaldi that he and Lucy had played the other night, but played much slower and soulfully. It was perfect. He finished with a long, drawn-out note, which blended into a much closer clap of thunder from one of the storms, and came back to us, smiling faintly. Lucy reached for his hand, and clasped it as we all turned to watch the last of the sunset, and then walk together in the twilight back to the car.
Our next place to stay was in the town of Jabiru, in a hotel shaped like an enormous crocodile. We were definitely pushing the budget with this one, but the concept was irresistible, and we figured we would make up for it with economies during the rest of our stay. We hadn’t discussed the nature of the booking though.
“Two rooms of three each,” said Lucy as she came back from checking us in, and looked at us expectantly.
“So…” I said.
“So…” mused Adam. “Um…”
“Do we want boring, or are we going to rock our worlds?” said Nadia.
“What do you suggest?” asked Luke.
“Six names in a hat. First three to the first room, next three to the second. Any activities consensual as always. Protests will be carefully considered after the drawing of the names.”
I quickly thought it through. The odds were overwhelmingly in favour of getting mixed sexes in each room. We were all on good terms, and we’d all now been intimate with at least one other person. This was (probably) not going to destroy the trip.
“I’m in.” I said.
The others also quickly agreed, having made similar calculations.
Nadia wrote six names on torn up pieces of paper, and then borrowed my hat. She held the hat above her head, and asked Adam to draw the first three names at random.
“Nadia, Luke, Tim,” he announced. Nadia smiled, and the two guys named looked at each other and carefully nodded.
That left Adam, Lucy and me to share the other room. Nobody seemed inclined to protest, although for most of us I think we were on new territory. Which was the point, I suppose.
We organised our things, then met for another bistro dinner. I had a crocodile burger this time, which to be honest was nothing special. We chatted and sipped our drinks for a while afterwards, and then it was Nadia once again who made the move. She walked over to Luke, took his hand, and then brought him across to Tim, who took her other hand.
“Ten o’clock tomorrow?” she asked Lucy, who nodded, smiling, and then they were gone.
“That girl’s got stamina,” said Adam, ruefully, and Lucy and I looked at him and giggled.
We walked to our room, closed the curtains and put the air conditioning. It was a decent size, with a good bathroom and shower, a big double bed and a single.
We looked at each other awkwardly. Then Adam said “Well, for starters, I know I need a shower. Would you mind if I went first?”
Clever man. He was giving us girls time to talk.
When he was safely out of earshot, I took the bull by the horns. “Lucy, what are you comfortable with us between us? I don’t really have any experience with girls, but I’m open to learn, and I would be glad to do that with you.”
“I’m a bit the same, Ciara. I had a bit of an encounter last year, and it wasn’t horrible, but we were both drunk and it wasn’t memorable either.”
I nodded, relieved. We were on the same page. There was another issue to consider as well though. “Adam’s a big strong lad, but I’m not sure of his endurance tonight after Nadia had her wicked way with him. Should we take the lead?
She smiled. “Sure. Just remember: communication, communication, communication. We should be ok.”
Adam came out of the shower soon after that, towel wrapped around his waist and looking (and smelling) much better.
Lucy stood up, taking both my hands. “C’mon, we need to get clean too.” She raised my hands further above my head, and then lifted my t-shirt off, throwing it into the corner and then keeping my hands raised.
“Adam, honey, could you please help me with Ciara’s bra? I can’t seem to work it out.”
Adam grinned, and walked over to do the deed, which he accomplished with minimal fumbling. My boobs tumbled free, to appreciative murmurs from the others.
“Adam?” I said, hamming it up. “Could you please restrain Lucy by tightly holding her around the waist from behind? I’m afraid that she might be about to suffer some female hysteria.”
He laughed, and grabbed her, while I whipped off her shirt, and then unbuttoned and pulled down her shorts for good measure, leaving her in knickers and bra. I started tickling her under armpits and down her sides, while she writhed and shrieked in Adam’s arms, trying to bat me away. When she was reduced to giggles, I drew her knickers down, revealing a well-trimmed dark landing strip. I kissed her gently on her mons, and then her mouth.
“Now, if you please, Adam, the bra?”
Once again, he passed the unfastening test, but as soon as he’d done that, Lucy launched herself at me, pushing me back on the bed to sit on my tummy.