The Crossing

An epic story of leaving everything behind to find purpose, adventure and love, by crossing 4750km of rugged Australian terrain with five wild camels.

I had always felt like I was looking for 'more' in my life. I couldn't quite define what this 'more' was, but I knew the camels were a part of it.

In 2020, at the age of thirty-one, Sophie Matterson set out to walk her five camels from Shark Bay in Western Australia to Byron Bay on the east coast. At a time when most of her friends were getting engaged or starting families, Sophie longed for adventure, independence and purpose. She broke up with her long-term boyfriend, packed all her belongings into saddlebags and trained her wild camels to follow her lead.

Her eighteen-month solo crossing was the ultimate test of resilience and self-sufficiency - with each state in various forms of lockdowns, Sophie would often walk for weeks without seeing another soul. She crossed harsh, remote deserts, navigated…