The McLaren Vale Wineries of South Australia hosted a pretty unusual book launch on Saturday April 2.

CQU Press (Outback Books) launched 'Ten Thousand Campfires: Memoirs of a Camel Safari Leader' by Rex Ellis.

The book was launched at the Chalk Hill Winery, about an hour south of Adelaide. About 200 people turned up for a country show with pizzazz.

The launch speaker, Justice Paul Guest turned up in a very fragile-looking gyroscope-plane, looking extremely nervous and white-knuckled after they swooped in over the hills and landed on a narrow gravel road on top of a hill of vineyards, with a northerly gale gusting in from the desert. Straight afterwards two sky divers jumped from a plane 10 000 feet up and landed right in front of the blitz truck and the impromptu stage. A cannon was readied to fire the book (to launch it upwards), but a total fire ban was imposed and this ceremony had to be postponed.

Wine also flowed at the Black Cockatoo Winery. A bushy jumped up on the stage and sang an aria from Puccini and another bushy sang some folk songs to his guitar accompaniment.

CQU Press Director Professor David Myers gave a rousing speech in which he informed the fairly affluent and conservative crowd that they were now Outback book subversives of the capitalist economy; he said that the book had been refused by the big book chains, Angus and Robertson and Borders, so now they would all combine together to sell the book throughout the bush by Russian samisdat. He gave everyone a few advertising flyers with the exhortation to spread the word.

Autor Rex Ellis is a veteran of 35 years of camel safaris, 4WD safaris and even boat safaris, being the only man to talk a group from north to south in the flooded Lake Eyre. He takes his camel safaries down the Strzelecki Track and across the Victorian and Simpson deserts.

In this new book, his fourth book, he recalls taking a group of Aussies on a safari trek through India; in some remote part of India they came across a huge jamboree of Indian boy scouts who mistook Rex for the visiting Boy Scout Super Chief. Undaunted, Rex took the salute and inspected the troops and straightened a few toggles. Everyone was happy and then he rode away with his mounted camel brigade.

The event was covered by Adelaide ABC and by the Adelaide Advertiser and the Sunday Mail. Over $2800 worth of books were sold and over 250 CQU Press colour catalogues were distributed to the enthusiastic crowd.

For more information, phone Old Silvertail on 07 5552 4960.

Photos: Rex Ellis, the author and camel safari leader, on stage with wine identity Mr Hock.... and CQU Press Director Professor David Myers greets guests at the launch.