expedition australia

First exploratory descent in Australia
Text and Photos by Tanya Faux

This past March, an Australian team of kayakers, including expedition leader Tanya Faux, Anthony Yapp, Craig Chivers & Caleb Feasby completed the First descent of the Moran and Mitchell Rivers in the remote area of Kimberley, in Northwestern Australia.

“We know we live in a world in which every bit of nature counts and is important, and we also know when it isn’t there. Every person in the modern world knows how deprived one is when nature is not part of one’s life” – Susan Bradley, Doogan Station

Note from the author:
The Kimberley region is located in the northern part of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, and on the east by the Northern Territory. Click on the map to see it larger.

Exploring a land locked in time. During 18 days, we battle the 35O temperature and 100% humidity. Our self-supported expedition into the deep west coast of the Kimberley, Australia, left us with marks. The Kimberley is the size of England and is one out of the five true wilderness areas left in the world. After four days of rock scrambling and trekking through swamps and 10ft high can grass, we finally reached the Moran River on the 7th day. The Moran Gorge, approximately 12km long, is still an area unknown to the wider world, for no white man in the history of Australia has ever explored it. With amazement, we found perfect water levels, closed in walls starting to rise higher and higher as the river went deeper and deeper…. During three days of pure pleasure riding the gorge, my soul wandered, getting lost in the beauty and excitement of big volume class 4/5 rapids and magical sunsets. Our next objective was to head deeper into the Kimberley to the Mitchell River. We began trekking for 3 days with kayaks and equipment over the range and it became a tormenting shuttling process: carrying the boats, returning for the gear, backtracking and over again. The reward of this gruelling process was the Mitchell River, which had 3 times the volume and width of the Moran River. It was an open basin, but we were surprised by the quality of the rapids. After a few days on the river, we approached the falls I had been fantasizing about paddling for 16 days. Walking to the lip, excited with anticipation, I looked over. I saw a magnificent 4 tiered thundering 90m to 100m waterfall. My fantasy was irrelevant, it was so overwhelmingly beautiful, so pristine - to stand by the lip was even enough!

Everyday during this trip, we encountered and got familiar with fascinating artwork or drawings on rocks. It seemed that wherever we thought a site would be a nice place to rest, camp or shelter, it turned out the aboriginals had thought the same as the sites always had decorated sandstone walls.

Once again the Kimberley surprised and affected us all with its beauty and rich wilderness. Unfortunately, The Kimberley Northwest coast is under huge immediate threat from liquid gas and oil mining industrialisation. It is time we stand up against the mighty mining companies; with the world in crisis as fuel resources becoming depleted, surely we have learnt that natural resources such as oil don’t last for ever. We need to foster the need for sustainable natural energy production. We need to look beyond the short term gains! Once we drive the first tractor in we have destroy the Kimberley for ever!