Out in the Back Country
The Kimberley Region of North West Australia

Much of the area's rock art is quite spectacular.The Walcott, itself, is quite spectacular and is characterised by fantastic fishing, huge 30 foot tides, spectacular freshwater swamps around its perimeters, a forbidding escarpment on its northern side and the barrier of the King Leopold Ranges on its southern. The tides are amazing and make an enormous 'roaring' sound as they come in from the sea.

Initially, I had intended to walk the Charnley with a couple of friends from Broome who also shared a strong interest in the region. However, illness and work commitments prevented them from coming, and I determined, in the interests of my photography, that I would attempt to walk the river system with Kanch my golden Labrador dog in July to ensure that the expected August/ September bushfire smoke did not interfere with my photographs. I first visited the Charnley in September 1999. On that trip, I had journeyed into the starting point of the hike, near the Walcott Inlet, with friends, but ended up undertaking the trip alone after my companions determined that the risk of snake bite and crocodile encounters plus temperatures reaching 100 degrees. The above pictures provide an illustration as to how rugged the gorge section I hiked in 1999 in fact was.

For the walk, I would be carrying 75 lbs. of gear: including a large bowe knife, a Magellan-sponsored GPS, an EPIRB (an emergency satellite beacon), a pocket-sized survival kit (in the event that I became disentangled from my gear), a hat, strong boots and gaiters. Kanch would be carrying his own specially-designed dog pack that would hold his food between the food drops.

I carried a diary to record my impressions of each day, the keeping of which was in fact harder than one would anticipate, as I was to discover, given the exhaustion that prevailed when not walking.

In country such as this, and carrying the amount of gear that I was, small things become more challenging and each day further tested my mental reserves. The helicopter reconnaissance flight had shown my readings of the maps to be accurate and the first few days would be covered predominantly along sand, which in itself was brutal, and beside Melaleuca-lined pools. Camp one, which I still recall fondly, saw me record the following notes:

"Sun's gone down. Dinner's cooking. The reflections in the water were absolutely magnificent. Stunning!. It's so peaceful and magic out here. Kanch and I are both pretty tired, but it's great having Kanch along because it takes your mind off your own pain. Kanch struggled a bit, but has done fantastically overall. Iím on the easy bit and the country is still brutal. Lugging 75 pounds of gear doesn't help. Saw heaps of animal tracks in the sand today. Marvellous! Dingoes, Wallabies, Freshwater crocs and heaps of bird tracks."