At 07:00 we departed the anchorage and crossed the sand bar
at the mouth of the King George River on the high tide, using the GPS waypoints
suggested from the Kimberly Cruising Club.
Anchored at the entrance
was a massive Kimberly cruise ship
Entry was straight forward and the minimum depth was around
3.2 metres but what a grand entrance it was, with 100 – 200-meter-high
sandstone cliffs on either side as we traveled the first three miles up to our
first anchorage at a side creek.
We anchored Sirocco (and Lizard) and headed off up the side
creek a mile or so in the dinghies to the trickling 100-meter falls at the end
where there was a rope dangling all the way from the top to the water.
Luke, then Bruce quickly scrambled up the rope on the high
cliff face while I looked on shitting my pants. Then it was my turn and it was
a scary difficult and dangerous climb and by the time I got to the top my arms
and legs felt like jelly and I was exhausted.
We were greeted by this huge beautiful amphitheater with a
large clear swimming hole and immediately we all jumped in to cool off.
I climbed further up the next cliff to some more swimming
holes, then came back and did a bombie from about twenty meters up into the
deep pool below.
We stayed for about an hour and a half having several swims
and relaxing in the sun while Luke pulled out his brand-new second drone for a
fly. (he lost his last one when he crashed it into the rigging of Lizard)
He was getting some great footage until he crashed into the
side of the canyon wall and the drone fell 100 metres into the water below and
sank. Bugger, and that was only the second flight.
I was dreading the climb down the cliff clinging to the old
rope and Luke and Bruce went first and made it look really easy. Then it was my
turn. I had a bit of sewing machine leg at first as I slithered backwards over
the cliff and slowly slid down the rope, then the Commando training kicked in
and I abseiled all the way down in thirty seconds. It was so much better going
down.
After all the strenuous mornings activities, we all headed
back to Sirocco for coffee and scones and to relax in the beautiful
surroundings.
After lunch, I took Putu for a run in the dinghy to take a
look at the gorge with the rope that we just climbed. The tide had gone out
half a meter by now and we ran aground. luckily, I was able to get us out and
continue on before Mr Croc came over for a look. An inflatable dinghy with two
passengers would be like flavoured chewing gum to a large croc.
We made it all the way up the gorge and then did some
fishing on the way back. Once in the main river again, we did some trolling
along the rocks and caught a huge GT, a huge cod and another smaller trevally
before losing my lure, getting cut off on the oysters.
We gave Luke the large trevally and I went back to Sirocco
and cleaned the other two fish keeping the frames for crab bait. Then I went
off in the dinghy to find a suitable location to put the crab nets in, getting
eaten alive by the midgies in the process.
Today was Indonesian Independence Day and we had invited
Bruce and Luke over for dinner. After a shower, I hung a couple of Indonesian
flags up to set the theme and just on sunset we could hear Indonesian music
echoing through the canyon and we went outside to see what was going on and bugger me, here
is Bruce rowing the dinghy over to us with Luke standing in the bow playing a
large pot with a spoon, and both dressed in traditional Indonesian costume.
It was bloody classic and they had gone to a lot of
trouble and Putu was very impressed and touched by the effort they had gone to.
For entrée we had spicy crumbed oysters that I gathered
yesterday and they were delicious. Bruce and Luke were a bit weary at first,
but after the first one there was no holding back. For the main we had chicken
curry on a bed of rice and for sweets we had crème brûlée, all washed down with
beer and red wine.
We had a great evening with lots of laughing and banter and
our two Indonesian guests rowed off into the dark around 21:30.
Before bed, we shone the spot light around and saw one
crocodile close to the boat.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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