WHEN A DONKEY FALLS IN LOVE WITH YOU
English adventurer, Florence Morris, 27, walking alone down a 3000-mile Australian bush track, has had her donkey companion fall in love with her.
Florence bought seven-year-old Zac from a riding school where he was the only donkey among 75 horses and 20 camels. 'At first,' said fair-haired Florence, from Yeovil, Somerset, 'he was stubborn, naughty and determined to escape. I got a few rope burns on my hands trying to stop him; then I learned to tie some knots and it helped when I dug my heels in.'
It was a wary partnership for some days, with Zac keeping a baleful eye open for freedom; Florence trying to make sure he didn't get away.
Making her way along the rugged National Bicentennial Trail between Cooktown at the top of Australia, and Melbourne, at the bottom, Florence talked and sung to the floppy-eared Zac ("She'll be coming round the mountain") and finally won him over. Now, when they settle down to sleep in the outback at night, Zac lies down close "and talks to me."
'I get into my hammock with a waterproof tarpaulin over the top and Zac is as close as I can get him to me. He puts his nostrils together, his ears forward, and sticks his neck out and makes these funny sounds. It's not snoring, it's talking!'
Florence, a writer, is tramping 12 to 15 miles a day with Zac "to prove I am a determined person." She came to Australia for a holiday and her parents - holidaying in Europe - have no idea she is on the formidable journey.
'Zac was a bit fat when I bought him, but the condition is slowly coming off. I don't have to feed him. He munches bush at the side of the road. He doesn't even drink a lot, even on a hot day.'
But as they trek south they are entering the drought country; parts of Queensland have not seen rain for years and water is scarce. When she got to Cairns, Florence was interviewed by the local paper and asked if there was anyone with transport to get them past the worst of it. A woman on her way to a dressage event obliged and the pair are traversing the horror stretch by float.
The Bicentennial National Trail zig-zags across the Great Dividing Range, makes its way through jungle rainforest and comes out on to the Victorian Southern Alps, following old stock routes. It is rugged, awe-inspiring. And lonely.
Florence and Zac had almost made it to the Daintree rainforests when they came perilously close to disaster. She said: 'People had told me how steep some of the hills were, but there are some that a trail bike couldn't get up. Zac doesn't pull me anywhere, he likes to stay behind and follow.
'We were scrambling up one hill which was even too steep to zig-zag and I was pulling the donkey. He stumbled and couldn't get up the incline. I got behind him and tried to push him and suddenly he fell over on top of me.
'We just couldn't move. I lay there under him for about five minutes, until he got his breath back and was able to get off me.'
Zac stubbornly refuses to paddle in streams along the dusty track, but he will go into deep water with the pack on his back and "sort of wades across".
'I have had to be firm with him and build up his confidence so he isn't scared.'
She has no fear of being alone with a donkey on the lonely, isolated track. She has met only one person - a woman going the other way with a team of four horses. 'We had a couple of beers and as she realised she was heading into the hot northern summer she decided to turn round.'
Slim, with sun-bleached hair, Florence wears a back-pack while Zac shoulders tarpaulin, hammock, clothes and cooking gear.
What does she think about, tramping along for hours with Zac? 'I think of one thing: a lovely long bath at the end of it all.'
Five years ago she trekked through the Samburu Reserve in Kenya with two camels and a native guide. 'I love the outback and the sense of isolation it gives you. It feels like the bush is swallowing you whole.’
