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The Crossing by Sophie Matterson Review: A Bold Solo Trek Across Australia
Sophie Matterson's The Crossing is a memoir about a thirteen-month solo journey undertaken in 2020, during which the Brisbane-based adventurer walked 4,750 kilometres across Australia with five wild camels — Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton, and Mac — from Shark Bay in Western Australia to Byron Bay in New South Wales. Published by Allen & Unwin, it is a candid account of endurance, self-discovery, and unexpected love, and it earned Matterson the 2022 Australian Geographic Spirit of Adventure Award.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who love long-form adventure memoir in the tradition of solo wilderness journeys — particularly those drawn to the intersection of extreme physical challenge, the Australian landscape, and an honest reckoning with the life left behind.
Worth it if
Worth it if you responded to memoirs like Cheryl Strayed's Wild and want that same long-walk-as-self-discovery form transported to the full width of the Australian continent, with five named camels as companions and a genuine historical first at its spine.
Skip if
Skip it if you need a fast-paced, externally driven adventure narrative — the memoir's long stretches of solitude and inward reflection faithfully mirror the real journey, but readers expecting relentless dramatic momentum may find the pacing contemplative rather than propulsive.
What readers & critics say
Copperfield's Books praises the memoir as "as profound as it is moving — a tapestry of adventure, love and, of course, camels," while glamadelaide.com.au frames it as "an epic story of leaving everything behind to find purpose, adventure and love." Harry Hartog notes its echoes of Cheryl Strayed's Wild and its status as "an empowering memoir about giving up a conventional life in the pursuit of something more," and the Canberra Times published an extract situating the thirteen-month, near-5,000-kilometre crossing within Matterson's personal transformation.
Sources: Copperfield's Books, Glam Adelaide, Harry Hartog, Canberra Times4.5from 195 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
In This Review
- What Works & What Doesn't
- What the Book Is — and What It Puts on the Line
- The Significance of the Achievement
- Matterson's Voice and the World She Describes
- Genuine Strengths of the Work
- Who It Is For — and Where It May Not Satisfy
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works
- First woman to complete a full camel crossing of Australia — a record-setting achievement that gives the memoir rare historical weight
- Named, individual camels (Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton, and Mac) make the journey's central relationships vivid and specific rather than abstract
- Winner of the 2022 Australian Geographic Spirit of Adventure Award, recognising both the journey and its documentation
- Dual focus on exterior landscape and interior reckoning, praised by Copperfield's Books as 'profound' and 'moving'
- Grounded in universal human conflict — leaving behind conventional milestones at exactly the moment peers are embracing them
What Doesn't
- Readers seeking a fast-paced, externally driven adventure narrative may find the long stretches of solitude and inward reflection slow the momentum
- The COVID-19 lockdown backdrop is embedded throughout the journey, which some readers may find dates or contextually constrains the universal appeal of the story
A memoir of extraordinary physical and personal stakes, The Crossing chronicles Sophie Matterson's 4,750-kilometre solo walk across Australia with five wild camels — a journey completed in 2021 and recounted with what one bookseller describes as a "gift for writing."
The Crossing: A memoir of love, adventure and finding your own path by Sophie Matterson front cover
What the Book Is — and What It Puts on the Line
In 2020, at the age of thirty-one, Sophie Matterson made a series of irreversible decisions: she ended a long-term relationship, packed her belongings into saddlebags, trained five wild camels named Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton, and Mac, and set out from Shark Bay on Western Australia's remote coast. Her destination was Byron Bay on the New South Wales east coast — a distance of 4,750 kilometres of rugged Australian terrain that included harsh deserts, treacherously beautiful salt lakes, remote cattle stations, and country towns. The journey unfolded against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, with each state in various forms of lockdown, meaning Matterson would often walk for weeks without encountering another person. The book documents her thirteen-month crossing in full, including life-and-death situations survived along the way, a love story that began in the middle of the Outback, and a hard-won trust in her own judgement and capabilities.
“as profound as it is moving — a tapestry of adventure, love and, of course, camels.”
The Significance of the Achievement
In 2021, Matterson became the first woman to complete a camel crossing of the full width of Australia. That distinction alone gives The Crossing a place in the record of Australian adventure, but the memoir reaches beyond the credential. Its publisher, Allen & Unwin, frames the book as a story about "giving up a conventional life in the pursuit of something more" — the "more" Matterson describes herself as having always sensed but struggled to name. The book was recognised with the 2022 Australian Geographic Spirit of Adventure Award, which affirms the journey's place within the national conversation about exploration and endurance. Comparisons to Cheryl Strayed's Wild — another memoir in which a solo journey through harsh landscape becomes the mechanism for a woman's reckoning with herself — have been widely drawn, and they speak to the genre The Crossing inhabits: the long-walk-as-self-discovery narrative, updated to the Australian continent and a very particular set of companions.
Matterson's Voice and the World She Describes
Copperfield's Books notes that Matterson's writing allows readers "to revel in the beauty of the Australian continent, the entire width of which she has trodden with her beloved camels, while also allowing us into her innermost" self — a description that captures the memoir's dual focus on exterior landscape and interior reckoning. The book moves through strikingly varied terrain: remote desert, salt lakes, isolated stations, and coastal stretches, all rendered through Matterson's direct perspective as the sole human presence for long stretches. The five camels are named and individual, not merely a logistical backdrop, and the relationships she builds with them form a thread running through the entire journey. The memoir is also frank about what Matterson walked away from — a conventional life her peers were embracing at exactly that moment — which grounds the adventure in recognisable human conflict.
Genuine Strengths of the Work
The memoir's most distinctive asset is its specificity. Matterson names her camels, names her route, names the landscape features she crosses, and names the emotional turning points — including falling in love in the Outback — rather than retreating into abstraction. The publisher's synopsis describes the journey as "the ultimate test of resilience and self-sufficiency," and the book's structure appears designed to deliver that test incrementally, with the compounding pressures of lockdown isolation, physical danger, and personal doubt accumulating across the thirteen months. Copperfield's describes the result as "as profound as it is moving — a tapestry of adventure, love and, of course, camels." For readers drawn to adventure memoir that takes the natural world seriously alongside the inner life, The Crossing offers both in abundance.
Who It Is For — and Where It May Not Satisfy
The Crossing will resonate most strongly with readers who appreciate long-form adventure memoir in the tradition of solo wilderness journeys — those who responded to Wild, to Tim Cahill, or to the broader genre of explorers making meaning through landscape. Readers seeking a tightly plotted narrative with external dramatic tension as the primary driver may find that the memoir's quieter passages — those long weeks without human contact — reflect the real texture of the journey rather than a narrative propulsive pace. The COVID-19 lockdown context is woven into the experience as a condition of isolation rather than as a separate subject, which enriches the solitude but means some readers expecting a conventional adventure arc may find the inward focus more dominant than anticipated. These are matters of taste and expectation rather than failures of craft; the book is precisely what its subtitle promises — a memoir of love, adventure, and finding your own path.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Crossing worth reading for fans of adventure memoir?
The review makes a strong case for readers who appreciate long-form adventure memoir in the tradition of solo wilderness journeys, describing the book as offering both the natural world and the inner life in abundance. Copperfield's Books is quoted calling it 'as profound as it is moving — a tapestry of adventure, love and, of course, camels,' which reflects the depth LuvemBooks found in the work.
Who is the target audience for The Crossing?
The review identifies readers who responded to Cheryl Strayed's Wild, to Tim Cahill, or to the broader genre of explorers making meaning through landscape as the most natural audience. Those seeking a tightly plotted narrative driven primarily by external dramatic tension may find the memoir's quieter, more inward passages less satisfying.
What is The Crossing about?
The Crossing is a memoir chronicling Sophie Matterson's 4,750-kilometre solo walk across Australia with five wild camels, completed over thirteen months in 2020–2021. The review describes it as documenting life-and-death situations, a love story that began in the Outback, and Matterson's hard-won trust in her own judgement and capabilities.
What big themes does The Crossing explore?
The review highlights resilience, self-sufficiency, and the tension between conventional life and the pursuit of something more meaningful as the memoir's central themes. It also engages with solitude, trust in one's own judgement, and the relationship between exterior landscape and interior reckoning.
What was Sophie Matterson's historic achievement?
In 2021, Matterson became the first woman to complete a camel crossing of the full width of Australia, a distinction the review notes gives the book a firm place in the record of Australian adventure. The journey was also recognised with the 2022 Australian Geographic Spirit of Adventure Award.
How does The Crossing compare to Wild by Cheryl Strayed?
The review draws a direct comparison between the two memoirs, noting that both feature a solo journey through harsh landscape as the mechanism for a woman's reckoning with herself. The Crossing is described as updating that genre to the Australian continent and a very particular set of companions — five named wild camels.
What role do the camels play in the memoir?
The review emphasises that the five camels — Jude, Delilah, Charlie, Clayton, and Mac — are named and individual, not merely a logistical backdrop. The relationships Matterson builds with them form a thread running through the entire journey, and Copperfield's Books specifically highlights them as central to the book's emotional tapestry.
How does the COVID-19 pandemic factor into the story?
The review explains that the journey unfolded against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, with each Australian state in various forms of lockdown, meaning Matterson often walked for weeks without encountering another person. The lockdown context is described as woven into the experience as a condition of isolation rather than as a separate subject, enriching the memoir's sense of solitude.
What is Sophie Matterson's writing style like?
A bookseller quoted in the review describes Matterson as having 'a gift for writing,' and Copperfield's Books notes her writing allows readers to revel in the beauty of the Australian continent while also granting access to her innermost self. The review praises her directness and specificity, noting she names her camels, her route, landscape features, and emotional turning points rather than retreating into abstraction.
How is The Crossing structured?
The review describes the memoir as documenting the full thirteen-month crossing, with the structure designed to deliver compounding pressures incrementally — lockdown isolation, physical danger, and personal doubt accumulating over time. The publisher, Allen & Unwin, frames it as 'the ultimate test of resilience and self-sufficiency,' and the book appears built to earn that description gradually.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
- Further reading
- 2
sophiematterson.com
- 3
- 4
glamadelaide.com.au
- 5
- 6
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