Book excerpt: This book will take you on a hair-raising journey from the 1929 to 2005, from horse and carts to helicopters, and across the country from the Conondale Ranges around Kilcoy to Cloncurry and the Kimberley, form Moree to Mt Isa, and from the Murray River through the Channel Country and up to the Barkly Tableland. Along the way you'll find rough horses, plenty of spills, battered vehicles, rum drinkers.