We left King George early the following morning hoping to get to the Berkely with some light and favourable tide. This was now the only river not yet visited. While the entrance is littered with sand banks, the rolling swell out the front motivated us to enter on the rising tide – after sunset. We agreed on turning around if the sounder got to 2.8mtrs (leaving 60cm under the hull) but we both could feel the pull of calm water and a good nights sleep so we ploughed on bumping over the banks with the swell and finally dropping into deep water at the mouth. Phew! Now all we had to do was find an anchorage in the dark… we were both grateful for a quiet beer once we anchored. The next morning at low we had a dinghy recon to check out our exit path – we were now on falling tides and had better find a deeper exit path or we’ll be here until December!
While the Berkely was stunning, by this stage I was keen to just make it back out the river and head to the big smoke, the vet, people, shops and supplies! The creeks were mostly stagnant, more red cliffs and mangroves. Sorry… I just couldn’t summon any real excitement at being here. 14 weeks and I’m all Kimberlied out.
1 comment:
I suggest you take a track SW of Reverley Is for deeper water--Oops only a month late for navigation ideas. I think the Berkeley has the best river gorge and fantastic barra fishing at the end of the saltwater.
Post a Comment