First Descent from the Heart
Sling Air King Edward River Expedition
Words and photos by Tanya Faux
4 years in the making. Pouring all my energy into the research for finding feasible rivers, map after map, phone call after phone call, proposal after proposal. It didn’t matter! I was going to the Kimberley with money or no money!
I knew in my heart that the rivers of the Kimberley flowing into the Timor Sea and Indian Ocean contain the finest whitewater of Australia.
On Feb 26th myself, Caleb Feasby and Sean Bozkewycz hired a 4WD, loaded the kayaks and a cooler, and drove 4000km north to a small eastern Kimberley township called Kunnunurra.
On March 2nd thanks to SLING AIR we loaded a Piper light air craft with three 40kg kayaks, packed for 7 days on the river. After spending 55 minutes glued to the window overlooking potential river after potential river lined with brilliant red rock escarpments we landed at a remote Kimberley cattle station we where greeted by the station owners.
>After keep my eye on the rain fall for the past month my fears where confirmed as Susanne the Cattle station owner mentioned the river was very low, with well below average rainfall. Not a great sign when you are about to paddle down a river that relies on rain! She said “the roads haven’t been open this late in the season since 1964”. She offered us a lift to the river. Sweet! An offer you can refuse when you where originally faced with a 13km walking off track with your kayaks!
Getting that buzz going in the tummy as a put my deck on and took the first strokes of a 310km river that has never been explored. All the nervous energy of the unknowns of an unsupported wilderness trip and the anxiety of crocodiles!! It wasn’t the whitewater I feared but the recurring dream of being attacked by a saltwater croc! Getting dragged under for a death roll! Arrrrr I couldn’t get that thought out of my head! Scary has hell! Being at the mercy of a primitive hunter!
The weather forecast predicted a cyclone to hit the Kimberley on Sunday with 100mm of rain to fall. It was nice knowing this after 5 hours of paddling on a 2 metre wide river bed with overhanging Pandanis Palms that have thorn like spikes on their leaves and are the home for thousand of Orb Spiders. Dragging boats over the rocks between pools….>
Caleb saw the first freshwater crocodile. It was nothing but curious. Not a good sign for the “Salties” downstream! 2 small bumps (their eyes) would appear then a set of nostrils. Literally they would swim towards us - once within a meter - disappear below the surface and reappear on the other side….Couldn’t but think it this is how curious the non-aggressive fresh water crocs are then what will the saltwater croc’s do…
The next day saw much of the same, coming face to face with Orb Spider after Orb Spider. It was like a game of Limbo. Sometimes slicing at one side of the web sometimes getting as low to your deck as possible hand paddling. Adding a bit of current and they all came on too quick! You would have to waving your paddle out in front of you as far as you could then throwing it into the water before the spiders reached yours hand. We called this Limbo shiver!
Wow, wow, wow! We all couldn’t stop saying it! By the second night praying for rain we had seen huge eagles, Jabiru birds, baby and adult crocodiles, white frogs, goannas, frill neck lizards, spiders, millions of ants, bats, all types weird looking insects, and wallabies! This river was just full of life! Native birds, animals, reptiles and insects all going about their daily lives! Getting that feeling we are really out there! Loving it! Like being in a animal child hood fantasy!
It was now Saturday night we had only paddle 36km, well below what we need to paddle to reach Kalumburu in 7 days… Not really worried about food as Caleb caught fish on every cast. We could eat fish for breakfast lunch and dinner.
Rain was predicted to start in the afternoon and at 6pm we felt the first drops! “Yes rain! Rain hard, rain as hard as you can! Don’t hold back!” with 2 Sea to Summit Silicon Tarps we fell asleep listening to the rain getting heavier and heavier. At 6am we where woken up to torrential monsoonal rain and a flood underneath our Thermarests. Guess you shouldn’t set up a tarp where any run off is possible even when the ground is sand….
Eagerly walking down to the river it was a surprise to find it had only risen 10cm… that’s crazy. Getting on the river that morning still asking it to rain as hard as it can! Maybe that wasn’t a good idea…
The dark cloud rolled in all around us. Trying to shelter under the helmet, smiling. The sky open up and turned its tap on! Within 30 minutes our 2 metre wide creek became a 50 metre wide river. Flood brown water and debris the calm flat pools where now moving. We all let out a cheer! Lunch was soggy that day. Yummy River just kept getting wider and wider and wider.
The rewards began to come. Paddling into some really nice big volume class 2 and 3 read and run rapids, before getting to our first horizon line.
Wow, sweet was my initial reaction! With most of the volume running down the right, it opened up a slide flowing into a 10ft drop and another 15ft drop. Looking from the middle the right look good but after paddling the 2 drops we head a across to find all the water towing back from 10m drown stream. One off those pocket holes you don’t want to go near.
Getting out 1km downstream to scout out the rocks for a possible camp we came across our first aboriginal painting. It is hard to describe the feeling when you come across such a peace of art. Art that is a historical record how the earth was and what signified it for the indigenous people of Australia.
These pictures are known as ‘Bradshaw’ images. They are speculated to be ‘the oldest paintings in the world’; some say 30,000 years and other say 17,500, making it 4 to 5 time the age of classic Egypt pyramids. Unlike all other aboriginal painting in Australia which show images of animals and the land, ‘Bradshaw’ painting are primarily of themselves of hunting and dancing. ‘No aboriginals can read them! They say “it was before their time”. Legend stipulates that they where made by birds’.
Wanjinas art is what is branded to the aboriginals. Wanjinas paintings are of a ‘type of human form’… I guess what we call God. A spirit they believe in. All the images have no mouths as it could not speak. We did not come across any such art on the river, but the Kimberley’s are well known for such paintings!
The land along the King Edward River is home to the Kwini people who spoke ‘Goonan’ (Kunan) language. The Kwini people now reside in the township of Kalumbru.
Waking up that night to howling winds, once again I didn’t get mush sleep. Licensing to the rain still failing, wondering how high will the river rise? On day one we noticed driftwood in the Melalucas ericifolia (Paper Bark tree) canopy 7m above us. At ore that the river could get that high!
Morning of day 3 still raining I climbed over the sandstone ledge to find the river in the canopy of the Paperbarks…You could say this when I had my first feeling of venerability. Discussing with the boys whether we should get on the river. With the river having undescriptive river bed (no gorge walls) and only having 100:100,000 maps, the concern was weather there would be any indication of horizon lines and becoming committed into a rapid with warning due to paddling amongst the tree canopy, speed of current and width of the river. We diced to get on the river and stick to one side of the river.
Day 3 was truly astounding. From the first stroke you could feeling the volume of water underneath you, feel how the river could hardly manage the volume itself. The rapid where easier to recognise then predicted with mist pray in the distance and the trees clearing you could sense something big was down stream allowing you enough time to negotiate your way to shore.
Smiles all round as we came across plethora of various rapids. Waterfalls shaped like Niagara with 20ft pressure waves and holes down stream to 300m wide slides into huge waves and holes, ferrying 100 to 200m behind holes to negotiate the remainder of the rapid. Weaving and winding in-between trees. See serges resembling the Slave River in Canada to epic play wave after epic play wave, and eddie feeding too!!! Chasing the buzz all day my heart pumped like a V8 engine! I haven’t paddle water like this since pre shoulder surgery! Passion, euphoria, freedom, bliss; how else can I describe the feeling. Hell yeah I was back and this place, in my own country! The most amazing expedition I had down to date. Oh and there is so many more river to explore!!! I want to stay for ever! I wanted it to rain for ever!
Navigating the river with a compass due to the lack of topographical features, I felt a bit like a sea kayaker. My compass tied to my PFD like a whistle.
Looking for camp that night was challenging. We enter into a flood plain for 30km. 700m wide river bed with little bank elevation and water still rising! And still Raining! Taking a closer look at the map we could make out an undefined knoll a few kilometres down stream. Pulling into the tributary we where greeted with a school of fresh water croc’s. After setting up the traps and getting a firer going we put in a stick gauge to only realise the water was rising at 10cm every 30minute’s. Camping only 90cm above water level we searched out the immediate area for some high ground. Sick of being wet and tired after an adrenaline fill day it was hard to motivate to move camp. A small window of no rain open and we motivated to camp up another meter to slightly higher ground.
That evening Sean collect some water only to return with the story of shining his head touch into the water and seeing 5 sets of red eyes, indicating a large number of freshes water croc’s. No way was I going to the water’s edge by my self!
Blown away by the capacity of water now contained in the river, it was relief to see the river had peaked over night and was now dropping! Even better news because we would reach the King Edward Fall by lunch. But don’t worry it was still raining…
Amongst the Paper Bark’s canopy I could make out what looked to be mist in the distance, but it was at least 2km away. No way, I thought to myself. But as we paddled closer I turned to Caleb and said ‘I think this is it’. He confirmed my thoughts and we decide to paddle into river right shore as it looked like we had an entrance rapid to deal with.
A massive rock island channelled the river into two. The left channel contained 95% of the water and right only 5%. There was spring in our step as we all rock scrambled out onto the rocky island. Sean arrived first and I could see his stare! The river was 700m wide at its entrance with no idea its depth, the water was now asked to travel through a 70m wide gape. WOW, standing at water waters edge, we where looking an astonishing amount of water flying past.
Forming a ‘V’ like wave into another wave hole down stream. Surges would cause the wave sides to fold inwards and crash with magnificent power. The urge to paddle it was strong, it was good to go!
But our hope where diminished as we discover what was down stream… With in 50m of the second wave the river split again. 50% of the water travelled directly downstream with no eddies into awesome display of the dominating raw water power. You could stare at all day. The other 50% took a sharp right hand turn to travelling 500m to the horizon line that formed the main falls. A swim would guarantee death! It was more the fear of a deck imploding with waves crashing force then getting a potential ‘beatdown’ and swimming. There would be no time for self rescue or even to rely on someone else to rescue you, let alone your gear before it went down the left or over the main falls.
The first right hand channel had some sweet technical creeking lines and a 70m long slide finishing in a calm oasis like pool. At the top end of the pool we discover a magical cave, full of indigenous paintings and a dry rock shelf. Like something out a fantasy novel! Pandanis Palm’s at the other end of the pool which cut us off from the main flow.
We decide to camp in the cave for the nigh to take it in, dry off for the first time in 4 days and allow our digital equipment to dry so we could commence film again!
Camp all set up and river still dropping we decide to walk down to the horizon line that formed the main King Edward Falls. Expediting to see a water fall, l reached the lip to discover a 100m long slide flowing into another horizon line. This river never stopped amazing me! Standing there looking out across the 300m wide lip with a 100m slide into another 300m wide lip to form a 50 to 60ft water fall. WOW! Out in the distance beyond the waterfalls mist you could see the left hand channel entered the river again with incredible force. Once again we found ourselves just standing there at the lip of the slide, just standing there; looking at this profound natural beauty. Minutes past and not a word was spoken, before we ventured down the slide to the lip of the falls. With multiple lines in the slide all we need now was the falls to be good to go!
A feeling of joy, pleasure, contentment and gratification overcame me as I saw the water cascading over the lip into a hug deep flat pool. Not a Salt water croc do is seen. Water flowing out from the base of the falls, it was a fantasy come true. We turned to each other smiling, hands in the air, do a ‘little boggie do a little dance’!
There was only one unknown. The entrance into the lip which landed on a large nose of rock before plummeting 50ft. Hard to get a good visual what the water was doing. We decide the rain was easing and the water dropping, the cyclone was pasted and tomorrow we would be able to walk right out along the lip to see the exact line. You really don’t want to be swimming below the falls, since these falls was the cut off between fresh water croc into salt water croc territory! It wasn’t about just surviving the fall it was about surviving the 20ft long ‘Salties’ as well!
Sitting in the cave that night dry, content and at ease I began to feel the overwhelming spirit, the vibe of this land, the Wanjinas speaking. The raw power of nature in front of me, and all around me.
A new energy over came us as we made the trek back to our dry beds. It was early morning and I was awoken by rain. No way! Woken again by rain we all fumbled around to find a head touch, only to find our river was on the rise again. Come 6am I put in a stick gauge. Devastation as it continued to rain and the river continued to rise, watching the rocks disappear in front of us.
As we packed our boats, watching the water rise to within 30cm, we paddle out into the furious main current. Pulling our boats up onto shore again we scout our fantasy fall. Fantasies aren’t supposed to come true and ours didn’t as we looked at a hyper speed slide into now a torrent of water travelling over the falls. The fantasy was no longer paddlable.
Talking with the boys we had to decide weather to wait another day or portage to paddle the last 38km through Saltie territory to Kalumbru. The thought of being wet again for another day, the uncertainty of the weather, low on food supplies and the positive aspect of paddling out with fast current through Saltie territory was enough to portage our boats around the falls.
Sean strapped his croc knife to the back of his boat. Caleb and I ate 2 power bars globed some water. Nervous as hell and my heart thumping into my ribs as we all seal launched together. Staying in the main current I paddle for my life literally for 3 hours. My eyes didn’t stop scaning the water surface and banks for any signs of Salties. At one stay we came to a calm billabong like pool, “Come together I yell” feeling safer paddling side by side to look like a raft.
Reaching Kalumbru was a relief! I was alive! Jumping out of our boast and dragging them straight up the shore 50m.
Like many Indigenous communities around the world. The aboriginals of Australia suffer from the same issue, drugs, alcohol abuse, sex and physical abuse, youth suicide and gambling. We new Kalumbru was a troubled community, but carrying our boats into town we immediately realised it was much worse then we had imagined. It was heart wrenching to see such desolation; the lack of housing, effect of alcohole and kids with no positive role models. Our government so clever, the way they can cover it up!
The next day we visited the local school to be greeted with beautiful white smiles. Conducting and quick slideshow and question answer time, we then head out to the pool of water that had formed due to the excessive rain. The students went wild, pushing each other around in the boats for hours.
The weather broke allowing the airstrip to dry enough by the afternoon. Flying out with Sling Air we receive a hug Kalumbru wave.
My country, this land, it’s power, it’s spirit, it’s beauty, it’s people, it’s history, it’s art, it’s animals, it’s plants and a land untouched or alter by humans.
Words and photos by Tanya Faux
Sling Air King Edward River Expedition
Words and photos by Tanya Faux
I knew in my heart that the rivers of the Kimberley flowing into the Timor Sea and Indian Ocean contain the finest whitewater of Australia.
On Feb 26th myself, Caleb Feasby and Sean Bozkewycz hired a 4WD, loaded the kayaks and a cooler, and drove 4000km north to a small eastern Kimberley township called Kunnunurra.
>After keep my eye on the rain fall for the past month my fears where confirmed as Susanne the Cattle station owner mentioned the river was very low, with well below average rainfall. Not a great sign when you are about to paddle down a river that relies on rain! She said “the roads haven’t been open this late in the season since 1964”. She offered us a lift to the river. Sweet! An offer you can refuse when you where originally faced with a 13km walking off track with your kayaks!
Getting that buzz going in the tummy as a put my deck on and took the first strokes of a 310km river that has never been explored. All the nervous energy of the unknowns of an unsupported wilderness trip and the anxiety of crocodiles!! It wasn’t the whitewater I feared but the recurring dream of being attacked by a saltwater croc! Getting dragged under for a death roll! Arrrrr I couldn’t get that thought out of my head! Scary has hell! Being at the mercy of a primitive hunter!
The weather forecast predicted a cyclone to hit the Kimberley on Sunday with 100mm of rain to fall. It was nice knowing this after 5 hours of paddling on a 2 metre wide river bed with overhanging Pandanis Palms that have thorn like spikes on their leaves and are the home for thousand of Orb Spiders. Dragging boats over the rocks between pools….>
The next day saw much of the same, coming face to face with Orb Spider after Orb Spider. It was like a game of Limbo. Sometimes slicing at one side of the web sometimes getting as low to your deck as possible hand paddling. Adding a bit of current and they all came on too quick! You would have to waving your paddle out in front of you as far as you could then throwing it into the water before the spiders reached yours hand. We called this Limbo shiver!
Wow, wow, wow! We all couldn’t stop saying it! By the second night praying for rain we had seen huge eagles, Jabiru birds, baby and adult crocodiles, white frogs, goannas, frill neck lizards, spiders, millions of ants, bats, all types weird looking insects, and wallabies! This river was just full of life! Native birds, animals, reptiles and insects all going about their daily lives! Getting that feeling we are really out there! Loving it! Like being in a animal child hood fantasy!
It was now Saturday night we had only paddle 36km, well below what we need to paddle to reach Kalumburu in 7 days… Not really worried about food as Caleb caught fish on every cast. We could eat fish for breakfast lunch and dinner.
Eagerly walking down to the river it was a surprise to find it had only risen 10cm… that’s crazy. Getting on the river that morning still asking it to rain as hard as it can! Maybe that wasn’t a good idea…
The dark cloud rolled in all around us. Trying to shelter under the helmet, smiling. The sky open up and turned its tap on! Within 30 minutes our 2 metre wide creek became a 50 metre wide river. Flood brown water and debris the calm flat pools where now moving. We all let out a cheer! Lunch was soggy that day. Yummy River just kept getting wider and wider and wider.
The rewards began to come. Paddling into some really nice big volume class 2 and 3 read and run rapids, before getting to our first horizon line.
Getting out 1km downstream to scout out the rocks for a possible camp we came across our first aboriginal painting. It is hard to describe the feeling when you come across such a peace of art. Art that is a historical record how the earth was and what signified it for the indigenous people of Australia.
These pictures are known as ‘Bradshaw’ images. They are speculated to be ‘the oldest paintings in the world’; some say 30,000 years and other say 17,500, making it 4 to 5 time the age of classic Egypt pyramids. Unlike all other aboriginal painting in Australia which show images of animals and the land, ‘Bradshaw’ painting are primarily of themselves of hunting and dancing. ‘No aboriginals can read them! They say “it was before their time”. Legend stipulates that they where made by birds’.
The land along the King Edward River is home to the Kwini people who spoke ‘Goonan’ (Kunan) language. The Kwini people now reside in the township of Kalumbru.
Waking up that night to howling winds, once again I didn’t get mush sleep. Licensing to the rain still failing, wondering how high will the river rise? On day one we noticed driftwood in the Melalucas ericifolia (Paper Bark tree) canopy 7m above us. At ore that the river could get that high!
Day 3 was truly astounding. From the first stroke you could feeling the volume of water underneath you, feel how the river could hardly manage the volume itself. The rapid where easier to recognise then predicted with mist pray in the distance and the trees clearing you could sense something big was down stream allowing you enough time to negotiate your way to shore.
Looking for camp that night was challenging. We enter into a flood plain for 30km. 700m wide river bed with little bank elevation and water still rising! And still Raining! Taking a closer look at the map we could make out an undefined knoll a few kilometres down stream. Pulling into the tributary we where greeted with a school of fresh water croc’s. After setting up the traps and getting a firer going we put in a stick gauge to only realise the water was rising at 10cm every 30minute’s. Camping only 90cm above water level we searched out the immediate area for some high ground. Sick of being wet and tired after an adrenaline fill day it was hard to motivate to move camp. A small window of no rain open and we motivated to camp up another meter to slightly higher ground.
Blown away by the capacity of water now contained in the river, it was relief to see the river had peaked over night and was now dropping! Even better news because we would reach the King Edward Fall by lunch. But don’t worry it was still raining…
Amongst the Paper Bark’s canopy I could make out what looked to be mist in the distance, but it was at least 2km away. No way, I thought to myself. But as we paddled closer I turned to Caleb and said ‘I think this is it’. He confirmed my thoughts and we decide to paddle into river right shore as it looked like we had an entrance rapid to deal with.
A massive rock island channelled the river into two. The left channel contained 95% of the water and right only 5%. There was spring in our step as we all rock scrambled out onto the rocky island. Sean arrived first and I could see his stare! The river was 700m wide at its entrance with no idea its depth, the water was now asked to travel through a 70m wide gape. WOW, standing at water waters edge, we where looking an astonishing amount of water flying past.
But our hope where diminished as we discover what was down stream… With in 50m of the second wave the river split again. 50% of the water travelled directly downstream with no eddies into awesome display of the dominating raw water power. You could stare at all day. The other 50% took a sharp right hand turn to travelling 500m to the horizon line that formed the main falls. A swim would guarantee death! It was more the fear of a deck imploding with waves crashing force then getting a potential ‘beatdown’ and swimming. There would be no time for self rescue or even to rely on someone else to rescue you, let alone your gear before it went down the left or over the main falls.
We decide to camp in the cave for the nigh to take it in, dry off for the first time in 4 days and allow our digital equipment to dry so we could commence film again!
Camp all set up and river still dropping we decide to walk down to the horizon line that formed the main King Edward Falls. Expediting to see a water fall, l reached the lip to discover a 100m long slide flowing into another horizon line. This river never stopped amazing me! Standing there looking out across the 300m wide lip with a 100m slide into another 300m wide lip to form a 50 to 60ft water fall. WOW! Out in the distance beyond the waterfalls mist you could see the left hand channel entered the river again with incredible force. Once again we found ourselves just standing there at the lip of the slide, just standing there; looking at this profound natural beauty. Minutes past and not a word was spoken, before we ventured down the slide to the lip of the falls. With multiple lines in the slide all we need now was the falls to be good to go!
There was only one unknown. The entrance into the lip which landed on a large nose of rock before plummeting 50ft. Hard to get a good visual what the water was doing. We decide the rain was easing and the water dropping, the cyclone was pasted and tomorrow we would be able to walk right out along the lip to see the exact line. You really don’t want to be swimming below the falls, since these falls was the cut off between fresh water croc into salt water croc territory! It wasn’t about just surviving the fall it was about surviving the 20ft long ‘Salties’ as well!
A new energy over came us as we made the trek back to our dry beds. It was early morning and I was awoken by rain. No way! Woken again by rain we all fumbled around to find a head touch, only to find our river was on the rise again. Come 6am I put in a stick gauge. Devastation as it continued to rain and the river continued to rise, watching the rocks disappear in front of us.
As we packed our boats, watching the water rise to within 30cm, we paddle out into the furious main current. Pulling our boats up onto shore again we scout our fantasy fall. Fantasies aren’t supposed to come true and ours didn’t as we looked at a hyper speed slide into now a torrent of water travelling over the falls. The fantasy was no longer paddlable.
Sean strapped his croc knife to the back of his boat. Caleb and I ate 2 power bars globed some water. Nervous as hell and my heart thumping into my ribs as we all seal launched together. Staying in the main current I paddle for my life literally for 3 hours. My eyes didn’t stop scaning the water surface and banks for any signs of Salties. At one stay we came to a calm billabong like pool, “Come together I yell” feeling safer paddling side by side to look like a raft.
Reaching Kalumbru was a relief! I was alive! Jumping out of our boast and dragging them straight up the shore 50m.
Like many Indigenous communities around the world. The aboriginals of Australia suffer from the same issue, drugs, alcohol abuse, sex and physical abuse, youth suicide and gambling. We new Kalumbru was a troubled community, but carrying our boats into town we immediately realised it was much worse then we had imagined. It was heart wrenching to see such desolation; the lack of housing, effect of alcohole and kids with no positive role models. Our government so clever, the way they can cover it up!
The weather broke allowing the airstrip to dry enough by the afternoon. Flying out with Sling Air we receive a hug Kalumbru wave.
My country, this land, it’s power, it’s spirit, it’s beauty, it’s people, it’s history, it’s art, it’s animals, it’s plants and a land untouched or alter by humans.
Words and photos by Tanya Faux
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