Tracks

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1

(ETHEREAL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(METALLIC BANGING, CLANKING)

(BRAKES HISSING)

TRAIN GUARD:

Alice Springs, last stop.

(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)

ROBYN:
'Dear Sir, I am planning to

walk across the Australian desert,

from Alice Springs to the Indian

Ocean... a distance of 2,000 miles.'

(HORN BEEPS, ROCK MUSIC BLARES)

(MEN WHOOP AND LAUGH)

'The trip will take

six-to-seven months.'

D*ckheads.

'I arrived in Alice

Springs over a year ago.

There are herds of feral camels roaming

freely throughout Central Australia

and my idea was to capture a few

and train them to carry my gear.'

Diggity, stay.

'The trip wasn't conceived

as an adventure,

in the sense of something

to be proved or conquered.

And when people ask me why I'm doing

it, my usual answer is "why not?".'

I was wondering if

you had any work.

- What kind of work?

- Behind the bar, anything.

Ask the missus. She's out the back.

Got a place to stay?

I was planning on

camping somewhere.

Got a tent?

No.

One meal per shift is provided,

rent's deducted from first week's

pay, the loo's down the hall.

Great. Thanks.

I have a dog.

'I'd always been drawn to

the purity of the desert,

its hot wind and

wide, open spaces.'

Alone?

Yeah, well, I'll need to train

some camels to carry my gear

and... then there's

Diggity, of course.

You go right ahead, love.

Go right ahead.

'But mainly I was bored

of life in the city,

with its repetitions,

my half-finished,

half-hearted attempts at jobs

and various studies.'

(WOMAN SPEAKS IN

INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

'And I was sick of carrying around

the self-indulgent negativity

that was so much the malaise

of my generation, my

sex and my class.'

- Come on!

- (WOMAN SHOUTS)

'The decision to act was in itself

the beginning of the journey.

I believe when you've been

stuck too long in one spot,

it's best to throw a grenade

where you're standing, and jump...

and pray.'

Hey. We are closed today.

Your plan is ridiculous.

My father crossed the

Kalahari in 1935...

that wasn't so ridiculous.

Nothing's in the blood.

I'm a hard worker.

You can work for me for

eight months... for free.

I'll show you how to train them.

After that, I give you...

two wild camels.

And that will be that.

So... do we sign a contract?

I'm good to my word.

You can stay here.

I'll clean out one of the sheds.

That's OK, I'll find my

own place. Thanks.

(HAMMERING)

Misch-Misch, Khartoum,

Ali, Fahani and Aba.

(CAMEL GRUNTS)

And these are my new

wild bulls... Dookie and Bub.

(GRUNTS)

What's wrong with him?

Nothing's wrong with him.

He's in rut. He's a bull.

Those other males are bullocks.

These are still bulls.

(BRAYS)

Die haben eier.

In rut season, they become

extremely aggressive.

Very dangerous.

He doesn't look very dangerous.

He's young. He will learn.

(CAMEL BELLOWS)

- Hey, Dookie.

- (DOOKIE BELLOWS)

Hey, Dookie. Hello.

(BELLOWS)

Hey.

- (CLICKS TONGUE)

- (GRUNTS)

(CLICKS TONGUE) Come on.

(BELLOWS)

So you want to play

with the camels?

Always watch the animal.

Watch how he thinks.

(GRUNTS)

(GROWLS)

- (SWITCH CRACKS)

- Let him know who's boss.

Come on. Try it again.

(CAMEL BRAYS)

- Careful.

- (BRAYS)

(GROWLS)

(LAUGHS)

Hurry up. We open soon.

Are you finished?

Yep.

What's that?

Sorry.

Take off those shoes.

You must toughen the feet.

There are two species of camel.

Neither is native to Australia.

Some of the first camels

brought into the country

were for the Burke and Wills

expedition in 1860...

Louder. More effort!

Today there are over 50,000

feral camels across Australia.

(PENSIVE PIANO MUSIC)

Hey! Goldie!

Here, Goldie! Come on.

Hold it.

Wait.

(ALARM CLOCK RINGS)

(CLOCK TICKS)

'If my trip was inspired by

anyone, it would be my father.

He trekked across East

Africa in his youth

and was happiest on his

own out in the bush.'

(CLICKS TONGUE)

'When I was young, he showed

me a tree on our property

marked with the letter L by the

explorer Ludwig Leichhardt.

In 1848, he attempted to

cross Australia to the ocean

with 7 horses and 20 mules.

He disappeared and was never found.

I remember imagining

Ludwig alone in the desert

with the animals,

and it sounded like a dream.'

(CAMEL BRAYS)

Yeah?

Can we talk about my trip?

My camels?

(CHUCKLES) Your camels?

Yeah, our deal.

I've tried to talk to you

about it already... twice.

I need you to get

up early tomorrow.

I want the camels in by five.

I've been here for

over eight months now,

I don't have to do sh*t for you.

You're fired.

I'm going to talk

to Gladdy about it.

Gladdy's gone! And I

want you gone, too.

I want all b*tches

gone from my sight.

'The early settlers

needed beasts of burden

better suited to the harsh

climate of the outback,

so they imported camels.

When trains and cars came along

and there was no longer

any use for them,

the camels were set free.

But instead of perishing,

they flourished.

Now Australia has the largest

feral camel population

in the world.

I just needed three of them.'

(SIGHS)

Hey. What do you think, Dig?

Home sweet home, eh?

(BANGING)

(BICYCLE BELL RINGS)

(BANGING, MEN SHOUTING)

You must be mad, girly. You

know that's about 2,000 miles?

Six months of hard walking.

It gets tougher if

you get an injury.

No it's easy enough to get lost,

run out of water, food...

You don't have to be

unlucky to die out there.

I just want to be by myself.

MAN:
Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi!

(CAMEL BRAYS)

Well, we don't train these

camels for kiddie rides. Hm?

We catch 'em, we sell 'em.

(CAMEL BRAYS)

So, will you help me out?

I can teach you how to break one.

The rest of it you

do in your own time.

You'll hire me?

Anyone who can put up with

Kurt Posel for eight months

deserves a chance.

Come back tomorrow. See how you go.

'I went to work for a camel

wrangler named Sallay Mahomet.

He came from a long line

of Afghan cameleers.'

Righto! Arms up, you've

gotta look tall.

Stand tall, arms up.

'He offered me one wild camel for

a month's work at half pay.'

Robyn, shut the gate.

(PENSIVE PIANO MUSIC)

(CAMELS GRUNT)

You'll have to break her.

Thanks.

SALLAY:
You've earned it.

You're an odd girl, Robyn Davidson.

(CAMEL GRUNTS)

(POP MUSIC BLARES)

(HORN TOOTS)

WOMAN:
Rob?

We know you're here!

You can run but you can't hide!

What are you doing here?

How did you find me?

Well, I asked around.

I guess there's not too many

camel ladies in this town.

Mm. I hate that. It makes me

sound like a crazy woman.

Hey, come on.

- Hi.

- How ya going, Robbie?

This is Peter, Bernard, Annie

and Annie's mate Rick.

He's out from the States.

I love your place. I didn't

realise how big camels are.

It's like a cow and a

giraffe mixture...

(CHUCKLES)

RICK:
They're beautiful.

Going to invite us in?

Yep, come in.

(SIGHS)

That's what I have,

that's what I don't have.

Plus I need two more camels.

Mostly I just need money.

(INHALES SHARPLY)

Money, money, money.

The eternal, uh... the

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