Belinda and the Holidays It Rained — Margaret Pearce

The school holidays have a bad start. Belinda's father doesn't arrive home and it is raining. The news is that his car went over the cliff into the surf beach, but there is no body. Belinda, her mother and Kate stay at Amanda's family beach house to be near where the car went over. Belinda thinks that her father maybe got washed up further up the coastline and perhaps could be sick or ill somewhere in the back country. The girls discover how unusual their three kittens are. When held, all animal speech can be understood. So with the help of the kittens the three girls spend their wet school holidays searching. There is a helpful dog, grouchy possums and a dopey old horse involved before Belinda's father is found at last.