Napier Broome Bay (via satellite phone)

We are safely ensconced in the lovely Napier Broome Bay. It is not near Broome, but sort of in that nook to the west of the chunky-bit of Australia (very technical terms!)

Everyone is well - despite our lack of success with fishing, but Foreign Affair is sharing and we are at least trying.

We met up with a fuel barge early this morning - all a little interesting and we will have a tale to tell when we get back in internet range and can update this blog properly.

Off for our afternoon naps, reading of books and general relaxation.

The crew of Kiella.

King George River (via satellite phone)

King George River certainly has its own charm.

It was a bit of a shock after having the entire Berkley River to ourselves (and the crocodiles) to arrive in King George River to be buzzed by private helicopters and surrounded by luxury cruisers.

We trekked up a very steep cliff only to find that the passengers aboard the luxury boats were being flown to the top in their private helicopters to avoid the climb. What a life! They were very pleasant though and stopped to chat and tell us about their ten day, 25,000 per person holiday on their boat.

We are all well and enjoying the Kimberley's beauty and diversity.

No words can describe ... (via satellite phone)

Well, it is very difficult to describe the beauty of the Berkeley river.

There are sheer red cliffs soaring up beside us, there are sea-eagles and yes, crocodiles and freshwater waterfalls. We are all trying to come up with the right word - majestic, superfluous, extraordinary - but none of us can.

So, yes, we are very much enjoying this hard-to-describe place. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will head North towards the King George river. It looks equally spectacular and if you are interested (until they get internet coverage) have a look at the website address attached below.

The fishing still hasn't been that successful - lots of catfish caught by Marg and one pretty, but inedible fish caught by Elaine. The good-ship 'Foreign Affair' has had better luck and we off to share in their spoils for dinner.

We think of you all often and send our love. It is great to read your emails or posts on the blog.

http://kimberleycruising.com.au/Kimberley%20Rivers/kinggeorge.htm

Berkeley River WA

Hello,
(translated from the satellite phone by Kyra)

On behalf of the crew of the good-ship 'Kiella' via satellite phone 'Hello!'.
We are safely ensconced in the postcard perfect Berkeley River in WA.
It looks amazing, with a very impressive waterfall which is high enough
to be free of crocodiles - we hope!
Everyone is well and pleased to be safely anchored after a fairly uncomfortable
trip across.

The fair-ship 'Foreign Affair' is here and enjoying the inspiring beauty of Berkeley River.

This is a great site with loads of pictures of the Berkeley River. Cut and paste it into your browser to see where they are.

http://kimberleycruising.com.au/Kimberley%20Rivers/berkeley.htm

Mindil Night Market

 

Spot the southerners

Marg,Clive and Que

 
Our new crew for the trip of a life time

Darwin

Darwin, what do I say, shop, shop, shop. We entered the Marina last Monday with Reef and Taz still on board and explored the Wave Park every day until they flew out on the second of June. Pam/Que had flown in and took them to the airport which was great. Our adventure with them coming from Gove to Darwin was wonderful and we all had a ball. Reef was such a good kid, he played soccer with poppies sox, learnt to tie knots, did puzzles and tons more as he had at his disposal 3 adults to entertain and amuse him.
Marg and Clive also flew in early Wednesday and between the 5 of us we have seen Woolworths, Coles, some wonderful restaurants, Mindil Market on both Sunday and Thursday evenings, Woolworths, and Coles…..Oops Liqourland, how could I forget.
The Mindil Market was full of great stalls, clothes, craft, food etc. We ran into Di and Ron Sinclair and Sandra Casbolt from Leongatha. Marg also found an acquaintance, what a small world.
We have stocked up with our supplies and I think that Marg and Pam have found the whole experience some what daunting, overwhelming and to quote from the settee “exhaustion has set in”. Pam was in charge of writing up the shopping lists and on the bottom of every one was a visit to the new ice-cream shop Trampoline which had only opened 2 weeks ago. We achieved that today just before we returned the hire car and was it worth it? ….yes so good.
Tomorrow we are booked to exit the lock at 0800 and start our big trip. Kyra will fill in the gaps until we make contact again with you all.


Now from Marg: Clive and I are having a ball. As Elaine says it has been quite an education to realize how much provisioning a boat requires for a trip of up to 6 weeks without any intervening shops. We reckoned we’re catering for 200 person days – that’s what’s daunting. Ian and Clive have had lots of boat jobs to do, again an amazing range of normal maintenance tasks. We’ve had sundowners tonight with a pleasant couple very experienced in these waters, who have a commercially produced boat from the same company as Kiella. A small world once more. Having arrived on Wednesday in three layers of thermals, it is fabulous to be warm – the weather is stunning, and the dry has arrived, so no meltdowns in the humidity that Ian
and Elaine had been experiencing till now.

Wave Pool in Darwin

 
This is the biggest wave pool in Australia and only less than 15 minutes from the marina, aren't we all lucky.ps seniors get a discount