An inspirational an amazing memoir about a woman who gave up everything she knew to start her own camel saddlery and do a camel trek across the Australian Outback.
In April 2020, as the world began to lock down due to Covid-19, Sophie began her own form of extreme social distancing. From April 2020 - December 2021 she walked with her five camels from the most westerly point of Australia to the most easterly, with a six-month break in Coober Pedy when the conditions grew too hot to continue.
Along the way she met hundreds of kind strangers - she required permission to cross every single piece of land, and often they'd make the effort to meet her with additional supplies to support her journey. The red dirt of the outback seeped into her pores and her appreciation for the beauty of Country and the ways we can observe and better understand its subtle changes only grew as she walked.
She sometimes went weeks at a time without seeing a soul due to the movement restrictions in place for Covid-19 prevention in Central Australia. Halfway through the trek, she fell in love with a baker called Jimmy in the Flinders Ranges: some of their first dates involved him driving her to drop-off points, and delivering food and supplies every four or so weeks. Jimmy walked the final section of the journey with her, marshalling traffic to allow Sophie and the camels to cross roads and highways as they drew closer to the coast.
