After travelling a gruelling 5,000 kilometres across the continent with five camels, Sophie Matterson reflects on the highs and lows of her epic two-year journey.
When Sophie Matterson's five camels galloped out of sight in the remote Australian outback taking her water, satellite phone, map and emergency radio beacon with them — the life-or-death reality of her epic journey came into sharp focus.
Not only is the coast-to-coast walk physically gruelling, it is also mentally, emotionally and logistically challenging. It is a stretch longer than a camel's neck from finding them cute, to wanting to cross a continent with them."The more I learnt about camels, the more I realised how resilient they are and how they are able to deal with the harsh landscape in the outback," Ms Matterson explained.
"It happened so quickly I had no idea what had gone on," she said, of the moment the rope was pulled from her hands leaving her flat on the ground.Ms Matterson described looking up in horror as the camels took off galloping."I realised in that moment that I didn't have ... any of my safety equipment on me.
Sophie Matterson leading five camels on a red dirt track at Wooleen Station in the Murchison in May 2020."I thought, 'I can't be doing this kind of thing', walking into the really remote stretches of the desert."On the final day of her epic voyage, Ms Matterson, her five camels, two friends and her boyfriend Jimmy — a country bloke who fell for the strange woman with all the camels passing through his town — saddled the camels in darkness and walked down to Tyagarah beach.
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