But after a few seconds, it looked as thought the smoke was subsiding, and we approached, cautiously, to survey the situation. The smoke seemed to be coming from a point behind the transfer case.

I looked into the car. Then back underneath. Then back into the car again.

“Hey Glen?” I asked quizzically.

“Yeah”

“You were driving, right?”

“Yeah”

He was, this he could not deny.

“And did you, by any chance, release the emergency brake before you started?”

“I don’t know,” he said a little bashfully.

“Well I’m willing to bet not, because it’s on now!”

Whew! Problem diagnosed, and another disaster averted. Human error, it would seem, played a large role in all of our little debacles.

“Well,” Glen was saying, “we’ll just let this cool down then, and in the mean time, its lunch!”

With bellies full, and Land Rover no longer in a state of firestorm, we drew back to base camp in Laura, and to the comforting coolness of the pool. We would relax here for a while, we agreed, then head over to Split Rock for more Aboriginal art.

Split rock was decidedly more fascinating than Giant Horse, as its main focus was a gigantic boulder split in the middle, and covered at its base with Aboriginal paintings.

Feeling refreshed and quite ambitious after our swim, we decided to undertake the walking track around the mountain above split rock – and were indefinitely rewarded when we reached the top. The views were spectacular! We stood at the edge of drops that were easily 300 meter straight down.

“Why don’t you go over there and I’ll snap your picture,” Glen was saying, pulling his camera out of his pack.

“All right.” I walked over to pose next to the edge. It was a long way down.

Glen played with the camera, trying to frame the shot but not exactly happy with my positioning. “Mate, how bout getting a little closer to the edge.”

“Famous last words,” I smiled.

Glen looked up, “Oops.” He smiled, then, “yeah, just a little closer and,” he threw his hands up in the air, “aaaaaahhh.”

We laughed, and I retreated from the ledge.

“Wait, I didn’t get the pic.”

But it was too late, I wouldn’t be coaxed back to the fall.

“That's all right, I’ll take yours.”