T Minus 6 Months

Yep that's right. Life wouldn't be worth living without something to look forward to. Something fun. Something challenging. A reason to get out of bed every day and face the endless slog of work work work.

This time we're heading back to the Kimberley in Western Australia. But instead of dirt roads and bush walks we're hitting the water baby! We'll be exploring the Western Kimberley coast by boat from Derby to the Sale River on this trip of a lifetime.

 So if that was the What, how about the Where When Where and How? Okay. Since you asked....

The Crew:

Darren & Nat. Captain & First Mate aboard the good ship 'Skull Drag'n':

Jess & Matilda. Passenger/Crew on board Skull Drag'n:

Bruce & Daph. Captain and Crew of  the good ship 'Bundy Runner' (and Nat's parents):

The Route

Step 1 - Drive Drive Drive. 

We'll be driving from Brisbane (Hervey Bay in the case of Bruce & Daph) to Derby via Longreach, Katherine, Kununurra, Halls Creek & Fitzroy Crossing. We'll be steering clear of the Gibb River Road as we've been there done that, and our aim in this instance is to get to Derby in 5 days without wrecking the boats or boat trailers. 

Road Trip: Brisbane to Derby

Derby is near the bottom of King Sound. We'll launch the boat there and explore the area to the north west (circled in white)

Step 2 - Boat Prep. 

Once we get to Derby we'll take a few days to prep the boats & get the final supplies packed.

Step 3 - Blue Sky Breeze and the Wind in our Hair. 

We'll Launch boats at Derby, head out of King sound via a passage reassuringly named 'Hells Gate' and spend about 3 weeks exploring the areas of Buccaneer Archipelago, Strickland Bay, Whirlpool Passage, Crocodile Creek, Talbot Bay, The Horizontal Falls, Montgomery Reef, Raft Point and the Sale River, before returning back to Derby. All up that should be about 900km on water.

Rough Plan of the sea route from Derby and back. (Derby is the inlet at the southernmost point)

Step 4 - Hit the Road Jack. 

We'll spend a few days at Derby to reconfigure for road travel and head Home 

The Timing

6 weeks over Winter 2019

The Logistics....So much logistics

Problem #1: Tides. 
This area had some of the biggest tidal movements in the world, with the difference between high and low tide reaching up to 13 metres. It's also Rocky escarpment and coral reef territory. So our first and foremost thought is for not getting stranded on a coral reef, Rocky pinnacle or a beach for a prolonged period of time, or running aground in what will be unfamiliar water for us. Some places, like Hell's Gate, Whirlpool passage and the Horizontal Falls are also renowned for boat wrecking whirlpools in the right circumstances.  So it's all about planning every movement, anchor point & shore visit around the tide charts. 

Problem #2: Fuel. 
We reckon we'll cover about 900 km by sea. Maybe more. We have to carry a LOT of fuel on the boats - around about 500L of it in each boat.  There's a fuel barge to top up a Dog Leg Creek, and it's gunna be very very expensive fuel. We need to plan our fuel consumption factoring in tidal flows, towing a tinnie for a tender (maybe), rough seas and our distances. Skull Drag'n carries 380L under the floor, plus we'll be leaving with an additional 80L bladder. For Bruce and Daph on Bundy Runner fuel consumption has led to a major boat refit. It's out with the 20 year old 2 stroke fuel guzzler, and in with the fancy new 175 Evinrude Etec. Bruce is now getting used to hydraulic steering, and much better fuel consumption. Bundy Runner carries 190L under floor and will also carry an 80L bladder and 7x 20L jerry cans. That takes his fuel carrying capacity up to 410L and a range of approx 600 km (ish).

Bundy Runner's fancy New ETEC

Problem #3: Water. 
We'll be at sea for about 3 weeks with 6 people. There a a few places where fresh water can be collected from waterfalls, but since we'll be travelling a bit later in the dry season I'd like some contingency. We've fitted Skull Drag'n with 2 X 100 L water bladders inside the kill tanks under the floor. Hopefully that'll do the trick for our mob. Daph and Bruce and Daph will be carrying 100L (5 x jerry cans). Obviously we're going to need to top up along the way. Nats also working on some solutions for water purification, and eco friendly washing. (No point visiting a pristine part of the world only to ruin it)

Problem #4: Navigation. 
The whole area is a veritable rabbit warren of water, islands, reefs, shoals. Local knowledge would be great. If anyone reads this and knows a bit about the area please feel free to contact me via the comments section on this blog. Otherwise the Western Australia Cruising Guide is our new bible. I've spent days pouring over that, Google Satellites, Nav Charts and Daz is the main man with the GPS plotter. 

Problem #5: Boats. 
Obviously Boats are the big ticket items here. There's been months of planning going into boat prep. The 2 boats are 

Skull Drag'n:

This is Nat and Daz's third baby. 6.8m custom plate boat made by Performance Plate Boats in Brendale. It has a 225hp Suzuki 4 stroke on the back and room to sleep 2 in the cabin. It's 18 months old but has already covered some distance, having been to east and west Arnhem Land (see arnhemlandbound.blogspot.com ) in 2017 and Spencer Gulf and the Murray River in Dec 18/ Jan 19).  Most of the time though, she's a Moreton Bay regular.

"Skull Drag'n"

Bundy Runner:
This is Bruce and Daph's pride and joy. Although she doesn't look it, the infamous Bundy Runner is about 20 years old (except for the brand spanking new ETEC on the back). She's a 6.5m Cruise Craft with a lovely soft ride thanks to her fibreglass hull. She spent her first 10 years prowling the beautiful waterways at Port Stephens before becoming a true  blue Queenslander in Hervey Bay. While she can sleep 2 in the cabin, Bruce and Daph are opting to sleep down the back on this trip to make use of the air flow.

"Bundy Runner"

Boat #3 - "The Dreadnought":
The jury is still out on the tender. Nat and Daz have bought a cheap second hand tinnie and have been doing her up with all the add-ons ( automatic bilge pump, tow points, welding up leaky cracks etc) to make her a worthy tender to get us from shore to boat when needed. It's a balancing act trying to keep it light weight enough to make towing it efficient, and still tough enough to make it sea & croc worthy. Sea trials on "The Dreadnought" are planned in some Moreton Bay skip this weekend. Depending on how she survives that we'll be making a decision on whether she'll be included on the trip. If she's a goer she'll get to Derby on the roof of Bruce's truck and Nat and Daz will bring the 6hp 4 stroke Suzuki outboard in the back of the Dmax. 

"The Dreadnought"

There's still a flurry of activity to go to prep all the things like food, grog, aboriginal permits, mozzie protection, shade for the boats,  sleeping arrangements, on shore camping gear, and all the electronic things for Comms, navigation, photography, etc. 

Hopefully it'll be be a kick arse adventure, so follow along if you're interested in this sort of thing and see if we survive.