Author(s): Sue Williams

Fiction

Sue Williams has delivered us Women of the Outback and Outback Spirit, stories she gathers from the people of the bush. Ever curious, this time Sue puts herself in the firing line, seeking to find the essence of the outback experience - perfect for all us armchair travellers. She travelled the width and length of Australia by bus, train, car, campervan, Troopy, horse, goat, foot and plane. She took part in the droving of 600 head of cattle through Queensland and got rolled by her horse. She helped pregnancy-test cattle at a remote property in the far north of South Australia, swallowed countless flies and ran through muddy dams carrying a pretend-sheep on her shoulders in an outback Ironwoman challenge. She boxed a State championship contender in outback Queensland in Fred Brophy's Outback fight club. She saw the country in drought, in flood, between swarms of locusts and a mice plague, mixing with old drovers, new backpackers, overseas tourists, Australians out to see their country, grey nomads, new settlers and old-timers. As she says, 'Somehow, I survived. And eventually found the heart of Australia in the most unlikely place of all.'
Sue knows how to tell a good story - and confirms once and for all that it's a weird place out there.