Cruising the Kimberley – Rainforest Ravine, Prince Frederick Harbour and the Hunter River

Leaving Bigge Island, we sailed slowly south in 10 knots of breeze. There was no sign yet of the strong winds that had been forecast. When the wind dropped to less than 5 knots, we turned the engine on in order to motor into Rainforest Ravine before dark. We could see no evidence of the pearl farms that were on the chart, nor could we find the deep hole to anchor in as indicated on the chart either.

Anchoring just before dark, we watched the sun set over the hills and decided that we should be well protected if the blow did eventuate. It was pretty and quiet in Rainforest Ravine and although the winds did pick up the following day, it remained calm in the anchorage. We were in a big bowl of turquoise water surrounded by tree covered hills and it was a peaceful and relaxing place.

Spending the day chilling on the boat, we were both absorbed in our books and didn’t notice when a cat pulled into the bay. Jason and Sharon from Slow Motion popped over to say Hi, just as the chocolate cake I was baking was about to come out of the oven. What a hostess, serving fresh slices of chocolate raspberry cake!

We had a lovely time chatting with Jason and Sharon. They are circumnavigating Australia in the opposite direction to us so we had lots of tips to share with each other. The next morning we all ventured right up to the end of the creek on the high tide. The ravine was very beautiful, dense and lush with a lovely freshwater stream. Unfortunately we couldn’t spend very long there or we would have been stranded as the tide dropped.

On our way back down the creek, Jason and Sharon pointed out this crocodile on the bank. With Matt’s long camera lens we could see that he had his eyes closed and appeared to be napping. He certainly wasn’t bothered by us.

We continued on to the Hunter River in Prince Frederick Harbour. Approaching the river, we could once again see those majestic, towering red cliffs synonymous with the Kimberley. It was very Berkeley River-esque. At the entrance of the river there was a big outcrop of rocks that I thought looked like a lion or a sphinx.

We anchored about halfway down the river and spent a day doing jobs, making water and cleaning. The winds gusted off and on all day, but we were well protected.

The next day saw us exploring right up the end of the northern arm of the river. We drove the tinny up as far as we could go, then rock hopped and scrambled up the creek bed looking for Donkin Falls. Although we walked for ages, we never found the falls. It was very pretty though and we found several deep, clean and clear waterholes that we could swim in.

Arriving back at the rock bar, we found our tinny high and dry, wedged up on some rocks. The tide had risen and then fallen, leaving our tinny stranded up on the rocks. Oops!! With a bit of effort, Matt managed to manoeuvre the tinny back into the water, although in doing so his boots and socks became covered in the thick gloopy mud of the riverbed.

We moved into Porosus Creek for the night where it was protected and peaceful, although it was a bit smelly at low tide when all the mud flats were exposed. We had seen heaps of little crocs in the Hunter River, and when Matt put the drone up to get some photos, he managed to capture a croc in one of the pics too.

Seeing as we hadn’t managed to find Donkin Falls, we decided to go back up the river and try and find Hunter Falls, down the southern arm of the river. This turned out to be a good decision as the creek off this arm of the river was absolutely spectacular. It was a very pretty gorge, enclosed by towering red cliffs with lots of greenery flowering throughout. It was a pretty long and challenging trek, scrambling up and over boulders, but it was well worth it when we finally reached the falls; a cathedral like space with a waterfall running into a gorgeous deep pool.

Although it was unlikely to be a crocodile habitat, we couldn’t be sure, so we stripped off and just had a quick dip in a part of the pool where we could see the bottom. Still, it was incredibly refreshing to swim in the cool, clean water after our long, hot hike.

We must be slow learners because once again we arrived back to find our tinny stranded up on the rocks! This time it was a lot further up and it took the two of us about twenty minutes to manhandle it back into the water. Once again, our boots were completely covered in thick mud, requiring a soak and scrub when back on the yacht.

After our two days of hiking and rock scrambling we were both super tired as we left the river and anchored near Naturalists Beach. We had a tense evening here watching the depth sounder as low tide approached. The chart indicated that we should have had plenty of depth, but as we were discovering in the Kimberley, what the chart says and what is reality are often very different! We were very close to the bottom, less than half a metre, when the tide turned and the numbers finally began to increase! Phew! Knowing that we were safe, and both being completely exhausted, we fell into bed.

We had a few days to kill in this area before we were due to meet up with our friends further on at Careening Bay. We decided to use the time to go crystal hunting and explore some of the lesser known bays. At Rainforest Ravine, Matt had come across a huge chunk of rock with beautiful grey and white crystals growing out of it, and I was keen to see if we could find some more. I had heard that there were creeks and bays full of crystals in this area, but didn’t have any definite directions.

We chose a couple of unnamed bays near Murrara Island in Prince Frederick Harbour and went exploring. The water was an incredibly gorgeous turquoise colour and the bays were surrounded by interestingly shaped rock towers and mangroves. We found a rose quartz-like crystal growing like little warts on the rocks and found some little loose crystals scattered amongst creek beds.

I didn’t quite find the riverbed of crystals that I had been imagining, but we had an interesting few days exploring a very different looking part of the Kimberley.

The next day we were off, heading for Careening Bay and a rendezvous with friends. It had been four weeks since we’d seen them last and Matt and I were both looking forward to some company.

Life is like a waterfall. It is always moving and there is always an uneven flow to it.

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