- After Karana wakes up from her long sleep on the beach, she feels different about the island. Looking around at the otter and the rocks and gulls, she's is suddenly really happy. She knows the island will be her home until the white men come back. She decides not to try to cross the sea again.
- Since Karana will be staying on the island, she decides to build herself a house and a place to store her food. But where will she build?
- Karana must choose between the headland and another spot a couple miles west.
- Karana chooses the headland since the area to the west is where the wild dogs live, and is home to the sea elephants.
- The male sea elephants are called bulls and the females are called cows. They're extremely loud and would make lousy neighbors.
- Karana also could have built her new home near the destroyed village, but decides not to because of all the memories there.
- After a few days of rain, she begins collecting poles for a fence to keep out the foxes, who happen to be pretty clever thieves. Karana is full of optimism: "It was a good day to begin my new home" (11.20).