Let's Off-Road

Now according to The Fast Show, which some of you, or less, may not remember, or not, "Off-Road" is in fact a verb. As in "Let's Off-Road" rather than "Let's Drive Our Four By Four [or potentially Four-Be-Four for those amongst us who insist on talking like carpenters] In A Wilderness Setting."

Will has a four by four. At college each year they hold an exhibition for which needless to say there are deadlines. And one of them approacheth. Will did not have anything that he wished to exhibit, but wished to have something that he would.

As a consequence of this and his general lack of solo success he suggested we drive his four-by-four (not four-be-four) in a wilderness setting so as to get some landscapes for to show off.

As the Rim's my thing at the moment, I suggested some RImming, and he knew of a couple of roads-less-travelled that we could travel winding up in a Gorge whose name neither of us could remember.

We toddled off in the afternoon, diverting as we saw fit to hunt craggy peaks down with mixed success.

The first inviting crag we attempted to corner was protected by a Conference Centre of all things, with a security hut and all, but the conservation park at the end of that road was replete with a different crag, in fact a whole rampart of them, and could serve as a future location for surreptitious dog-walking.

As we drove past Maroon Dam, we discovered that it was absolutely dead-tree-tastic. Now remember the funny Aussie thing with the word Dam? There's another funny Aussie thing with the word Maroon. Now you and I (unless you're an Aussie) would pronounce it as though it rhymed with Goon. The Aussies, would you Adam and Eve it, pronounce it as though it rhymes with Bone.

Amazing to have two such little-known Australianisms wrapped up in one body of water, with all those dead trees too.

Anyhow as we "On-Roaded" down the road it turned into a gravel road which wended its way down a rather nice valley with craggy peaks on one side and uncraggy ones on the other.

An entertaining tree presented itself amongst the intermittent cattle for which we stopped a while, and then further up the side of the valley some entertaining but Aged bucolic structure of eternal and intractable loneliness.

Eventually we realised that Will was lost and retraced our tracks to find himself once more and a little more eventually we found ourselves "Off-Roading" in the failing evening light down Cambanoora Gorge, which would have been lovely I'm sure if only we could have seen it.