Status
Available
Publication
Vintage (1995), 288 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Nonfiction. HTML:The incredible true story of one woman's solo adventure across the Australian outback, accompanied by her faithful dog and four unpredictable camels. I arrived in the Alice at five a.m. with a dog, six dollars and a small suitcase full of inappropriate clothes. . . . There are some moments in life that are like pivots around which your existence turns. For Robyn Davidson, one of these moments comes at age twenty-seven in Alice Springs, a dodgy town at the frontier of the vast Australian desert. Davidson is intent on walking the 1,700 miles of desolate landscape between Alice Springs and the Indian Ocean, a personal pilgrimage with her dogâ??and four camels. Tracks is the beautifully written, compelling true story of the author's journey and the love/hate relationships she develops along the way: with the Red Centre of Australia; with aboriginal culture; with a handsome photographer; and especially with her lovable and cranky camels, Bub, Dookie, Goliath, and Zeleika. Adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver, Tracks is an unforgettable story that proves that anything is possible. Perfect for fans of Cheryl Strayed's Wild.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member GirlMisanthrope
I usually enjoy reading solo woman travel stories. But the animal abuse in this one was something I couldn't stomach.
LibraryThing member dele2451
We may differ on the definition of "solo", but it is a good, honest read anyway. I also learned quite a bit about camels.
LibraryThing member msjoanna
A lovely travelogue about a crazy journey across Australia with camels. The author, age 27 at the time, decided that her life was going nowhere and wouldn't it be fun to get some camels (about which she knew nothing) and travel with them across the Australian outback (mostly to places she'd never
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seen). At heart, the author seems to have wanted to prove something to herself about her willpower and ability to follow through with a difficult and crazy plan. She also was hoping for some spiritual growth. The writing was clear, descriptive, and interesting; the spiritual growth (or lack thereof) was less compelling. Overall, the author's reasons were hard to fully understand and she was often a bit of a frustrating narrator, but the ride was enjoyable anyway. I had no idea that camels had so much personality. Recommended to those who enjoy travelogues of the strange adventure variety. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookAngel_a
Let me just say that I admire this woman. What she accomplished was incredible - trekking mostly alone across the Australian desert with her 3 camels. And she had to go out and get the training she needed without much help, and a lot of prejudice against women.
However, I found it hard to relate to
However, I found it hard to relate to
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her. I was rooting for her, but I kept thinking that I would NEVER have put myself in those situations to start with. I love to travel, but I'm not that adventurous. Show Less
LibraryThing member debnance
Tracks has been sitting on my TBR mountain for over a year; I finally decided to start it yesterday when a book, From Alice to Ocean: Alone Across the Outback, arrived from the library. From Alice is composed of pictures taken by National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan accompanied by exerpts
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from Davidson's book. The pictures were awesome, but reading Tracks and trying to keep my place in From Alice was difficult; the writer and the photographer, though together for most of the trip, seemed to be miles apart in recording aspects of the trip that were intriguing. My favorite part of Tracks was the leg of the trip in which Davidson traveled with Aborigine elder Eddie. Davidson appeared to change dramatically during the time she spent with Eddie, becoming a more substantive person. Overall, I would say that I found Glamour's assessment of the book ("the women's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance") exaggerated, but the book, for me, provided a fascinating (and safe) look at a perilous part of the world. Show Less
LibraryThing member jayne_charles
I don't often read factual books, but this account of a woman trekking across Australia on foot was fascinating. It is funny and sad by turns - from accounts of the author shovelling poo in the early chapters, to the no nonsense way she deals with 'running out of meds', to the incident with the
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dog, this is constantly interesting and surprising. As I suspect I will never trek across Australia with a camel for company, this book was the next best thing. Show Less
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
A 27 year old Australian woman decides to train camels and walk across Australia's interior with them.
LibraryThing member leslie.98
Less adventure and more soul-searching than I had anticipitated.
LibraryThing member siri51
Rereading after many years; amazing story, increidble landscapes and those camels! Davidson's comment for this edition that sucha journey couldn't be done now is valid ; it would be all about blogging or tweets, gps devices and even more media attention than she got in 1975.
LibraryThing member Alphawoman
There is little doubt that i crave adventure. But I feel I am too old to throw caution to the wind and take off on a life altering journey that tests my verve and my wits against nature. I would love to hike the AT or the Pacific Trail. I would love to travel across the snake infested and wild
And I do this by way of sitting up in my comfy bed all hours of the night reading the bios of brave women who against all odds and without a man to support and aid them take on the journeys I can only dream about and long for.
I cried during the last section of this book and savored the journey and celebrated her accomplishments along with her. Next I will try and find the National Geographic
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camel hills and deserts of Australia. I would love to climb a mountain. I would love to find my inner soul and therefore inner peace by searching with great physical hardships that strengthen not only the body but the soul. I want to know who I am! Not who I have allowed myself to become to slide into to fit into like a worn out pair of shoes.And I do this by way of sitting up in my comfy bed all hours of the night reading the bios of brave women who against all odds and without a man to support and aid them take on the journeys I can only dream about and long for.
I cried during the last section of this book and savored the journey and celebrated her accomplishments along with her. Next I will try and find the National Geographic
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
The movie made from this book came out this year. I haven't seen it yet because I wanted to read the book first. Davidson made the journey that this book covers in 1977 and, as she says in the postscript, it wouldn't be possible now. I found the journey fascinating but, for my taste, too much time
Davidson arrived in Alice Springs with her dog and six dollars and a plan to cross the western half of Australia with camels. Alice Springs, at that time, was a rough and tumble place and a woman alone was subject to much verbal abuse and sexual invitations. From the pictures in the book it is obvious that Davidson was good-looking with blonde hair and blue eyes. That probably attracted all the wrong kind of attention. Many times in her preparations she doubted herself and almost gave up. In the last paragraph of the book she writes "The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most dfficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision." Eventually Davidson got three adult camels, two males and a female, and since the female gave birth shortly before the start of the trip there was also a calf along for the ride. Her dog, Diggity, also started out on the trip but, sadly, did not make it to the end. Davidson had an aboriginal elder guide her for a portion. She also had a photographer from National Geographic meet up with her along the way. However she did spend many days alone on the trek and discovered hidden strengths in facing adversity.
Hope the movie will make it to DVD soon.
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was spent on the preparations for the trip.Davidson arrived in Alice Springs with her dog and six dollars and a plan to cross the western half of Australia with camels. Alice Springs, at that time, was a rough and tumble place and a woman alone was subject to much verbal abuse and sexual invitations. From the pictures in the book it is obvious that Davidson was good-looking with blonde hair and blue eyes. That probably attracted all the wrong kind of attention. Many times in her preparations she doubted herself and almost gave up. In the last paragraph of the book she writes "The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most dfficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision." Eventually Davidson got three adult camels, two males and a female, and since the female gave birth shortly before the start of the trip there was also a calf along for the ride. Her dog, Diggity, also started out on the trip but, sadly, did not make it to the end. Davidson had an aboriginal elder guide her for a portion. She also had a photographer from National Geographic meet up with her along the way. However she did spend many days alone on the trek and discovered hidden strengths in facing adversity.
Hope the movie will make it to DVD soon.
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LibraryThing member mdoris
This is a great book. It is well written and tells such a personal story of adventure, hardships, scares, determination, self reliance, self discovery and insight. Davidson wrote the book 2 years after her 2000 mile trek with camels and her dog across the desert in Australia from Alice Springs to
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the west coast sea in 1977. She tells a very good story about her experience but tells a great deal about her "internal" life along the way. I loved it! Davidson has had an interesting life, a relationship with Salman Rushdie, wrote her book while living with Doris Lessing and was pals with Bruce Chatwin and later had a sojourn with nomads in India. I want to read more of her work. Show Less
LibraryThing member face_at_the_window
A book that literally changed my life. I still reread it every now and then for inspiration. What an amazing, crazy, enviable adventure!
LibraryThing member mjlivi
I read this during a brief trip to Alice Springs, Uluru and surrounds having seen the movie during a characteristically chilly April day in Melbourne earlier this year. It's a stunning book - capturing Davidson's love and appreciation of the Central Australian landscape, her principles and passion
The movie is also brilliant and highly, highly recommended - particularly if you can see it on a biggish screen where the stunning scenery can really shine.
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for the Indigenous people of the country and her deep and abiding love of her camels and dog. The story of the walk is perfect, covering the highs and lows of the journey and its effects on the author's psyche. I loved the moment that Davidson realised that after two years spent preparing, she'd been playing at the task and that a part of her didn't really believe she'd ever do it. From there she realised that she just had to do it, that the first step was necessary and that from there stubbornness and bloody-minded persistence would make the trip happen. It's the common theme of the book - that we really can do so much more than we think and that shaking up our lives and breaking out of the comfort and security is critical to challenging ourselves and growing. There's so much more to the book as well - it's a rich and readable journey, tackling so much more than just the walk. The movie is also brilliant and highly, highly recommended - particularly if you can see it on a biggish screen where the stunning scenery can really shine.
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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
More than a travelogue, more than memoirs. Even though this presents to being more about her than the Bill Bryson I've read & only somewhat about the places & people, and camels, it ends up being much more illuminating of the settings & context than his works which present as travelogues.
If you're
An example of how well she expresses what some people never learn: "In different places, survival requires different things, based on the environment. Capacity for survival may be the ability to be changed by the environment."
Short, but not really a quick read - too intense, almost spiritual (but not difficult or artsy-fartsy)."
If you're
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not sure you want to read it, start at Chapter 10 (p. 193 in my edition) and read towards the end. I bet you'll want to get back to the beginning and find out more. One example of what got her across the desert: I... had a reinforced concrete strip down my back which successfully hid the yellow one." An example of how well she expresses what some people never learn: "In different places, survival requires different things, based on the environment. Capacity for survival may be the ability to be changed by the environment."
Short, but not really a quick read - too intense, almost spiritual (but not difficult or artsy-fartsy)."
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LibraryThing member jjaylynny
A pretty amazing story but one which wearies me, maybe because I would never/could never do anything like this, and what does that say about me? So I transfer my scorn to Robyn Davidson even though she's a badass. She's a rather sociopathic badass, to be sure, but the best part of this book are the
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pictures. Also, she makes Cheryl Strayed look like a whiny ass beyotch. Show Less
LibraryThing member Allen.Simons
This is a well known account both in National Geographic and having been made a movie by the same name. It beautifully describes one womans experience sorting through indigenous customs and skills that had to be accuaried following her decision to make the trip. All she had was her stalwart
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decision to make the trip and a willingness to adapt to the needs of the quest. I simply loved her account. Show Less
LibraryThing member Pferdina
Robyn went to Alice Springs, worked for two years to afford three camels, then walked with them across the desert alone. What was she doing before that? Why did this seem like the best plan? What happened to her afterwards? We don't find out. I read this book after seeing the film and I liked both
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of them, but I'm glad I saw the film first or the book may not have been enough. Show Less
LibraryThing member PDCRead
Australia is a big country.
A very big country.
And a lot of it is hostile, unforgiving desert. So to set out to travel across half of the country from the centre to the sea, with a dog and four camels is a monumental achievement for Robyn Davidson. Not only is this a tough journey in a physical
And that is not the hardest thing she has to endure her apprenticeship with a camel trader, a particular unpleasant man makes for uncomfortable reading at the beginning of the book. She then moves to another who is far more helpful, and makes if possible for her to achieve the journey.
All the way through she endures constant battles with the animals, the environment and with the photographer, Rick Smolan, provided by National Geographic to record her journey. She spends time with an Aboriginal man called Eddie and understands his deep love and respect of the land that protects him and feeds him.
Along the way she reaches into the darker recess of her mind, and experiences the entire suite of raw emotions in her journey, and I think that this makes her as a woman too. The ending is an emotional roller coaster, as she realises her achievement, tries to avoid the press pack, far worse than any dingoes, and reaches the Indian Ocean.
Well worth reading, as this is a personal journey as well as a travelogue of a fascinating country.
A very big country.
And a lot of it is hostile, unforgiving desert. So to set out to travel across half of the country from the centre to the sea, with a dog and four camels is a monumental achievement for Robyn Davidson. Not only is this a tough journey in a physical
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sense, from the relentless heat, the whole menagerie of nasty & poisonous creatures that exist there, fending off unwelcome advances of men, whilst travelling with the camels, a belligerent species at the best of times, takes a resilience and toughness that many men could not achieve.And that is not the hardest thing she has to endure her apprenticeship with a camel trader, a particular unpleasant man makes for uncomfortable reading at the beginning of the book. She then moves to another who is far more helpful, and makes if possible for her to achieve the journey.
All the way through she endures constant battles with the animals, the environment and with the photographer, Rick Smolan, provided by National Geographic to record her journey. She spends time with an Aboriginal man called Eddie and understands his deep love and respect of the land that protects him and feeds him.
Along the way she reaches into the darker recess of her mind, and experiences the entire suite of raw emotions in her journey, and I think that this makes her as a woman too. The ending is an emotional roller coaster, as she realises her achievement, tries to avoid the press pack, far worse than any dingoes, and reaches the Indian Ocean.
Well worth reading, as this is a personal journey as well as a travelogue of a fascinating country.
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LibraryThing member LibroLindsay
If Davidson could have kept to just talking about the camels, we'd be gold. I do love my camels. And reading about the Australian Outback. But after about a third of the way through the book of fairly linear storytelling with very little reasoning as to WHY she was undertaking such an extreme
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task...and getting the feeling that she was just a completely unprepared rich kid wanting to be different...I had to put it down for greener pastures. After all, Summer Reading Club's in full effect. Show Less
LibraryThing member SamSattler
Robyn Davidson did something as a twenty-seven-year-old back in 1977 that would be almost impossible today: she and her four camels made a (mostly) solo 1700-mile trek from Alice Springs, Australia all the way across the Australian desert to the Indian Ocean. As Davidson puts it in her postscript
“Could such a journey be made in the same way now? No, absolutely not. There would be many more people out there with many more ways of keeping tabs on you, more red tape to hold you back, more no-go areas, more fences, more vehicles, more control. New communication technology would make it impossible to get lost no matter how hard you tried.”
Things have changed so much, in fact, that Davidson admits to finding it “painful and difficult” to revisit that part of Australia at all. But back in the day, things were much simpler, if not more primitive, in nature. Davidson had grown bored with the life she was living, especially with the several jobs she had by then experienced and with her various studies. She was more of a loner than any of her friends and family, and very much enjoyed her own company. So, what could be more natural for a young woman like her than six months or so spent all alone in literally the middle of nowhere?
There was one slight problem, however. Davidson knew that the best way to make it across such a wide expanse of desert was with the help of camels. And she knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about camels other than that she wanted to capture three or four of the wild desert camels, break them, and train them as pack animals. Easier said than done, of course, so Davidson ended up working eight months for a man who promised to teach her everything she needed to know and to pay her by giving her two fully-trained camels of her own. What Robyn Davidson experienced in Alice Springs makes up over one-third of Tracks, and very little of it is pretty. The Alice Springs that Davidson endured for those months was so racist and misogynistic that she suffered from severe depression much of the time she was there preparing for her great adventure.
But what an adventure it turns out to be.
In order to make the trip possible at all, Davidson did something that must have felt to her as if she had just sold her soul to the devil. For four thousand dollars, she agreed to allow a National Geographic photographer to join her along the way three or four times so that the magazine could do an expansive article on her and her trip through the desert. It was only with that money, however, that she was able to outfit herself with the equipment she needed to survive in the desert on her own. And despite what started out as a rocky relationship between her and the photographer, her trip may have ended disastrously without his help. At the very least, her experience was changed for the better.
Bottom Line: Tracks is quite an amazing true adventure story, and Robyn Davidson was very frank about everything she saw and experienced during her journey. It is a book I strongly recommend to readers who enjoy reading about what I generally classify as “long walks” taken by one or two brave people who want to experience the planet in a way so few of us will ever manage to experience it for ourselves. There is also a movie version of Tracks by the same title out there, and it is sometimes pretty good despite failing to give much of a real sense of what Davidson went through in order to prepare for the trip or just how tortuous her days sometimes were. Even though the movie ticks off most of the milestone boxes of Davidson’s great adventure, it really comes nowhere near to meaningfully telling what her experiences were like. Do yourself a favor; read the book first.
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to the 2012 edition of Tracks:“Could such a journey be made in the same way now? No, absolutely not. There would be many more people out there with many more ways of keeping tabs on you, more red tape to hold you back, more no-go areas, more fences, more vehicles, more control. New communication technology would make it impossible to get lost no matter how hard you tried.”
Things have changed so much, in fact, that Davidson admits to finding it “painful and difficult” to revisit that part of Australia at all. But back in the day, things were much simpler, if not more primitive, in nature. Davidson had grown bored with the life she was living, especially with the several jobs she had by then experienced and with her various studies. She was more of a loner than any of her friends and family, and very much enjoyed her own company. So, what could be more natural for a young woman like her than six months or so spent all alone in literally the middle of nowhere?
There was one slight problem, however. Davidson knew that the best way to make it across such a wide expanse of desert was with the help of camels. And she knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about camels other than that she wanted to capture three or four of the wild desert camels, break them, and train them as pack animals. Easier said than done, of course, so Davidson ended up working eight months for a man who promised to teach her everything she needed to know and to pay her by giving her two fully-trained camels of her own. What Robyn Davidson experienced in Alice Springs makes up over one-third of Tracks, and very little of it is pretty. The Alice Springs that Davidson endured for those months was so racist and misogynistic that she suffered from severe depression much of the time she was there preparing for her great adventure.
But what an adventure it turns out to be.
In order to make the trip possible at all, Davidson did something that must have felt to her as if she had just sold her soul to the devil. For four thousand dollars, she agreed to allow a National Geographic photographer to join her along the way three or four times so that the magazine could do an expansive article on her and her trip through the desert. It was only with that money, however, that she was able to outfit herself with the equipment she needed to survive in the desert on her own. And despite what started out as a rocky relationship between her and the photographer, her trip may have ended disastrously without his help. At the very least, her experience was changed for the better.
Bottom Line: Tracks is quite an amazing true adventure story, and Robyn Davidson was very frank about everything she saw and experienced during her journey. It is a book I strongly recommend to readers who enjoy reading about what I generally classify as “long walks” taken by one or two brave people who want to experience the planet in a way so few of us will ever manage to experience it for ourselves. There is also a movie version of Tracks by the same title out there, and it is sometimes pretty good despite failing to give much of a real sense of what Davidson went through in order to prepare for the trip or just how tortuous her days sometimes were. Even though the movie ticks off most of the milestone boxes of Davidson’s great adventure, it really comes nowhere near to meaningfully telling what her experiences were like. Do yourself a favor; read the book first.
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LibraryThing member Castlelass
Non-fiction about Robyn Davidson’s 1977-1978 trip across the Australian desert, accompanied by four camels and a dog. During this trip, she developed capabilities she did not know she possessed as she crossed over 1700 miles, mostly by walking and occasionally riding one of the camels. She
Filled with novelties such as:
- How to train your camel
- What it’s like to own a pet crow (not recommended!)
- Surviving in the Australian Outback
And more traditional themes such as:
- A woman confronting a machismo culture
- Finding the inner strength to deal with external perils
- Self-discovery through suffering
- The nature of solitude
- Transcending social and self-imposed limitations
One of my favorite parts of the book is her descriptions of how she adapted to the vastness of the desert, the isolation, and the dreamlike state induced by endurance in an extreme environment. She developed creative solutions to the setbacks that inevitably occurred. She seemed to intuit at some level that her journey into the desert would change her for the better. I recognized her evolution from a somewhat immature and vulnerable person to an agent in her own life. I enjoyed reading the reasons she undertook such a trip, what she learned, and how it changed her. One of her goals was to become more familiar with the Aboriginal people, and she cogently illuminates their plight. Although she was not an author at that point, the book is filled with striking imagery of the desert.
Be advised that it includes a significant amount of abuse and harm to animals, along with racism and sexism. Recommended to fans of memoirs about personal challenges, travel-related adventures, endurance tests, or self-discovery. Overall, I found it an inspirational tale of a remarkable journey, both physically and psychologically.
Memorable quotes:
"To be free is to test yourself constantly, to gamble. It is not safe. I had learnt to use my fears as stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks..."
"Capacity for survival may be the ability to be changed by environment."
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started her trip in Alice Springs and ended at the Indian Ocean. Along the way, she interacts with various people, animals, and pests. Filled with novelties such as:
- How to train your camel
- What it’s like to own a pet crow (not recommended!)
- Surviving in the Australian Outback
And more traditional themes such as:
- A woman confronting a machismo culture
- Finding the inner strength to deal with external perils
- Self-discovery through suffering
- The nature of solitude
- Transcending social and self-imposed limitations
One of my favorite parts of the book is her descriptions of how she adapted to the vastness of the desert, the isolation, and the dreamlike state induced by endurance in an extreme environment. She developed creative solutions to the setbacks that inevitably occurred. She seemed to intuit at some level that her journey into the desert would change her for the better. I recognized her evolution from a somewhat immature and vulnerable person to an agent in her own life. I enjoyed reading the reasons she undertook such a trip, what she learned, and how it changed her. One of her goals was to become more familiar with the Aboriginal people, and she cogently illuminates their plight. Although she was not an author at that point, the book is filled with striking imagery of the desert.
Be advised that it includes a significant amount of abuse and harm to animals, along with racism and sexism. Recommended to fans of memoirs about personal challenges, travel-related adventures, endurance tests, or self-discovery. Overall, I found it an inspirational tale of a remarkable journey, both physically and psychologically.
Memorable quotes:
"To be free is to test yourself constantly, to gamble. It is not safe. I had learnt to use my fears as stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks..."
"Capacity for survival may be the ability to be changed by environment."
Show Less
LibraryThing member kslade
Good first person account of Robyn Davidson's trek across Western Australia with camels. Also has good musings about courage, psychology, Aborigine rights, etc. I found and read this right after I saw the new movie about her (2013).
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1980
Physical description
256 p.; 4.51 inches
ISBN
0679762876 / 9780679762874
Local notes
travel