Views from the Top

Mon 4/3/94

Oysters and wine for breakfast.

Dawn: Tamea and John go fishing.  Bill and I have a leisurely brekkie of sausages and eggs which Bill cooks.
0730 hours:  John and Tamea return.  No fish but a load of oysters in a bucket, so we have oysters with white wine.  They're nice and big. We're pulling two or three at a time out of the bucket.
Morning: Square boat away and go ashore.  Climb to the top of the gorge and walk around to the top of the falls.  There are actually two separate falls. The view is stunning and magnificent.  Looking up at the top does not look nearly so far as it does looking down.  Skinny dip in rock pools at the head of each falls. 

The way to the top.

Bill and Russ at the top of the cliffs.

One of the falls.

Rugged country. Look closely and you will see Bill
looking over the edge. Russ is standing on a rock
ledge to the left and above him.

Yachts anchored in the river.

Skinny dipping in the rock pools.

Waterfall taken from top of cliffs

Afternoon: Return to boat.  Leisurely afternoon.  John and I go fishing.  Catch a trevally and an archer fish which we use for crab bait.  Set some pots.  Have a shower under the natural waterfall. 

Tues 5/3/94
Dawn: Bill and John go fishing.  Have breakfast on their return.
Morning: Up anchor and move back down river. Collect crab pots on the way but no crabs.  Anchor in a bend near the mouth of the shallow eastern arm of the river.  Reset crab pots then all troop off in the dinghy to the head of the eastern arm to visit the waterfall there.

Waterfall at the end of first inlet of the river.

John climbing to the top of the falls.

This waterfall is not nearly so majestic or high but pretty in it’s own right.  Someone has kindly left a thick corded rope hanging down the rocks to help climb up to the top. The going is much harder here.  The cliffs and rocks appear to be much more eroded than upriver, and there are a lot of loose rocks to catch the unwary. At the top the going is very slow while working around to the head of the falls.  Big boulders laying everywhere.  We find no rock pools to sit in unless we work our way quite some distance inland, so decide against it.  The creek feeding the falls descends from the plateau in a series of levels with mini waterfalls along the way.  Very pretty. At the head of the falls is a chasm about 50m deep with long, flat and wide rock plates.  There is a very deep rock pool.  As usual the trip back to the dinghy seems faster than coming in.
Afternoon: Get back to the boat.  Do some fishing. John gets a trevally, his first fish on a lure.
Evening: A calm night.  Some lightning about. Get some light rain overnight so we have to sleep indoors instead of on deck.

Into the River

0700 hours: Easter bunny finds us.  Bill and I present crew with chocolate and lolly Easter eggs.  High tide needed to get over the sand bar at the entrance of the river but this won't be until midday.
0930 hours: Drop dinghy and get it ready.  Bill and I take dinghy and check the sand bar with a lead line, and go looking for a deep enough channel with some bearings to use when we make the crossing.

Bill spotting looking for channels
as we head to entrance of river.

1130 hours: Negotiate sand bar and inside river. Tamea climbs the mast to take pictures.  Sip some white wine as we slowly motor up the river taking in the beautiful scenery.
1430 hours: Meet up with Wooli anchored near the waterfalls at the head of the river. Anchor up.  Tamea and I do some fishing.  Tamea lands a nice Trevally which he later turns into a superb Nummis.  Tide too high to get at the oysters.  Change over in dinghy so Bill and John can get some fishing in.  Have a sleep.

Entrance to the King George River.
Sandbar at left



Inside the entrance to King George
River. Small gorge off to the right.

Tamea in crosstrees looking
for shallow water or obstacles.

The river ahead.

Motoring along.

Looking back.

John tries to catch a fish.

Typical rock walls.

A bend in the river.

The waterfalls mark the end of the river.

Wooli at anchor.

A natural freshwater waterfall.

1800 hours: Crew all have a shower under a natural freshwater waterfall.  It's cold and stings a little because of the height of its fall but it's wonderful. The children from the Wooli have climbed up to a rock pool along the cliffs.  Almost have to use the binoculars to see them from our boat.  Three other people are camped on the rocks around the base of the waterfall.  Two men and a woman.  We later learn they'd come from the Kalumburu Aboriginal community in their two 16 ft dinghy’s, about 4 hours travel time away.
1900 hours:  Visit the Wooli for a few drinks and social intercourse.  Have a great time, very enjoyable indeed.
2300 hours:  Get back to Lowana with a rosy glow and have some dinner.  Very simple fare, sausages and mashed potatoes.  Get a good nights sleep.

Getting Across the Gulf

S.V. LOWANA IV
DARWIN to the KING GEORGE RIVER, WA
EASTER 1994

Passages across Joseph Bonaparte Gulf

Crew:
Russ Swan  Skipper
Bill Hawker
John Hawker
Tamea (Tumma) Jeffreys

Wed 23/3/94
Commence organising boat for the trip.  Start servicing of engine.  Top up fuel and water.

Thur 24/3/94
Bill and I shop for non-perishable stores, eg packaged food etc.  Load onto boat.

Mon 28/3/94
Finn Campbell (diesel engineer) comes out to boat.  Checks engine and shows me how to bleed the air in the fuel system.  This proves to be a valuable lesson later on.  Engine servicing completed.  Pick up new GPS - a Garmin 50 hand-held with a wall mount and attachment to boats 12v DC power.

Wed 30/3/94
Bill and I shop for fresh stores ie meat, fruit and vegetables.

Thur 31/3/94

Under Sail

0730 hours: All crew meet at Dinah Beach boat ramp. Take personal gear and fresh stores out to boat and load them aboard.  Final check of engine and boat in general eg stowage, final inventory checks.
0930 hours: Leave mooring in Sadgroves Ck and move out into Darwin Harbour.   Lift dinghy and secure onto davits.  This takes some time due to testing a different system of raising dinghy higher than previously to clear a following sea.  Other final preparations eg bring out and secure extra sails, crew briefing on safety and general boat housekeeping etc.
1050 hours: Hoist sails off Talc Head and depart Darwin Harbour.  beautiful day, slight breeze, seas 0.6m.
1220 hours: Reach #5 buoy at Charles Point Patches under sails only.  Wind dead aft, goosewinged sails. Have lunch of chicken rolls, tomato and onions.
Afternoon: Freshwater pump fails. Find surface rust on an in-line fuse. Clean off and all ok.  Notice refrigerator not working.  Negative wire has corroded and broken off the moulded plastic power plug.  Have to cut it open, re-wire, solder and tape up plug. Get it working again ok.  It continued to work with no problems for rest of trip.  Temporarily install the new GPS to boat power and mount the antenna externally up on the targa rail. Stern gland holding well.  Very little water coming in and minimum bilge pumping required.  Shear pin of the auto-helm breaks caused by binding in the planetary gears. The whole shear pin connection is torn apart.  Hand steering from the time being.

Sunset in the gul

1605 hours: Reach Fish Reef light, clear it by 2.5 nautical miles (nm).  Set course 235 deg. Magnetic for King George River.
1800 hours: Have dinner of cryovac Silverside, mashed potato and peas.
2030 hours: Slow going.  Only made good 16 nm since Fish Reef light.  Average speed 3.5 knots. Seems to be an adverse current and no wind.  Also beginning to wish I had cleaned the boats hull prior to starting out, although it had only been done a month ago and didn’t think it would be too bad.  Motor sailing now.

Fri 1/4/94
0600 hours: Sight navigation lights of the Wooli, a 64’ timber cruiser owned by Don and Annette Ross who are also sailing to King George Rv.  They have another couple on board and all together there were five children between the two families.  Very slow progress during night.  Little or no breeze so motoring along instead.  Whatever winds we get are from dead ahead and have to tack virtually west or south. Take headsail down at one point because it was back-winding and slowing us down. However fluctuating winds come in abeam do give a boost from time to time.

a mirrored sea

0700 hours: Establish radio contact with Wooli. Don is getting 6 to 7 kts under motor. We're still struggling with 4 to 4.5 kts. Don is just as surprised as I am that he caught us so soon.  He quickly leaves us behind after giving me a bit of stick over the radio.
 0730 hours: Have breakfast of cereal, a cuppa, scratch and look around.  Water like glass. Boat is perfectly mirrored in the water which is a deep indigo blue.  Loads of sea snakes, small ones around 2-3 ft long usually on the surface.  They are a light brown colour with black bands and very small heads.  Occasionally we see one swimming straight down, to get away from us I suppose.  The day is absolutely brilliant, just enough of a breeze to keep relatively cool, if not enough to keep the sails filled.
Morning: Bill and Tamea set to work with the cordless drill and permanently mount the EPIRB near the wheelhouse door where it can be snatched up quickly if needed.  They also mount the GPS bracket onto the hull above the navigation station.  No one sick yet but we haven’t had any seas big enough to talk about yet.

Bill's turn on watch

1050 hours: Have had better runs. Made good only 98.1 nm for the 24 hrs.
1300 hours: Lunch of chicken rolls.
Afternoon: Catch up on some sleep.  Fix the auto-helm using some spare parts left over from a previous fault.  Degrease the planetary gears to get rid of the crud.  Get it working better than before. No more problems with the auto helm for the rest of the trip.
1800 hours:  Mince stew with pasta, fresh and dried veges for tea.  Winds treating us poorly all day, remaining dead on the nose for the whole of the time.  This remains the same for the rest of the trip over.

Sat 2/4/94
Early Morning: Sight navigation lists of two more yachts to our south.  Later learns that these were Hope and Rattle and Hum.  They slowly pass by us in the distance.  Breakfast of cereal and toast.
Morning: Another fine day.  Slight breezes head on as usual.  Hold to a westerly course during the morning.  Tack south for a while to get to a final approach position favourable to winds.  Tamea occupying himself cleaning anything made of brass or bronze.  Another disappointing run for the last 24 hrs.  Expect 5 to 6 kts which I know the boat can easily achieve when motor-sailing, but only getting about 4 kts. Definitely regretting not cleaning boats hull before departure now. Also seem to be strong adverse currents holding us back. Check fridge contents.  All ok.

Mud-map of Koolama Bay and
King George River

1745 hours: First sighting of WA. coast.  Watch it get closer during the ‘cocktail hour’.  Have dinner of stew with different pasta.
Evening: Have to close with the coast in pitch dark. GPS’s are great gadgets allowing you to do this was careful use of waypoints.
Late Evening:  Nose our way into Koolama Bay at the head of the King George Rv.  Hope and Rattle and Hum anchored just inside the entrance on the eastern side in a small cove with a sandy beach.  Tried to anchor just south of them in the lee of some cliffs but the newly purchased 35lb CQR plough anchor would not hold in 9m of water.  The large Danforth (sand) anchor wouldn’t hold either.  Tried a couple of times but it dragged each time. Moved about 1 nm further south around a bend and set the anchor in about 5m of water.  This time successful.
 
Sun 3/4/94
0100 hours: We enjoy a couple of beers to celebrate and get to bed.

Lowana IV in Koolama Bay