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Kimberley 2002
- ReVisited
After paddling around the Kimberley coast for a year in the
1980s, in 2002 it was time to revisit one of the most special
places in the world.
I was accompanied by Pam Riordan, Tel Williams, Gary Nixon,
Don Kensit and John Dinucci. It was a long drive to Broome,
then up to One Arm Point where we started our journey.
We had just paddled for two weeks, visiting
many beautiful places, seeing stunning cliffs, fighting fast
tidal waters, and being checked out by sharks and crocodiles.
We were now on our last two days of our journey:
We fished most days. Filleting the fish
for dinner
The story
below is of these last two days.
The tide streaming out
between two islands
Gary checking out the
reefs that are exposed on low tide. They are well covered
on high tide. Near Tree Island.
Our story starts here
at Tree Island. By the time the tide comes in, it will be
higher than the rocks on the beach and only a metre or two
from our tents. Two of the group cooling off in the water.
Note the tidal rapids on the right.
The tide was coming in but when we left
the island the next morning it was going in the opposite direction.
Wednesday
It was another early 4.00am start. The team was ready early
as we were keen to get going. We paddled from our beach at
5.20am and waited beyond the shallows watching the water rip
through the islands and across the King Sound with enormous
power and speed. It was like watching a grade 4 rapid.
The white water stretches 13kms across
King Sound.
We had banked on leaving
by 6.30am, but the current was so fast and the water so turbulent
that it was impossible to leave our island making us prisoners
for a while. We sat in an eddy and as we were eager to leave
I paddled into the fast current to see if we could make headway.
It was too wild so I ferried back into the eddy and sat with
the others. I waited for a few more minutes and paddled back
into the current again but it was still too powerful. If we
tried to escape the island at this time we would probably
be washed into the islands and rocky reefs, so we waited longer.
On the third time out, the current had eased enough and I
was happy that it was safe enough to leave. I had to be sure
though, because ahead we had 13 kilometres of swift currents,
waves, standing waves and overfalls to endure before we reached
the safety of East Roe Island.
We had to wait for the current to calm
a little before it was safe to leave Tree Island.
Going by our tide chart
it was only 30 minutes from the change in tide, however the
current was still travelling at 10 - 15kms an hour, but we
needed to go or we wouldn't make it to the other side of the
Sunday Straits before the tide turned. Pam had been concerned
about the crossing all night. Understandably really as it
was the day of the highest spring tides in the year and the
tides in the Kimberley are the second highest in the world
attaining more than ten metres in height and current speeds
not seen anywhere else in Australia. Crossing the King Sound
would be like ferry gliding across a swift river, 13kms wide.
I led the team away from the island ferry gliding against
the current as not to lose any ground as we had several small
islands and reefs to avoid. A mistake in those first few minutes
by any one of us could mean being pushed into the rocks and
suffer severe physical injury or even death. We made little
headway as our boats moved about like corks being tossed in
a tumble dryer.
Gary, Tel, Don and myself took off one after the other but
Pam and John were delayed for some reason so we drifted apart.
Being an experienced paddler John's job was to bring up the
rear so he never took off before every paddler was mobile.
Downstream of us the water was pouring over the rocky reefs.
It was such a mess and although we were well away from the
reefs we were drifting towards them very quickly. Gary, Tel,
Don and myself cleared them, but Pam was getting a lot closer
than we would have liked. John was even closer but he was
positioning himself in a place to help Pam in case she got
into trouble. We urged them on.
It was difficult to wait in such a swift current, but after
slowing down our ferry glide we eventually managed to group
together. When we cleared the 'Tree Island' area the water
calmed, but it was still swift with overfalls waiting. The
calm didn't last long as we came to another disturbed area.
Our boats were again thrown around and our target was slipping
away from us as we were being swept out to sea. There were
lines of overfalls to our west which looked very threatening,
but the current was pushing us north of them.
The wind was getting stronger which didn't help us any. Pam
was lagging a little and we seemed to be getting closer to
Gregory Island to our north rather than to East Roe Island
to our west. That meant that we were really being pushed in
the wrong direction. But if the tide goes out its got to come
back in, so we had nothing to fear! I have crossed the King
Sound five times before and it always put up a great fight.
It hadn't disappointed me.
The route starting from Cape Leveque
and heading to Cockatoo Island and return.
We were now about 4.5kms
from East Roe Island and sliding further away despite us paddling
hard to reach the island. Pam wasn't quite as fit as the rest
of the group, so every time we slowed to wait we slid away
a little further. We struggled on getting nowhere and hoping
the current would ease. At last we started to make progress,
although it was at a snail's pace, but when it seemed that
we were going to miss East Roe Island we changed our target
and headed towards West Roe Island.
When we managed to claw our way back to within a kilometre
of the island we could feel the tide get much stronger and
although it had turned it was starting to push us away from
the West Roe Island and back towards East Roe Island. In one
way this was good, but we had to be careful not to get pushed
passed the island and back into the King Sound, so we put
on the pace and managed to get close to shore and into an
eddy at the north end. Pam had been the most challenged throughout
the last half of the paddle, so she was most relieved to be
in an eddy.
We moved to a beach in a small bay around the corner. It had
no shade from the burning sun, but it was a great beach and
we were able to cool off in shallow water. I walked to the
north point of the island, passing two eagle nests, to look
out across the Sunday Straits and King Sound from where we
had come. It was still full of overfalls and waves.
Back at camp we played ball in the water, tried fishing without
any luck, relaxed and I wrote in my diary. We finished off
the day by drinking a little wine, eating tinned oysters,
watching the tide race by and a bush curlew and 2 oyster catchers
feeding in the shallows.
Our camp on East Roe Island. Still lots
of white water in the sound.
Thursday
It had to be a 4.00am
start. We were ready before the sun came up so we waited for
the light. The current was already racing, and I mean racing,
but at least it was to our advantage. None of the crew had
seen the current run as fast as it was running here and the
channel between East Roe, our island and Sunday Island was
over two kilometres wide. It was hard to believe that it was
the ocean. With the rapid current flying like the wind, the
crossing to Sunday Island was going to be pretty exciting.
It was also going to be difficult and it was most certainly
a dangerous place to paddle as one slip and anyone of us could
be washed away. We had a last minute briefing so everyone
knew what we intended to do and where we were headed, just
in case we got separated.
We moved into the big eddy of our bay and lined up close to
the eddy line. The water was racing at least 20kms an hour,
it could have been more. Don, Tel and Gary weren't experienced
white water paddlers and having white water skills would certainly
be an advantage in the next few minutes. I led the way by
doing a break-in into the fast current. Don, Tel and Pam followed
without incident but when it was Gary's turn, he faltered
and got swept back into the eddy. Meanwhile we were being
swept away at a very fast pace. By the time Gary managed to
get out of the eddy and into the current we were probably
500 metres away. When Gary was on the move, John followed
him.
Our aim was to ferry glide across to Sunday Island and then
use a series of islands to move safely into a channel and
paddle to Swan Island, our next camping spot on the outgoing
current. Unfortunately Gary and John, who were still well
behind, didn't seem to be ferrying across the swift channel
on the same path as we were taking. I became quite worried
as it looked as if the current was going to sweep them between
West and East Roe Islands. If that happened we would be split
up.
The cliffs of Sunday Island were quite stunning but it was
hard to take in their beauty when we were performing an amazing
ferry glide and watching John and Gary trying hard to power
their way towards us. At last we could see that they were
making headway and began to get close. Don, Tel, Pam and I
managed to get out of the current and into slow water near
the end of Sunday Island where we waited for John and Gary.
It was good to be teamed up again. We were all so excited
as we had just been through another unbelievable experience.
We ferry glided from Sunday Island to Pooingin Island and
then across to Salural Island. It was good fun and it was
a lot easier than our last two big ferry glides but we still
had one more big ferry glide to do to ensure we didn't get
washed out into the Timor Sea. To ensure our safe passage
we needed to be close to the Apex, Talboys and Howard Islands,
these were the last ones before leaving the huge currents
of the King Sound and only a few kilometres from the safe
haven of Swan Island.
At last we paddled between the mainland and Swan Island and
found a beach on the Island to camp for our last night of
our very enjoyable trip. It had been such a wonderful journey
and it was great to share it with others.
It was hot, we relaxed
and went swimming in the clear water off our beach. Pam had
been afraid of crocs and sharks when we arrived, but now she
was snorkelling further from the beach than any of us.
*****
For me the Kimberley and
its amazing features wasn't new as I had paddled around it's
coastline for over a year, but it is still one of the best
places that I have ever kayaked. The Kimberley coast and its
environment has lots of extremes and if you are frightened
of crocs and sharks or big tides, well it's probably best
to paddle south of Cape Leveque. For the rest of the team
the country was all new and I can guarantee it will be a trip
that they will never forget.
Gary, Pam, Don, John
and Tel at Cape Leveque. Start and end point.
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If you are interested in a Mirage Sea
Kayak, like the ones used on this expedition, or any of our
other sea kayaks just come in to see us.
If you want to join a sea kayak club
and go away on overnight trips check out the Sea Kayak Club
website: http://www.seakayakwa.org.au/
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