The mighty King George River
After safely negotiating the sandbar at the entrance to Glycosmis Bay we headed north for quite a distance until we were clear of a large reef which lay out to the east of the bay. Our destination was the mighty King George River, an iconic place and a spot that we had been looking forward to exploring. Like Glycosmis Bay, the King George had a large shifting sandbar at its entrance which we needed to negotiate in order to enter the river.
It was a fairly uneventful trip with really not enough wind to sail so we had sails and one engine going in order to cover the 13nm of ocean we needed to traverse. There is a fair bit of reef in between so we were a fair way out to sea and keeping a close lookout on the ocean ahead.
As we approached the entrance to Koolama Bay, which the river runs into, we saw that French cruise ship Le Jaques Cartier was also enroute to the bay so we knew we would have company further up river – not in the form of the cruise ship but their zodiacs which would be ferrying people up to have a look.
We didn’t have any fresh waypoints for the entry and the tide was on its way up but still below mid tide and so we pensively nudged our way across the sandbar trying to find the deeper sections of water. Success and we were soon motoring upriver on our way to the Twin Falls, which were located about 8nm upstream.
After about 3nm the river closes in, and you have 250-foot rockface on either side surrounding you as you navigate upstream – completely spectacular! It took us a little over an hour to travel the distance up to the Twin Falls and we anchored less than a mile from them, just slightly downriver from the falls.
After sorting out the boat we took the opportunity to chill for a little while before jumping into Bob for a bit of an explore. The zodiacs from the cruise ship were buzzing about and we were soon amongst them enjoying the sheer size and scale of the Twin Falls – albeit that they were dry!
One of the tour guides ushered us in under the falls on the righthand side where we were greeted with a zodiac set up as a bar, dispensing glasses of champagne to their guests. We let the other zodiacs file through and then joined the queue, where we were promptly served some champagne and we sat having a chat to two of the ship’s crew. A couple of minutes later the actual Captain of the ship arrived on another zodiac and we ended up having a chat and before long he instructed the staff to give us an unopened bottle of champagne which we gratefully accepted. Soon they were packing up and insisted that we take a bottle that was ¾ full and so we were well on our way to afternoon sundowner!
Ted and Tina arrived shortly thereafter, and we spent a pleasant hour just drifting under the cliffs drinking champagne and taking in the view. Magnificent!
The next four days were spent exploring, climbing, swimming and just taking in the grandeur of the place. Once the zodiacs had left on Day 1 we didn’t see anyone else during our time here. Unfortunately, there was no water running, other than the tiniest of trickles at one spot but we all vowed to return when the falls were flowing to fully appreciate everything on offer.
Nicky and I arose at 4.00am one morning and set about climbing up the cliff in order to watch the sun rise. It was well worth the effort, and we spent a couple of hours just taking in the views before the intensity of the sun beat us back to the boat. Afternoons exploring in the dinghy, sometimes just drifting under a bit of cliff with a beer in hand, watching and listening to the wildlife and appreciating the view.
We moved back downstream to the East Arm area from where we could explore that end of the river. At high tide we made a trip into the falls and after a steep climb were able to rock hop across country until we could climb down into the watercourse and follow it back down to the falls. Another amazing waterhole and dry falls – which will be cool to visit when they are flowing.
There were a number of different side creeks and areas to explore, and we spent many days fishing and checking out the local dugong family who were hanging out in this end of the river – along with a few crocs of course.
We decided we would leave the river and spend a couple of days out in Koolama Bay, on the eastern side where there was a nice beach. We were straight into a beach BBQ first night with a nice big fire to burn off some rubbish and cook some of the fish we had caught that day.
It was also the perfect spot to explore Calamity Bay, a small bay where the SS Koolama ended up after being the first ship in Australian waters to be bombed by the Japanese on the 20th February, 1942. After beaching the vessel nearby, all of the passengers were evacuated into this bay from where they were rescued by people from the Pago Mission, located about 80km away overland. The ship was recovered and sailed to Wyndham but subsequently sunk on the wharf there.
There were a couple of small plaques and some good interpretive signage that showed where they had camped and the point on the scarp where they kept lookout. It was blisteringly hot, but Ted and I managed to climb all the way up to the top, where we were treated with a great view across the azure, blue waters of the bay.
There was also a cool spot in the corner of the bay known as the ‘Blue Hole’, where a permanent deep hole sits next to a small waterfall (dry!) and would be an awesome spot to anchor up – too shallow for us but doable in a smaller boat.
We really enjoyed everything that King George River had to offer and will definitely be back, making sure the water is flowing when we pass through next time. However, time was ticking on, and we had a meeting at Berkeley River to get to – Tina’s sister and husband were flying in to spend the last few weeks of our trip before we sailed on to Darwin.