Front Cover of Book

 ‘Seraphine Terror of the Desert,’ is an untamed tale for 8-13 year olds. Seraphine, a bold little Jack Russell Terrier attempts an epic 2,500km walk across four deserts with her two legged friend, Bigdog. It’s a story based upon the unsupported traverse of Australia from the south coast to north, in 2001, by adventurer, Jon Muir (OAM) and his dog.

     Seraphine tells their story, which overflows with her zest for life, her naivety, bravado and her deep affection for Bigdog. Her story gives an exciting insight into the unique beauty and harshness of inland Australia as she brings to life extraordinary encounters with mirages, desert animals, pastoralists and indigenous people, both past and present.

     Their survival is continually challenged by the harsh environment and their own limitations. Can Seraphine protect Bigdog from the night creatures’ attack? Will Bigdog be able to find water in the desert, or will they die of thirst? If it seemed your best friend might be about to die how would you cope?

     Bigdog hauls a homemade wooden cart, loaded with their camping gear, a little food, water, maps and a gun. Most of the food and water for their 4 month odyssey is hunted and gathered, using Bigdog’s extensive knowledge of indigenous survival skills and Seraphine’s nose.    Seraphine and Bigdogs's story is both deeply earthed in the harsh practicalities of real adventure in the Australian desert and also let loose to lightly unravel into dreams and imagination.

A story which appeals to the child’s desire to see what’s over the next hill, to their joy of the mysterious and to their need to feel safe and intimately connected to family by more enduring threads than just the physical.

Back Cover of Book

Images from the book

CHAPTER 1

ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS

Bigdog turned into the wind and closed his eyes, his face golden in the sunlight. Long tendrils of fur at the sides of his cheeks fluttered gently. I could see his restlessness quivering just under his skin. He leaned forward into the harness, sniffing the breeze, his walking sticks clenched in his two front paws.

     I danced around him, jumping, swooping, begging him to start, ‘What yah waiting for, Bigdog? Come on, come on. Let’s go!’

     He grinned at me, ‘There’s no hurry, Seraphine. We’ll start when I have a feeling of what the desert has in store for us.’

     ‘What does it have in store for us? Can you smell it? Can you hunt it? What is it, Bigdog?’

     He remained silent, mesmerised by the murmuring, sighing wind that eddied around him, softly caressing his face and whispering, ‘Dain.....gerrrr......’ 

     ‘Be still a moment,’  he said, ‘listen! Can you hear what the wind is saying?’ 

     ‘Nuh, Bigdog,’ I said, tap dancing on the spot, ‘I’m too excited!

Can’t...you...hurry...up!

     Bigdog’s chin was almost against his chest as he strained to listen. He frowned, shook his head and then smiled at me again, his brown eyes shining.

     ‘Okay, Seraphine Girl, you win. Let’s go!’

     I leapt out boldly into the sun drenched morning. Bigdog grunted as he leaned into the harness and the wheels of the cart behind him began to roll forward.

     ‘Is The Desert Cruiser hard to pull?’ I asked, as I jumped over a scraggly shrub in our path. 

     ‘Very hard!’ Bigdog said, weaving around the shrub. ‘I wonder if I’ve packed everything we need? I’ve got our sleeping bags, the tarp shelter, all the maps,  my gun and knife, the water containers and a bit of food.’

     ‘Rice, flour and muesli for you,’ I added ,‘and doggie pellets for me.’

     ‘Yep, and a few dried pigs ears for us to share,’ said Bigdog.

     ‘Mmmm, yum,’ I said, drooling and licking my lips, ‘I can’t wait! Maybe we could have a nibble now Bigdog?’

      ‘We’d best save them for when we’re really hungry Seraphine. Hopefully we’ll get enough fresh meat and won’t need them.’ ‘Fresh meat, pigs ears, sleeping under the moon, walking through the wilderness for weeks and weeks; with you Bigdog! This is going to be the best adventure ever!’

     I skipped and pranced beside my big friend as he slowly pulled the cart north, plodding away from the coast into the enormous empty desert.

     ‘Come on, come on, come on, Bigdog!’ I whined, shivering, ‘Let’s go, go, go, go, go!’

     I couldn’t keep my wagging tail still. In my overwhelming joy there wasn’t room for worry, or fear, and definitely not desperate terror. That would come later.

     For now I had my best friend to myself and endless days of nose to the ground, snuffling and sniffing the scents of strange wild creatures. Slowly trekking all the way across Australia, from the bottom to the top.

     As we walked Bigdog said, ‘I can’t carry even half the food that we will need for our four month journey. If the hunting and gathering along the way is good then we might be able to stretch our rations out until the end. You can help me with the hunting, Seraphine. What do you think of that?’

     ‘All of me thinks that is a most excellent idea, Bigdog!’ I looked up at him, grinning my sharp toothed smile and wriggled with delight. ‘We’ll do it all!’ I exclaimed, ‘Just like last time; dig for rabbit; flush lizards out of their holes, chase bouncing kangaroos across the flat country.’          

     ‘...and there will be no roads or fences to get in the way of our hunt,’ said Bigdog. He stopped for a moment and looked at me, ‘You’ve not hunted kangaroo before Seraphine - you’ve never even seen one....’ 

     ‘Well, you promised we would see one this time. You just point it out Bigdog and I’ll chase it down for you.’

     Bigdog threw back his head and laughed and laughed and when he finally stopped laughing, he said, ‘You’d never catch a kangaroo Seraphine by running it down. You’ve have to use stealth. You know, sneak up on them. The aboriginal people used to hunt them with spears but I’ll use my gun. I won’t need to sneak up as close as they did. You can help me track the kangaroos if you want.’

     ‘Sounds good,’ I said,‘ when can we do it?’

     ‘When we get to kangaroo country,’ he answered.

     ‘Well lets get going then,’ I said, with a grin.

Our first day stretched on forever like the rocky horizon, all the way to the distant blue sky. I danced on white sand and red stones, under bent logs and over bushes. Bigdog traveled more slowly hauling the heavy cart behind him. He had to walk around everything that I could easily jump over, or slip underneath.

     I rushed ahead, following my nose along criss-crossing trails of smells, yelping, ‘Come on, Bigdog, this way, this way!’

      He’s always been a bit slow, but he can’t help it because he’s only got two legs.

     I  suddenly stopped prancing. Up ahead was a very strange sight. ‘Bigdog,’ I barked, ‘look!’

      I pointed with my nose at a low dark line of cliffs ahead of us. Rising quickly from the cliffs and swirling around in the sky was a puzzling green cloud.

     ‘Water,’ said Bigdog, smiling.

     ‘Water? That’s not water! It’s green and it’s rising into the sky. Rain falls down. Not up!’

     ‘That green cloud is a flock of tiny parrots. They have been drinking from a rock hole. They’re telling us there is water hidden somewhere amongst those cliffs. Probably in a dark narrow gully where the sun never shines. Lets see if we can find it.’took us a long time to get to the base of the cliffs. There were several gullies leading into them.

     ‘How do you pick which one has the water, Bigdog? We can’t search every gully. It will be dark in a few hours.’ Bigdog stood still, scanning the ground around us before he answered, ‘Here. Look! See these animal tracks in the dirt. They all lead to that gully over there,’ he pointed with his chin in the direction of a narrow slot in the cliffs. ‘And see here, on this big slab of rock, the animal’s feet have polished the stone, making a shiny path that leads to that same gully. Why do you think that is?’

     ‘Hmmm,’ I wondered, and sniffed the air for clues. ‘I know!’ I yelped, ‘I know! That’s where the water is! The animal tracks are telling us. I can smell it, too!’

     ‘Let’s go get it. Then we won’t have to use up the supply in our containers. We can save our water for when we can’t find any,’ said Bigdog, slipping out of his harness.

We squeezed excitedly up into the cool dark gully. Not far from the entrance the rock became solid and black. Deep in the back of the gully, at my chest level, we discovered a round hole in the rock. It was shaped like a large bowl.

I pushed my nose against the rim; it smelt like water but it looked as black and dry as the walls around it. Bigdog poked at the bowl with his paw, ‘Splash!’ Ripples of light appeared, reflecting in rings on the surface. As he pulled his paw out droplets of water landed on my head. 

     ‘A waterfall carved this,’ said Bigdog, pointing. ‘When it rains, water flows down the cliff in that groove there. It took centuries for the water to slowly gouge out this hole. It hasn’t rained here for a while. The sun can’t reach this little rock hole, so there’s still water in it.’

      I lapped up that cool sweet water and Bigdog knelt down on his paws and knees to drink. When he finished drinking droplets sparkled on his face fur.

      ‘Most animals need to drink every day,’ he said. ‘Eventually the sun and the wind dry up the desert waterholes. The animals have to move on; or they die.’

     ‘Will you always be able to read the animal tracks to guide us to rock holes?’ I asked, glancing up at him. ‘What if all the waterholes dry up? I don’t want to die of thirst!’

     Bigdog leaned over, smoothing the little worry wrinkles from between my ears, ‘If you stick close to me, my little friend, you’ll be fine. Somehow I’ll manage to find water. Now it’s time to find a good place to camp.’

Frequently Asked Questions About Seraphine’s Story

Where can I get a copy of, ‘Seraphine Terror of the Desert?’

Go to, suzanmuir@gmail.com and request to purchase a book.

Did Seraphine and Bigdog really hear the corroboree in the Tirari Desert?

Yes- this event really did happen during their walk across Australia in 2001.

Every event in the book, up until Seraphine becomes a spirit, actually happened - excluding the story about Seraphine going into the cave and seeing the dark shadowy creatures who lived there.