A little whisper in the dark

Take it easy

I drove this road last night (my favourite section in this area bar none). Its a lovely winding bit of road that covers the north western mountains backed up against Brisbane city.

The road is straight out of the Japanese anime/manga/movie Initial-D, with tight second gear turns, steep left-right bends and the guardrails bearing mute witness to the multitude of wannabe racers that come here on weekend nights for their "runs".

Having the self-imposed mission of showing Shuxian (who thinks that Brisbane is a boring place) around, I reckoned that the mountains would be a nice place to perhaps spot a few shooting stars, and look back down on the north side of the city. The bonus is the aforementioned road, which is always fun to go through, whether you've got a 300 horsepower sports car, or a 50 horsepower sh!tbox (mine).

The previous misadventures, both with the MX-5 episode (see earlier entries) and the recent accident when my friend got mowed down by an out of control car (see previous) weighed on my mind, plus having Shuxian on board.

Now I've never driven any twisty windy road slowly if I could drive it fast, but for the first time I did, and I gradually discovered that it wasn't that bad, and in fact I rather enjoyed the less stressful experience.

The kilometres melted away under the tires, the curves were smooth, conversation came easily and Jolly's Lookout arrived before I knew it (I actually missed it). Australia's probably too poor to provide even a few small lamps to light up their facilities, (which made me wonder where the money the hordes of overseas students bring with them went) and yeah, it was pretty much pitch dark. I am kicking myself for not bringing a torchlight, and wonder belatedly if Shuxian is having doubts about me bringing her to a dark deserted place.

But well, one can't control what someone else thinks, just like I can't control the night itself - the sky's too bright (moon was up) and it was a cold night (it hit 12 deg C later that night). Coupled with the chill factor, we didn't stay as long. The car's turned out to be an altogether more comfortable place, she liked the warmth from the air conditioning, the engine liked the cold frosty air, and I didn't want for anything more, both in car or company.

I'd like to do that again soon. Maybe I should check the moon phase and weather forecast beforehand this time, though.

posted by Chung Leong @ 4:57 PM