Sophie Matterson
Speaker: Sophie Matterson
Sophie Matterson is an adventurer currently based in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
In 2020 and 2021 Sophie solo trekked 4,800 kilometres across the width of Australia, from Shark Bay, Western Australia to Byron Bay, New South Wales, with her five camels. Sophie’s dromedary traveling companions, Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton and Mac were mustered from the wild near Uluru, where she spent a year breaking them in and training them to carry her equipment, as well as making her own saddles and organising permits and logistics before setting off.
Her journey of 13 months, which was necessary to split into two parts due to the intense summer heat in the outback, took her through some of the most remote and isolated parts of the country including the Strzelecki Desert and Australia’s largest desert, the Great Victoria Desert.
Sophie first discovered her passion for camels when she took a break from her career in film and television to work on a camel dairy on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Her fascination with these enigmatic and intelligent animals grew from here and her desire to learn more has taken her to Michigan and Texas in the USA, and Rajasthan India, where she stayed with the Raika nomads.
Through her experience of many of the Outback’s far-flung places, Sophie is an advocate for visiting and seeing first-hand the beauty of Australia’s wild and arid heart. She is about to release a book about her trek across the country and one day hopes to visit all ten of Australia’s deserts with her camels.
INFO
Category:
Bright Australia 2023, speakers
Where:
West Coast WA to East Coast NSW
How:
Camels & postie bikes
Date of trip:
2021-22
