In 1973 David Howison announced to his 17-year-old son Mark that they were going to walk around Australia to raise money to protect the kangaroos. Once he got over his initial shock, Mark was up for the adventure. Thanks to the local Kangaroo Protection Society they were kitted out in boots, hats and given a sponsorship with Fuji-Hanimax cameras. After leaving Sydney with a huge farewell from a Scottish Highlander band, thousands of people and many media interviews, it was just Mark, his dad, and their dog Wendy on the road. Anticipating a hero's welcome and free hospitality at every town, the pair soon discover that not only are they left to fend for themselves but that, in the bush, the bloody kangaroos don't need saving and angry farmers frequently reminded them of this fact by firing bullets over their heads. Dirt roads, wild-driving semi-trailers, feral pigs, crocodiles, snakes, rogue RSPCA officers and, eventually lack of food and, even more importantly to David, cigarettes, turned this inspiring quest into one of survival. To make matters worse, halfway through the trip, not only have the locals turned against them, Mark and David begin to become heartily sick of each other. And that is when the story really begins... Frequently hilarious and written by a master storyteller with a very 'Australian' turn of phrase, this is warm-hearted, entertaining tale of having big dreams and the determination to see them through, and the often fractured and bent, but always unbroken, love between father and son.
