Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback: Chapter 2  Summary & Analysis

Back at the pub, Davidson is troubled by how badly the Aboriginals (“blacks”) are treated, noting that they’re not allowed in some areas of the pub. Although she writes letters home pretending to be happy, Davidson feels herself getting depressed at how difficult it is to get camels and proceed with her journey.

Davidson also writes angrily about the treatment of women in Alice Springs, which she sees as an especially disgusting manifestation of Australian machismo and misogyny. She delves into the history of gender relations in Australia, describing the development of the hyper-masculine way of being a man that Australians still view with sentimentality. Although she is friendly to her male customers at the pub, one night a regular warns her that she should be careful because some of the men might be targeting her for rape. Davidson is devastated by her lack of power and feels “really frightened for the first time.”

Meanwhile, Kurt stops by occasionally to try and convince Davidson to come back to his ranch. Although she does not want to subject herself to Kurt’s abuse, Davidson thinks that she might need to return if she’s ever going to learn enough about camels. Gladdy also comes to visit her and they become friends, with Davidson occasionally staying the night at the farm. One morning, she returns to the pub and finds a piece of poop on her pillow, and this incident pushes her to decide to return to Kurt and Gladdy’s farm.

Davidson is initially happy upon her return to the ranch. She enjoys working with the camels and spending time with Gladdy, and she is glad to be away from the pub. She gets to know all of the eight camels who live there and describes each one in detail. She also appreciates the beauty of the land around the ranch and finds that it reduces her other anxieties. However, Kurt contains to behave cruelly, especially when Davidson makes mistakes. She thinks back on how impossible it was to understand Kurt, and how silly she was to believe that he was good under the surface.

Over time, Davidson develops a close bond with a young bull camel named Dookie. Because of this, it is especially hard for her to witness Kurt’s occasional cruelty to the camels. She begins to become depressed again and thinks sometimes about going home, but she stays when Kurt promises her that she can have gear and three camels at the end of eight months. Still, he refuses to sign anything confirming the deal.

At Davidson’s request, Kurt helps her capture a young crow to keep as a pet, but several other crows die in the process. Davidson again finds herself devastated over the pain caused to the animals. Still, Davidson continue to settle in and makes friends with some neighbors at a nearby farm called Basso’s. She begins to spend more time with them, but at the same time, she becomes less connected with other people in the town. One night after drinking, she has a vision of her three camels saddled and ready for the journey.

Davidson settles into a routine with Diggity, her crow, and the camels she cares for. She sleeps for a while in her own tent, which gives her some privacy, but when it is destroyed in a storm she moves back in with Kurt and Gladdy. She tolerates Kurt’s behavior for a while longer, but snaps again one morning when he asks her to do an unreasonable amount of work. She leaves the ranch again, feeling that she will never get her camels.

To her surprise, Sallay Mahomet offers Davidson a job soon after she leaves the ranch. With Sallay, who treats her well, she learns even more about handling camels, and though she is happy with her progress, she also worries that she may not be strong enough to carry out her plan. She has been in Alice Springs for almost a year and feels psychologically shaky, so she returns to Queensland to see her closest friend. After the visit, Davidson’s confidence is renewed, and she decides again to commit to her plan to cross the desert. Davidson reflects that “one really could do anything.”