Hunter Vettori, a thirteen year old boy with a dream of catching a record breaking Mulloway. The first issue presented in Jetty Rats is family. When Hunter was eight years old his father was swept out to sea while fishing on the rocks. He had broken the golden rule of rock hopping: "Thou Shalt Not Fish On Your Own". Hunter was so certain his father would return that after the accident he would "... wait for him. Sit underneath the VACENCY sign until mum tells me to come inside. The next day and the next day and the next day, I wait for him.
He didn't accept the fact that his father was gone forever until the end of the story when he decided to throw out his father's rusty old razor and said "Bloody extraterrestrials. MustVe done him ages ago. " G
...wynne has included this issue in the story in a very realistic way. He explained the pain and hardships Hunter and his mother went through during the tough years, which made the story easier to relate to for selected adolescents. Gwynne has also expressed the importance of families sticking together through tough times.
The second issue presented in the story is friendship. Hunter and his friends are all very different from each other in the strangest ways. Theyre the group in Dogleg Bay called the 'Jetty Rats'. The 'Jetty Rats' consists of four members: Hunter's mate Miracle, "Jasmine and Storm (the twin girls who Hunter calls 'The Photocopies') and Hunter. As Hunter points out on a number of occasions, theyre "... Just happen to be a bunch of kids who hang around
the Jetty. " Hunter also becomes friends with another boy known and 'The Skullster'.
The Skullster is the 'rich geeky kid up the road' who helped Hunter open the dam and let ll the fresh water into the Dogleg Bay. Hunter became friends' with the Skullster after he striked a deal with him. The deal was that Hunter had to "come to (Skullster's house) every now and then, pretend to be (Skullster's) friend and eat the filthy food (Skullster's mother cooks). " He accepted and the two of them ended becoming friends after all. The first rite of passage presented in this novel is first kiss. This is an important and exciting moment in a teenage boys life as it is his first real opportunity to physically
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