Our last email saw us sailing into Darwin after having an exciting trip up the North Queensland coast and across the top of the Northern Territory.

We anchored at Fannie Bay opposite the Darwin Sailing Club, washed the boat and got ready for Brian and Ruth to arrive so we could head off to the Kimberly’s.  We had a BBQ/sundowner at the Darwin Sailing Club to say farewell to all the friends we had met on our journey who were leaving on the Darwin to Kupang Rally in the next couple of weeks.

We left Darwin on the 7th July with Brian and Ruth and headed down the NT coast to Cape Hay, Port Keates.  We then  crossed the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf (a trek of 128 nautical miles and a total of 28 hours) arriving at the Berkeley River to find that the depth and tide would not let us in over the sandbar, so we progressed to Elsie Island and anchored.  The next day we left and tried again as the tide was 200mm  higher but were thwarted yet again (we will do this on the way back) and headed to Seaplane Bay.

The sunsets up here are absolutely, amazing blood red and orange colours colouring the sky, we have enjoyed each one.  The coastline is mostly unsurveyed and Paul did well to miss reefs and negotiate in this area.  From Seaplane Bay we then entered the King George River; we anchored just in front of the sandbars at the entrance and the boys took the dingy with a portable depth sounder and sounded a path in.  At high tide (5.30am) we entered this majestic King George River and made our way up to the waterfall.  Paul testing my nerves took the boat almost to the waterfall  to give me a shower and we then backed out and on doing a 3 point turn , BANG CRUNCH! the drive alignment coupling went, we had steerage but no power and we were slowly drifting backwards towards the cliff face.

Paul leapt into the dingy and towed us away from the nearby cliffs to safety. We were then towed by a boat to a safer anchorage where the boys discovered what the exact nature of the problem.  Thank goodness we had our satellite phone and we contacted Danielle (our daughter) who was able to order the parts we required and get them delivered.  We were in a remote area and it is not easy to get the freight companies to deliver to remote the King George River in the Kimberly’s.  The parts were freighted to Kununurra, picked up by Faraway Bay Bush Camp and a boat dropped them off to us. We got the parts (7 days latter) and guess what Murphy must have picked them as they were -wrong ones!!  We Re ordered and then when they arrived some parts were missing, the boys improvised and we were mobile again.  That exercise took all of two weeks during which we also fished, explored and took in this beautiful part of the country.  The oysters here were huge and oysters Kilpatrick were one of our favourites (well Brian did not agree with that though as he hates them) as were freshly caught Mangrove Jack, Golden Trevally and Spiny Brim. On return to the boat Paul leapt out of the dingy but forgot to secure it, he had to leap into crocodile infested waters to rescue our dingy.  He did not do that again.

Exiting the King George River we then travelled to various anchorages and Bays all more stunning than the rest and all very different.  We rounded the infamous Cape Londonderry where tides meet and currents flow strongly.

We refuelled at McGowan’s Beach (diesel $2.75 ltr) (the winds here have been light and of course) we have done a lot of motor sailing.  When we have sailed there have been strong winds,-this trip we have blown the main and the Asymmetric and had to resew these en route too.  All in all an exciting and varied journey.

Jar Island was a highlight with Bradshaw and aboriginal rock paintings as was Freshwater Bay were we had a bath and washed our hair in a lovely freshwater pool.
Palm Island was gorgeous and it was close to here that I startled two crocs on the beach (I was pretty startled as well).  We saw mother whales and calves on our journey making it that much more special. Our furtherest point was the Hunter River where we had a helicopter ride (thanks Brian and Ruth) over the  Mitchell River and Hunter River, this helicopter also brought in some fresh supplies for us as well. (Brian was desperate for fresh meat)

On our return journey back to Darwin we again refuelled at West Bay Truscott Base and took on 400 lts of fuel at $2.30 a ltr plus a delivery charge of $200.00
We made it into the stunning Berkeley River (yes, we did make it in, the tides were in our favour this time and we only touched bottom a few times on the way in).  We spent a week at the Berkeley River taking in the stunning cliffs and amphitheatres although all the waterfalls were dry except for Casuarina Falls.

Leaving the Berkeley River we travelled directly across the Gulf to Darwin (a trek of 227nm taking 24hous) the winds being 0-10 knots and on the nose so we motored all the way, arriving in Darwin mid September, Brian and Ruth had to be back in Darwin by the 15th so they could get back to Perth)

We are safely ensconced in the locks at the Tipperary Waters Marina. Tracy starts work at the end of September as Branch Library Manager at the Casuarina Public Library and Paul as a manager of an auto electrical firm.  We will be here for a while building up our cruising kitty.

The girls are all well and doing fine, we are so proud of them.

Tamara turns 21 in January (our grown-up baby) and is enjoying her teaching course at university.

Samantha has been on her first overseas sea voyage with the Navy.

Danielle is now working at the mines and enjoying it, Chris is due for his operation on the 13 October to repair his damage ankle/foot-we are wishing him all the best. (those who don’t know he had a trail bike riding accident)

Ann and Arch (Tracy’s parents) are in the USA touring and having fun

Ian (Paul’s dad) has recently been in hospital to fix his knee and is recovering well.

We hope this newsletter finds you all well and that life is treating you fine.  We hope to hear your news and to hear from you as well.

O’ well back to the mundane life of working for a living.

We expect to be in Darwin for a min or 8 mths to a max of 20 mths, so if you are up this way then please give us a call it would be great to catch up.

For those that are interested in Man overboard systems, Sat phones and AWL sewing kits plus other things  please visit our  “help the sailing kitty web site”  www.strayalert.com

Cheers
Paul and Tracy Bushell
Cockatoo II
www.cockatoo2.com