The Wildlife Games by Bindi Irwin Read Free Book Online

in five different-coloured bowls. This food is not a snack for you.’ She gave a pointed look to Declan, who looked sheepish. ‘The bowls of food are for five different species that we feed at the zoo. Your job is to work out which bowl of food goes to which animal.’
    One of the film crew handed out pieces of paper and pens to the contestants.
    â€˜You will write down the animal or animals you think each coloured bowl will go to. You cannot discuss your answers with the other contestants. The food is fresh and if you wish totaste it to help make up your mind, it is fine to do so.’
    She produced an old-fashioned hourglass egg timer from her chef’s apron. ‘You have three minutes starting . . . now!’ She put the egg timer (which she’d borrowed from Josie) on the table, and watched the sand begin to trickle into the bottom of the hourglass. It was quite relaxing to watch.
    In fact, it was much more relaxing than watching the panicked expressions of the four contestants as they scrambled to work out the answers to the challenge in the allotted time!

EXACTLY THREE MINUTES LATER, Bindi called a stop to the second challenge. ‘And pens down!’
    â€˜Uggh. I just had a flashback to my last maths test,’ Anastasia shivered.
    Mimi was looking quietly confident. She’d been brave enough to stick her finger into some ofthe concoctions and felt she was in with a good chance.
    Jason was also pretty sure he’d done well because Jason generally believed he did everything well.
    Declan, on the other hand, was sweating. His hunger had made it hard to concentrate. He kept imagining a packet of salt and vinegar chips and a big carton of chocolate milk (or maybe a choco-caramel milk), and had to keep dragging his mind and tastebuds back to the task. He’d taken rough guesses, and didn’t rate his chances of winning this one too highly.
    Anastasia had screwed her nose up at most of the food, and had scribbled her answers down quickly. She’d finished in two minutes and 22 seconds and had spent the remaining 38 seconds reapplyingher mascara. She was still annoyed at not winning the binturong challenge. She rang her mother to ask why they had an animal encyclopedia that did not include the binturong. It was outrageous! Her mother promised to ring up the publishers and complain, which made them both feel better.
    Bindi took the pieces of paper to check, and the contestants went off to have a nice human snack while she sorted through the answers.
    She’d enjoyed coming up with the food choices. Some were easier than others.
    1. Bamboo for the red pandas: easy.
    2. Hay with lucerne – DJ the rhino’s favourite food. The ponies would happily eat this too.
    3. A piece of cacti – Aldabran tortoise food: slightlytrickier.
    4. Eucalyptus tips for the koalas. They were fussy eaters, and were only interested in the newest and freshest tips: easy peasy.
    5. A delicious mushed-up puree of ants, termites and beetle larvae for the echidnas: kinda tricky and gross.
    She tallied up the answers and was surprised by the results. Challenge number two had an outright winner. Challenge number three was going to be interesting but before that, the contestants had a special event to attend.

    There was a media throng positioned at the African Savannah. Someone had tied an enormous red ribbon along the fence, and now they werewaiting for the official opening to begin.
    A couple of golf buggies turned up, with Bindi and the contestants in them. ‘Hi Mum. Hi Robert!’ Bindi ran over to her mum and Robert, giving them a hug.
    She turned to the contestants. ‘Anastasia, Declan, Mimi and Jason, this is my mum Terri and my brother Robert.’
    They all shook hands. Poor Mimi, who was almost used to Bindi now, got a new attack of nerves upon meeting Terri, but Terri soon put her at ease.
    Jason and Robert took all of 30 seconds to start talking about Australian