Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback

Davidson walks on without Diggity, feeling both devastated and detached from her emotions. She has frequent dreams that Diggity is alive and feels completely isolated without her, as well as frightened by the landscape and noises around her in a way that she has not been previously. Though she knows it is irrational, she feels vulnerable and full of dread without Diggity.

During the days between Diggity’s death and her arrival in Wiluna, Davidson finds a stunning landscape of colorful cliffs and sand that looks to her like “a martian landscape.” Even so, she still feels empty and unable to appreciate what she is seeing. Eventually, she comes upon a rock formation that looks like an amphitheatre and spontaneously dances naked until she is completely exhausted and falls asleep. When she wakes up, Davidson feels that she has healed and is prepared to face the rest of the trek.

Shortly thereafter, Davidson spots a vehicle driving toward her and, though she expects local people, it turns out to be reporters and photographers from the press. They swarm around her, asking questions and offering money for her story. Davidson is overwhelmed and agrees to go with them to get a beer. She still tries to fend them off but ends up disclosing Diggity’s death, a fact which they eventually print even though she asks them not to.

The press also informs Davidson that the man she met earlier who was trying to set a car driving record claimed to have spent a romantic night with her, and that he gave them the geographic information they needed to track her down. Davidson is furious and hides from the people trying to film her, and eventually they leave her to her camp. Alone, she feels exposed and astonished at the amount of attention her trip is getting.

Moments later, Rick arrives, warning Davidson that more members of the press are on their way. Later, Rick tells her that she “looked and behaved like a mad woman” at this time. The journalists and photographers talk to her for a while and take some photos before Rick convinces them to leave. He also informs her that tourists have been selling pictures of her to papers. Stunned, Davidson realizes how far out of her control her own story has gotten. She speculates that her image as a wild, eccentric woman has won her both unfounded admiration from people who wish to do the same and unfair scorn from sexists. She resents being pigeon-holed as the “camel lady” and regrets that her image is now mythic, when what she really wanted was to show people that you don’t need to be special to do something ambitious.

Rick introduces Davidson to a bushman and tracker, Peter Muir. Peter warns her that Wiluna is swarming with reporters and offers her his second home to stay in, miles outside of town. Rick has also arranged for Jenny and Toly to fly in, which delights Davidson. Together, the four of them hide out in the spare house and Davidson begins to share her stories with them. She also starts receiving huge amounts of mail from strangers of all kinds, some of which are admiring and some of which are simply odd.

While continuing to dodge the reporters, the group drives back through the country that Davidson recently passed through, since she feels that her sadness over Diggity kept her from fully experiencing it. Though the country is gorgeous, they also see a helicopter of uranium prospectors, which underscores the constant threat to the land’s purity. They return to Wiluna and enjoy a last day together laughing at the camels’ antics before Jenny and Toly depart.

Davidson and Rick spend a couple of additional weeks traveling through the desert together, leading the camels, talking over the trip, and bonding through their shared experience. Davidson plans to complete her trip at last in the coastal town of Carnarvon, near a farm where some acquaintances have agreed to take over ownership of the camels.