King George River, The Kimberleys

We left for The Kimberleys on the first day of spring.  We had our extra 2 jerry cans of diesel which increased our total fuel carried to 250 litres.

We left in the calm but had a handy little breeze spring up in the afternoon so we were able to raise the sails and turn the motor off.  Silence is bliss!

During the night, the breeze died out once again, so we glid (past tense of glide), into the golden sunrise on an oily calm sea.  



You wouldn't want it any other way!














As the morning matured into day, the sea and sky 
merged into one.


It took us about 50 hours to reach the mouth of the King George River.  Along the way we had a pod of 8 dolphins, making good use of our bow wave.  They stayed with us for nearly half an hour which is unusual as they normally tire of it after 5 - 10 minutes.

Another surprise for us was a Hump-backed whale as we were nearing King George River.  I believe it is not that common for them to be in that area.

We entered the wider part of the mouth of the river known as Koolama Bay mid morning and found a small secluded beach to anchor while we took the dinghy to check the depths of the sandbars across the river.  We would have to wait till high tide to cross these and needed to know our course as we would be in trouble, even at high tide, if we got it wrong.

As we rounded into this little bay, we were greeted, first by a mast, then the rest of a yacht. However, the yacht wasn't so much on the water as it was half high and dry, moored and anchored at 4 separate points to keep it falling over. 

Before you could say Jack Robinson, the owner of this yacht (Raymond) was in his dinghy on his way to say G'day.

After a bit of small talk, he went back to his yacht and we followed over in the dinghy to stretch our legs on land.


Cameras in hand we went for a walk to see what we could find.  I was especially looking for the White-quilled Rock Pigeon which is only found in this small part of Australia.  Ian found one first and I was excited to see one on my first day here.

Ok, I admit it's quite a nondescript looking bird, but you have to come a long way to see one.  It's priceless!









 Legs stretched, we had a bit more of a chat to Raymond before heading back to Winkali, then over to the sandbars.

We admired Raymond's handiwork.  He wanted to get his yacht high and dry so he could clean the bottom and get a few more knots out of it on his way to Freemantle.  We were in awe, to say the least.  Raymond isn't a spring chicken and he had accomplished this amazing piece of engineering by himself.  

He did it all the time! 
Why didn't we try it?  
Umm, what for? 
To see if it will float again.
What would we tell the insurance?  We put our boat high and dry to see if it would float again when the tide came in. 

We didn't try :)

After checking the sandbars in our dinghy, we looked over to the bay where we had Winkali anchored.  To our dismay, we noticed that Raymond's yacht was no longer upright, but lying on it's side.

Oh no, we hoped that he was ok.

Raymond's boat on it's side

Back we went to make sure he hadn't fallen over and been crushed as the yacht had tilted.

No, there he was taking a stroll along the shore.  

Ian and Raymond 

He assured us that everything was well and the worst that had happened was that his stew had fallen off the stove.



Ian and Raymond sat under a rock ledge in the shade for a while, fixing the yacht (verbally).


That night, the tide came in, Raymond's yacht floated and he anchored out in the deeper water for a good night's sleep.  We were relieved and did the same.

We woke in the morning to find a cruise ship had come in and anchored not far away.  While we were getting over our astonishment, another one came in and did the same.  They launched a flotilla of zodiacs, filled them with happy passengers and up the river they went.

It was now high tide so we pulled up anchor and followed them sedately.


We sailed up the King George River mostly in silence.  What could you say.  It was breath-takingly beautiful.



Crazyily angled cliffs towered above us.  Deep ochre, delicate pink, black, sandstone, boulders precariously balanced - Rock Art in nature.

We took Winkali to the waterfalls (which weren't falling this time of the season).  The water in the river is 60m deep here!  

The dark area on the rocks is where the water falls in the wet season.










These tour guides from the cruise ships have got a tough job, guarding the inflatables in the shade of a rock ledge, while their passengers are climbing the gorge above.


We anchored Winkali downstream a short way and found the steep rocky path to the top of the falls after the last of the cruise ship passengers had departed back to their ship.

Wow, this was a serious climb.  I had new respect for those people who had just came down.

It was now early afternoon and the walk was hot to say the least.  We had intended on going for a dip in the freshwater pools at the top of the falls, but being so late in the season, the pools had an active growth of algae flourishing in them, so we abstained.  

From the top of the falls we could see Winkali waiting at anchor.  She is the small dot in the middle of the river.  

It's hard to give the right perspective of how high and grand the gorges are, but if you can imagine yourself as a small speck on that tiny dot, it's a start.



We spent 2 days exploring the river and falls.  We had to keep moving because we were way behind time and had a long way to cover through the Kimberleys and down the west coast before the cyclone season was upon us.  

With the unseasonally calm days we had been having, the ocean would be warming up early this year and we were getting nervous.

We had arrived at King George River, the first of our Kimberleys stops on the 3 Sept and it was now 6 Sept and we were leaving.  The weather was still against us and we would still have to motor most of the way.  We could buy fuel at 2 remote locations before Broome but it would cost us over $3 a litre, the most expensive fuel in Australia.

As we reached the mouth of the river with a light westerly blowing, we both reached a sudden decision which we hadn't even discussed before.

We would head east and explore all that fabulous country which we had raced past on our way up here.  

There was Arnhem Land just begging to be seen.  The Wessels.  All those islands up the east coast which we had passed and promised ourselves to come back and see properly.

Why race through The fantastic Kimberleys and not see them properly while sacrificing all that we had been past.

We decided to head back while there was still time to get a good look at what we'd missed on the way up.  We'll leave earlier next dry season and have a proper look.

So, we had a day of sailing till the calm took over again and we turned on the motor. 

What do we do while we're out on the sea out of sight of the land.

Well, we watch sunrise and sunset, always on the look for the amazing green flash on the set (which we haven't seen yet).  We watch the ocean and often see amazing things which pass too quick to be photographed.  

Look, there's a turtle. A Sea Snake.  Schools and schools of fish. Dolphins.  Ian saw a pod of Humpbacks on the way back as I was having a nap - yes, he took photos for proof.

 Ian managed to get this photo a Sea Snake.  It's tricky because there here and gone in an instant.  It's a special moment to see one in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight.

And I got this photo of a tuna jumping out of the water.  We often go through schools of fish but you need to take a hundred photos before you actually get the fish in one!



Well, we're back in Darwin for a few days, then it's on to Arnhem Land,