THE POWER OF THE MURCHISON

The Hardabut Rapids, fourteen kilometres down river from the Galena Bridge at the edge of the Kalbarri National Park, are about four times as wide and six times as long as anything on the Avon River.

Their length, scope and power can only be properly seen from a vantage point accessed by the rough bush track Tony and David found.  An aerial survey the day before by Mike, Cliff and Adrian did not reveal the true nature of Hardabut Rapids.
 

Top of Hardabut
 

The relatively flat water approach gave those in the dinghies no idea that they had hit such a substantial obstacle, although the country had changed from flat flood plains to steep rocky hills.  The Hardabut Rapids drop about forty metres over their 1200 metre length in a confusion of raging, white-flecked, brown water.  The massive volume of water charging through innumerable drops, falls and shoots was difficult to comprehend.  The speed of the water was frightening.  Estimates varied from fifteen to twenty-five kilometres per hour.

The roar of the water could be heard over the outboard motor.  On land it could be heard before one got out of the vehicle.  The earthy smell from so much mud and silt in the water was immediately obvious.  Spray pumped out from dozens of points.

There was no safe route through this awesome spectacle.  In fact, there was no defined route at all.  Even if one could select a course through the extended length of the mighty Hardabut Rapids it is doubtful that one could line up or even remember each twist, turn, drop and shoot.

The main chute (in the background)
 

Known by some as The Washing Machine, at peak water level the Hardabut Rapids are frightening.

The puny power of an 8hp outboard motor, or even a 10hp, was no match for the river.

Coupled with the wildly aerated water it was a case of the river taking the boat where it wanted rather than a driver negotiating a route through.

The power of one huge seventy metre shoot on the far side of the river was awesome.  This speeding freight train of water with a huge stopper rock and a four metre hole at the bottom could only be seen clearly through the binoculars - and had to be seen to be believed.  It was through here that all five dinghies were drawn. 

The Hardabut Rapids are difficult to compare to any rapid on the rivers in the south of the State.  The obstructing rocks were the size of houses.  The drops were bigger than the boats and the volume of water going over them was enormous.  The powerful backswirl trapped boats and bobbed them about like corks, spitting them out randomly.

Dinghy racers sometimes use the expressions “It’s really pumping” or “It’s gutsing through” when some of these southern rivers are at a high level.  These rivers are like a water pistol in comparison to the Murchison in flood.

 

The passage of the five boats through Hardabut was a moving disaster.  Boats were tossed around like matchsticks in a maelstrom.  The power of the water forced the nightmare downstream.  Crews were thrown from the inflatables into the boiling, brown water.

Mike and Dave, navigating, were first into the Rapids.  To them it looked the same as previous rapids they had passed through.  They decided to continue.  They powered through three or four standing waves, each one getting progressively bigger.
 

Mike couldn’t hear the noise of the motor over the constant roar of the water.  The aerated water caused the motor to cavitate. It lost drive. 

Drive or not, the river took them to the left of a huge rock.  Water going over the rock but it dropped off to the left.  There were more rocks to the left.  Mike and Dave were funnelled through this gap.  The water was being deflected off the rocks to the left causing a great turbulence.  They dropped five metres into a stopper, on an angle, over a twenty metre stretch.

The back of the boat dropped vertically straight into a hole.  The bow wasn’t at the top of the stopper.

The height of this stopper was greater than the boat’s 3.5 metre length.

The boat was rotated clockwise and both Mike and Dave were thrown out.  The boat went over the top of the stopper and sat on the other side of it.  Mike and Dave were drawn through it.

Mike surfaced and grabbed his boat.  It took off downriver.  As he went over the next drop he lost hold of the boat and was taken further out into the river.  He went over another three or four drops, each up to two metres in height.

Mike had travelled about seventy five metres from where he had been tossed out of his boat when he was swept over a shoot and into a two metre stopper.

“The stopper held me for a while until I was able to kick off from the rocky bottom.  I surfaced and got a quick breath of air before I was pushed down again.  This happened three more times.  I pushed up, grabbed a bit of air and was sucked back down.  I can’t remember how many more times it pushed me around. I started to run out of air.  I thought I was going to die.  Thinking it was all over I relaxed.  It spat me out the bottom.  I wasn’t sure where I was.  I saw a rock and clawed my way up it”.
 

Dave was pushed closer to the bank.  He too was trapped in a stopper.

“I thought it was all over.”  -  Dave “Rowdy” Snooks.

PFDs (lifejackets) were totally ineffective in the roaring waters.

Cliff Hills and John Haynes were second into Hardabut.

“As we came around the corner it didn’t matter where you looked - there was white water everywhere.” -- John Haynes.

Cliff and John covered the first 400 metres of the Rapids, crashing through violent standing waves before pushing down into the main shoot.

They survived to the bottom of the shoot when they were shot up onto a rock, slid off it and fell three metres to the bottom.  They then shot straight up into a standing wave that flipped the duck 180^o backwards.  The shoot held the duck for about five minutes.

After being swept over a set of falls they were washed downstream several hundred metres.

“The standing waves were three metres high.”  --  John Haynes.
 

Adrian Bock and Scott Overstone thought they had hit “the rapid from Hell”.

“We were having a hoot through some radical standing waves.” -- Scott Overstone.

They dropped off a three metre wall of water and went straight up and over a two metre rock (they thought it was a standing wave - the noise told them otherwise).  After successfully negotiating the most dangerous shoot in the whole Rapids they were able to pull over to the bank and assess what was happening around them.

“As far as we were concerned there was no drama until we saw that there weren’t enough heads.”  --  Scott Overstone.
 

Mike was lying on a rock thirty metres off the bank, not moving.  John was still stranded but seemed OK.

Cliff and Dave were not to be seen.  To the great relief of Scott and Adrian, they eventually appeared walking along the bank from upriver.

At the top of the Rapids, Cameron Wilkie yelled to Bill Breheny to, “Turn!, Turn!”  There was no reply.  Bill had been thrown out.  Cameron drove the boat to the bank, threw a rope to Bill and pulled him in.

They rested and assessed the situation with Shane Kelly and Phil Hargrave who had joined them.  Shane did not like it and said so.  However, there was no option but to head downriver.

They set off for their adventure.  The “fun” started at the first drop when the cowling came off.  They hit a second drop.

“The motor took a gutsful of water and it was all over.”  --  Shane Kelly.

Shane was thrown out and when he surfaced all he could see was another huge drop.  Phil dragged him back into the boat.  The boat turned sideways into a tree and then went over another drop.  At this stage survival was the uppermost thought in their minds.

They managed to get the dinghy into a quiet corner and were then able to assess the disaster.

Later, they attempted to rope the dinghy down a shoot to the point where the crews were assembling.  The force of the water ripped it out of their hands.  It caught in a smaller stopper near the scene of the main disaster.  After a time it popped out, got caught a few more times and eventually snagged on a rock in a shoot, from where it was later recovered by Cameron.
 

It was then turn for Bill and Cameron to try their luck.

According to Bill the Rapids had “the eyes of a tiger and the soul of the Devil. It looked real wild”.

“What are you going to do?” asked Stretch.

“Hop in and hang on!” yelled Bill.

They went upriver for a run at the “Devil”.  All hell broke loose.  The motor cavitated.  The boat was washed sideways through a stopper to the bottom and filled with water.  Bill was thrown out.

“Bill was clinging with all his strength to the rear pontoon.  I leapt down the back, grabbed his left arm and pulled with all my strength but was unable to hold him.  The raw power of the water pulled him down out of my sight like suds going down a plug hole.”  --  Cameron Wilkie.

Cameron was unable to see him for at least thirty seconds.  He popped up twenty metres downstream, coughing and gasping for air.

“I hit the rock head first. My helmet was torn off by the force of the water. I couldn’t do anything about it.”  -- Bill Breheny.

Cameron was sucked into the drain Bill had just disappeared down.  He was pinned against a rock, unable to budge for twenty seconds, and thought he was drowning.  He bobbed up and gulped in a breath of -- foam.

Bill and Cameron swam ashore and joined Adrian, Cliff, Dave and Scott at the assembly point.  The boat was headed towards Kalbarri, upside down.
 

John was stranded in the middle of the shoot like a shag on a rock.  He could see Mike lying down on a flat rock ten metres away but could see no-one else.  On looking down river all John could see was another 200 metres of steep rapids with lots of drops.  Exhausted from his ordeal, John had no intention of moving from his position of relative safety.

Some lunch bags floated by.  A little while later Bill’s blue inflatable floated past.  John grabbed at a rope at the front of the boat but was unable to hang on to it.

When Bill first saw Mike after his ordeal he thought that he “did not look 100%, more like 20%”.  Scott attempted to throw a rope to Mike who was closer to the bank than John.  He was unable to get the rope out far enough.

Ten minutes later Stretch came along by himself in Adrian’s boat and picked up John from his perch, delivering him to the northern bank.

Stretch dropped off John, returned to the rocks and rescued Mike.

Meanwhile, Shane and Phil and joined up with the main group.

Although Adrian and Scott made it safely through this shoot (by going over the rock) and indeed the whole mighty Rapids, it is impossible to guarantee a successful attempt.  The other four dinghies were sucked in, chewed up and spat out.

Cliff’s boat had popped off the stopper that was holding it and took off downstream.  Cliff, Bill and John eventually found it snagged on a tree.  The motor had a broken swivel bracket and no cowl.