Alone Across Australia
One mans trek across a continent.

Format	Book  (Australian)	Category	Non-Fiction
Title	Alone Across Australia	Pages	225
Author	Jon Muir	RRP	$25.00 AUD
Publisher	Penguin Books	Reviews	1
Edition	Softcover 2003	Ave Rating	(4.50 of 5)

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IdratherbeclimbingM9 11/10/2011

The price of $25 is a guess, as I have had the book quite a while, but not got around to reading it until recently. Context. Jon Muir had already summited Mt Everest, and trekked to the South Pole (amongst other adventurous things), prior to this undertaking. As a document of the only feat of its kind to date, of crossing Australia unsupported, on foot, through some of its harshest and remotest regions, it stands alone as a testament to ingenuity and tenacity. It is comprehensive in describing circumstances surrounding the event, in all its stages from leading up to it, during same, and post journal logs / equipment list. The writing style is candidly forthright / honest, but I found the engagement for me, was more from the task undertaken than the writing style, which is a bit dry at times. It consists of Jon's daily journal notes from the 128 day trek, and reflects his moods and thoughts at the time, as well as detailing some of the odd things he experienced or came across. It is more than documenting the physicality and tactics of the undertaking though; … as scattered throughout the writings (about 45 instances), were gems of insight into the character / makeup required, for a challenge this huge; regarding; mindset / will power, mental condition / appreciation, balance / focus, limits / adjustments, reflections / perspective. All up very inspirational, as there was more than one occasion where he felt that what he was doing was harder than his summit day on Mt Everest. I bought the book at the Blue Mtns Climbing Festival some years back, where Jon was a guest speaker. I heard him speak about his quest, and I saw his film footage taken on that mission-journey. By comparison, the book lacks some detail that came through in his speaking and film footage at that event, but is worth reading nevertheless, especially if the Adventure (with a capital A), genre of book is your thing. Postscript. Not long after completing his unsupported crossing of Australia, he sucessfully journeyed to the North Pole.