Jonathan Gair

A Victorian Shamble: Amberbottom Goes North Jonathan Gair

At the age of twenty-eight, Hugh Amberbottom decides to go on a 'pilgrimage' to Far North Queensland to seek a 'truer meaning' to his life. He drops everything: the toilet manufacturing company he's inherited, his unwanted fiancée, and his life of partying and corporate responsibility in his home state of Victoria. This is a hilarious and at times almost surreal romp of a story in which we share the adventures in the outback of this would-be explorer and accomplished poet. Hugh learns much from the characters he meets, from the Italian-Australian 'bushman' on a break from domestic life to the Aborigines who, though suspicious of this 'white fella walking', share their camp with him. The author may have a keen eye for the eccentric in life and in people, and a witty and lively way of describing it, but he also gives us some marvellous descriptions of the local terrain and its flora and fauna. It's enough to tempt you on your own pilgrimage to the wilds of Northern Australia. All in all, you are guaranteed a thoroughly enjoyable read in this lighthearted, entertaining, 'feel-good' book.