Kimberley Expedition

…but bad luck for a few others. A very full and educational day began with an all too tempting breakfast. What with the variety and unlimited quantities of food and drink on offer one could easily become an 18 stone alcoholic. Clearly discipline, but not too much, will be required.
The day’s formal activities began with a series of presentations, mainly about staying safe on our forthcoming Zodiac expeditions. It was also a chance for the dozen or so expedition leaders to be introduced.. Most of them are quite young, but all are highly qualified in one or other of the natural sciences.
Late morning Elspeth , the water baby, declared a pool swim to be a necessity, and proved to be one of the only passengers, at least so far, to use the pool. It does look inviting, though it is closer in size to a baby bath than an Olympic pool. For a bit of fun the two of us attended a French pronunciation class presented, somewhat tongue in cheek, by the ship’s tour director.
Later, in the ship’s theatre, we watched a fascinating hour-long documentary “Malice or Mutiny: the Koolama Incident” which was about the eponomously-named ship with 200 passengers on board which was bombed by Japanese Zero fighters just off the Kimberley Coast. It limped to a cove near the King George River where most of those on board struggled to shore. Meanwhile the captain and a few loyal crew members worked hard to repair the damage so that the ship could struggle back to Wyndham, the nearest point of civilisation. Those on shore refused to assist, a form of mutiny. The story of how everyone eventually reached Wyndham, some by a gruelling overland journey, others by the barely seaworthy ship is really interesting.
Having been fully briefed in the morning on all the do’s and don’ts of Zodiac travel we set off at 3pm in a convoy of half a dozen Zodiacs to travel up the King George River to the falls, a 14km round trip. Ancient and spectacular sandstone cliffs line the coast and the river banks from the falls to the river mouth. They really are quite something and are unlike anything we’d seen before. Definitely well worth a visit. The lower reaches of the river are also lined with a proliferation of various mangrove species. We were also able to more fully appreciate the privations which those on board the Koolama must have experienced in that crocodile-infested and dangerous environment.
The falls themselves are spectacular, and that was despite the fact them apparently flowing at nowhere near their peak. Brian was fiddling with his camera, so was the only one of the seven of us on board our Zodiac to miss the sight of a small crocodile surfacing a few metres away just at the base of the falls to swallow a fish.
We then headed back just as the sun was setting to cover the 7km back to our boat, not knowing that one of the other Zodiacs was close to experiencing its own maritime crisis. During the homewards run there was quite a bit of radio traffic between our Zodiac and a couple of the others regarding an apparently missing Zodiac. Eventually they agreed among themselves that it must have reached Le Laperouse already so we carried on with our own trip back.
It was only later in the evening that we learned that the missing Zodiac had indeed been missing and had got itself stuck in the mud. Behind the scenes a rescue operation was taking place to collect those who had been onboard. They arrived back an hour or two late, but apparently still happy and smiling. We later found out that a rescue crew returned at 1am when the tidal waters had risen and successfully retrieved the marooned Zodiac. Chatting later to the unfortunate driver of that Zodiac, the ship’s photographer, he said that the tides in the area are very unpredictable, and he simply got caught out. They downplayed it, but unwelcome visits from the odd passing crocodile was likely to have featured in their thinking.
This was the night of the captain’s gala dinner where we were all asked to dress up in our good clothes. The requested dress code included a suit and tie, with dinner jacket as a suggested option. Brian had reluctantly packed the former. He is proud of the fact that he can still squeeze into his 40-year old dark suit. We were slightly disappointed to see that about 3/4 of the men hadn’t bothered and had chosen to dress casually. Those dress code instructions are probably more appropriate for less casual societies. Very clearly the women had put in far more of an effort than their male counterparts.
The dinner itself was most pleasant and provided a fitting end to an action-packed day.Läs mer