One afternoon there was nothing but white-capped sea and a sky swept clean by the wind and as blue as a balloon. The next morning when they marched along the corridor and climbed the companionway to physical jerks there it was: a stretch of dull khaki in the distance, like the land had been painted with camouflage colours too.The air smelled of warmth and soil, not just the tinny tang of sea.None of the children and few of the adults on board knew which route the ship was taking, or when they would land, or even what part of Australia this was. ‘Loose lips sink ships’ the posters stated. What you didn’t know a German spy couldn’t find out. Were they looking at the pointy bit at the top, or one of the big curved sides? It wouldn’t be the big flat bit in the middle of the bottom edge called the Nullarbor Plain, thought Georg, as the encyclopaedia had said that was desert.Now, at least, the portholes could be opened. Fresh air gusted into stale cabins. At night, thin beads of light could shine onto the blackness of the sea — they were so far from Europe that there was no longer any need to hide from enemy bombers or U-boats.Day after day they waited for the ship to head in to port.
