Tracks...through the desert

When I agreed to see this film about a woman's independent trek across half of the Australian continent, I didn't realise it was a film about Robyn Davidson's 1977 camel trek! As a young latent adventurer growing up in Brisbane, I remember Robyn leaving Alice Springs with her dog and four camels to walk 2,700 kilometres to the Indian Ocean.

I cherished the National Geographic story, with amazing photographs by Rick Smolan. This film was faithful to Davidson’s memoir, written by Marion Nelson, and it documented how she had accepted help and companionship along the way from the locals. The media, as expected, wanted to know why, and suggested typically, that it was a way of mending the heartbreak of her early childhood. However, it seemed unimportant for this film, which conveyed that the journey was her own adventure, and the reason was probaby because she could. Robyn is played by the enigmatic Australian actress Mia Wasikowska, after both Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman had been linked to earlier, unrealised versions of this film. The camels were stunning and it must have been a challenge to tame them sufficiently for filming!