David Pocock champions Canberra in SBS series Great Australian Walks

I thought I would try my luck and ask the terribly busy independent MP if he'd like to have a chat to The Canberra Times' other Karen, the non-political one, about his appearance in an upcoming episode of Great Australian Walks, an SBS television series which sets out on some walks which might define our nation.

To my amazement, he agreed.

I'd seen the trailer of the Canberra episode, where he steps out around Lake Burley Griffin with host Julia Zemiro, showcasing our wonderful city in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. OK, it might have been a warmer day when the episode was filmed, but maybe not; for Zemiro, who'd spent some time in Canberra as a child visiting friends who used to own the Belconnen patisserie Croissant D'Or, was wearing a beanie and a rather fancy ski jacket. Shorts! I could see his calves! Calves that had once enabled him to be the best player in the world at the breakdown, so strong over the ball.

I was keen to replicate some portion of the walk he did with Zemiro, around Black Mountain Peninsula. I thought I had made that clear to Pocock's minders and so I rocked up in my activewear. Have I become so (un)comfortable in middle age that I never even thought twice about being in his presence dressed in lycra?

A few years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Canberra author Jono Lineen about his book Perfect Motion: How walking makes us wiser. We caught up on my favourite trail of the time, a path that twisted and turned around Bruce Ridge. I was in said activewear. Lineen was, now I look back at the photos, dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket. More fool me.

Lineen was a marathon runner, a cross-country skier, a man who walked close to 3000km in the Himalayas grieving for his younger brother and trying to make sense of it all. It's a that I turn to even now when my life is unravelling because I am standing still.

When I listened to the recording of that interview with Lineen it was full of my breathless questions, as I struggled to keep up with his long strides, let alone his concepts of how things changed once humans stood up and had a couple of spare limbs to do things with.

Maybe I'm just a sad old lady but I had high hopes Pocock would also take my breath away.

I just wanted him to tell me, for I shall always be a sports journalist at heart, he had decided to pull on his boots one last time and head to France to help out Eddie Jones and the lads in the upcoming World Cup. That, finally, Australian rugby supporters would get one last glimpse of a player who we never saw the best of, even though his best was above and beyond. Damn you, injury and circumstance.

But alas, none of my fantasies were meant to be. Instead we had a great chat about the series, in which Zemiro heads off to places such as the Blue Mountains, the rainforests of Dorrigo, the Mornington Peninsula and sun-kissed beaches around Byron Bay, to give us some insight into what makes us Australian.

My first thought was, why on earth does anyone, even someone who's been swayed by the flaky pastry of a Civic bakery, think a walk around LBG ranks up there with one of Australia's greatest walks? Like, the lake is, well, nice. But epic?

But I'm buoyed to discover Pocock is one of the lake's biggest fans.

"We live in nature. In cities maybe it's harder to feel that connection, but we're totally reliant on nature and it does something to us that is hard to explain unless there is that connection," he says.

Pocock was born in Africa in 1988 and moved to Canberra when he signed to play rugby with the Brumbies in 2013.

"When we moved here, we spent the first few weeks living like tourists, trying to get out and see as much of Canberra as we could. We loved it all," he says.

He still finds great joy in spots along the Murrumbidgee, swimming half-naked with a group called the "granimals" who love nothing more than lifting rocks and going against the flow.

I tell him I'm surprised Zemiro even thought it was a good idea to list a lap around the lake as one of Australia's greatest walks. Eleven-and-a-bit kilometres from Black Mountain Peninsula, via the Tent Embassy and the Carillon and the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Australia where she sits with former Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagani.

Pocock doesn't agree. He loves the lake. He loves Canberra. He thinks the lake represents so many things about this city, from how we are dealing with environmental issues, to how we're teaching our children about what's important beyond silly things such as rugby games.

READ MORE:

Without sounding like the other Karen, perhaps this is the very reason why he is the person we need up in the Big House. An advocate for the Bush Capital.

I don't want to get him started about the idea of a lakeside stadium. I love Bruce. I find it somewhat ironic Zemiro didn't think of ranking the walk from Dryandra Street up to Bruce as one of Australia's best strolls.

But that's the thing about walking. We all start somewhere, that first step, and where we end up depends on so many different things.

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: