About the Author 

Storm Cornwell was born in Brisbane and every year her mum took her and her sisters on the train to Cairns, stopping at Eumundi to visit her great-uncle. Continuing on to Mackay, they visited their dad’s family who lived on sugarcane farms. Then their journey took them to Cairns where they stayed in the YMCA  facilities. The supervisors of a group of aboriginal children who also holidayed there, usually invited Storm’s family to come on day trips with them around the area.

These early years obviously hold very fond memories for Storm, and their influence is evident within her stories. Storm loved telling stories to children but her grasp of the English language was limited, so in later years she worked hard to teach herself to read and write proficiently. Eventually she bowed to the urging by friends to put them in writing. She gratefully accepted offers of help from her friends to compile and edit these stories. To those people, she extends her heartfelt thanks.

 

About this book;

‘Colourbow’ contains three of these stories. The first one sets the scene with Tia and Zac experiencing many different situations until they finally find themselves in this place called ‘Colourbow’. In the second story, The ‘Water-Rainbow’, the situation is virtually reversed and reversed again. The third one, The ‘World of ‘Lightflies’, takes another twist when one of their new friends requests a new dimensional wish.

With this book Storm hopes to bring a mix of fun and adventures and light fantasy to its readers. It is also her aim to bring awareness to the children of the abundance of beauty around us, as well as an appreciation for the wonderful animals with which we share the earth. In the book the animals talk and play with the children, which creates a fantasy. Most of the adventures could well be real, with lessons that can be learnt about life’s experiences. There is suspense, but virtually no violence involved, a change many parents hopefully will find refreshing. Although this world makes it difficult to achieve, Storm has endeavoured to allow children to be children, free from the worries of the adult world.

Another aim of the book is to encourage children to enjoy reading and expand their vocabulary by searching for the meaning of any words they do not understand. Because in English, many words we use have more than one meaning or shade of meaning, Storm has included a list of some of the perhaps lesser-known words, with the meaning applied in the book, at the end of each story for the studious readers. For the musically minded, a song and the music are also included with each story.

The Adventures of Tia and Zac

1: A Holiday with a Twist

Have you ever been with your family on a holiday where nothing really went as planned? You have! Well, you will enjoy going with this family on their holiday adventure that had many twists and turns, especially for the children. Why not put yourself in their places and imagine what you would have done had you been there? To help you do that, let the storyteller introduce the family. 

Michael and Tanya White were holidaying with their children, Tia and Zac, on the cane farm near Mackay, belonging to Michael’s parents. Isobel and Jack always enjoyed the company of their son Michael and his family.

Michael had inherited his dark brown eyes, black hair and olive complexion from his great-grandfather, a South Pacific islander. A kind-hearted, gentle, well-spoken man, he was a primary school teacher working in Brisbane. At thirty-nine, Michael was almost ten years older than his wife, Tania.

She was thin and stylish with neatly-trimmed honey-blonde hair and flashing green eyes. Since she was a successful freelance adventure-story writer, she carried her laptop computer everywhere in a leather case. Her mind was always alert to any story ideas that were worth filing away for future reference.

Tia was only seven, soon turning eight. She had gorgeous, deep-brown, piercing eyes that gave her face a lively spirited appearance. Long, curly black hair cascaded down the middle of her back. Possessing a friendly out-going personality, she was prone to get herself and her brother into a fix, relying on him to get them out of it.

Like the time when Michael had laid firecrackers out on the table and the children were told not to touch them.

Tia had the idea that if she only lit one sparkler, it would be okay. Not realising the danger, she waved the sparkler around near the crackers. A spark ignited the ‘tom thumbs’, starting a chain-reaction among them. Zac instinctively swept them off the table scattering them around the room, preventing a disaster.

Zac had only just turned ten. His eyebrows were long and arched like a raven’s wings. He sported a typically boyish brand of unruly brown hair and dimples appeared in his cheeks when he smiled. Unlike his sister, he was normally of a quiet nature. Softly spoken, he loyally supported his sister when her impulsiveness led them into sticky situations.

Nevertheless, anyone who knew them well spoke fondly of Tia and her brother, Zac. Unfortunately, their lives were about to be turned upside down by a series of extraordinary and disturbing events. They were about to embark on an adventure that even their mother would not have imagined.

Tania had inherited quite a sum of money after the death of her parents. This allowed her and Michael to spend much of their spare time enjoying their hobby, flying a Cessna Amphibian (a light seaplane). However, they always found plenty of time to spend with the children, bringing them up with loving care and attention.

It was a glorious sunny morning, so they left the children with their grandparents. Their plan was to fly along the coast of Queensland, hoping something would inspire an idea for her new novel. Michael loved to fly low, just above the water. Though she knew he was a very good pilot, Tania would always urge him to rise again to a safer level.

The couple enjoyed a wonderful morning at the Whitsundays, flying over the Hook, Hardy and Heart Reefs. They had splashed down near Whitehaven Beach for a swim in the sea, diving from the plane’s wings.

After dinner they took off and circled the islands once more before heading to Cairns where they were staying for the night. They had booked into their favourite hotel. This was the one with huge verandahs and hurricane lamps on all the tables, ensuring a romantic evening meal.

As Michael straightened the plane on its course, the sky was blue with a few puffy white clouds gathering on the horizon. Expecting a ‘dream’ flight, he sat back and relaxed. Tania looked down and saw children playing on the beach and thought fondly of Tia and Zac.

They had been flying for over an hour when something caught Michael’s attention; there was a menacing storm looming in front of them. Glancing down at the dials, he saw that they were going haywire. Something was terribly wrong. Tania noticed only the storm ahead and insisted that they try to land.

The previously clear sky darkened rapidly before them as thick storm clouds engulfed their vision and panic began to rise in them both. Frantically they used their radio to call for help. But as they began their ‘Mayday’ call, they were rocked and buffeted by turbulent conditions.

In the control tower where they had received the emergency alert, the SOS (Morse code) signal suddenly went dead. The radio controllers watched on helplessly as the plane vanished from their radar screens. It seemed to have disappeared somewhere over the Barrier Reef, between Townsville and Cairns.

Despite all their attempts to regain contact, the control tower received no further signals. The plane had gone down at sea! Emergency services had a large search area to ‘scale’.

The search and rescue teams scoured the seas for several days, looking for any sign of life or debris left floating in the water. That they would somehow find them safely washed up on a beach, was the silent prayer of the rescuers. After five days, debris (later confirmed as their plane) was found washed ashore.

Michael and Tania were now officially regarded as ‘missing persons’. The State Emergency Service continued looking for two weeks, although there was only a remote possibility of survival. No bodies were found so the search finally ended.

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