Gone Troppo: John O'Grady

What does a Territory cattleman do when there's a drought and no work and he has a girl in Sydney who disturbs his dreamin' day AND night? Well, it's simple. Settle down in Sydney until the drought breaks. Trouble is, Nita wants to pin Bill down to the city life and Bill dislikes cities almost as much as he dislikes Nita's Mum, who has blue hair and a small dog. While drowning his troubles in a Sydney pub, Bill meets a character called Whiskers who tells him about the Whitsunday Islands, where there are no droughts, plenty of blondes and no Dachshunds. So a few weeks later Bill finds himself on South Molle Island with Whiskers, the Skipper, Cockroach and a few other mates, including a girl called Red who soon replaces Nita in his dreams. Bill's first go at island life and seamanship is full of strife but he soon adapts and with Red almost snared the future is looking good. But who should arrive on the island with her blue-rinse mum? That's right - Nita, intent on capturing Bill.