CROSSING THE CONTINENT WITH CAMELS
AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC
This is their story so far.
AS I WATCHED the thunderheads gather over the dunes to the west I felt pleased with my preparations. I’d tethered the camels to acacia shrubs, strung up a tarp for shelter and covered the saddles and pack bags as best I could. I’d even placed my books and rolled swag, which functioned as a make-do couch, under the shelter as if I was preparing to watch the storm from the comfort of a sitting room in the middle of the desert, about 380km west of Coober Pedy, South Australia. Energised by the unexpected change in weather I was buzzing around taking photos of this unlikely scene.
My camels – Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton and Mac – and I had left the Shark Bay coast in Western Australia more than five months before and had up to that point only experienced a couple of light showers. The landscape and vegetation we’d traversed in that time had been varied and beautiful but always dry.
Yes – I was ready and prepared to welcome that storm! The air was still as the lightning drew closer. Then all of a sudden, as if from nowhere, a great gust of wind ripped up the lean-to, the tarp flapped and wrapped around a tree and it began to pour with rain. My camera, swag and books were
