To observe a ridge of sandhills was to wonder what lay beyond them... Perhaps it was the sense of freedom, both physically and spiritually, the knowledge that should I want to look beyond the sandhills and peer beyond the mirage, there was nothing but my two legs and a water bag to prevent me... As thousands did before me, and as men are still doing in these days, I asked for my cheque instead of orders one bright morning in May, and a week later an eager young man pushed a loaded bicycle out of Wilcannia. Arthur Upfield's autobiography was written in 1937 but put aside during the intervening years of the Second World War. Now available for the first time, here is Upfield's own story of tramping Australia and developing his great crime novels featuring Bony, the first Aboriginal detective, alongside real desert characters like One-Spur Dick, Mr Pluto, Dead March Harry and the evil Snowy Rowles. Illustrated with photographs from Upfield's archive.