START

David Whitney and Tony Overstone set off in the 4WD ten minutes before the boat crews.  They were to follow tracks close to the river, heading to the disused Geraldine Mine area.  They planned to follow these river tracks as far as possible, keeping as close a check as possible on the boats.

Just after 8.00 a.m. the boat crews left the Galena Bridge  - where the water was flowing about 400mm over the old bridge, a height later determined to be the peak of the flood.
 

Last minute checks
 

Kalbarri or bust
 

The boat crews checked the first set of rapids carefully.  Three ducks portaged the obstacle - just being careful - and Adrian and Scott, and Cliff and John shot it.

The fuel filter on Shane’s motor caused problems just after the Start.  Remedial action did not take long and he and Phil were back into the fray.

After seeing the boats off from the Galena Bridge Kim Epton, Kim Thorson and Tay Overstone headed off in The Bus to Ross Graham Lookout.

Tony and David had seen the boats at the planned checkpoint just a few kilometres down river from the Start.  They then sped off to meet up with The Bus crew.

David decided that a section of river, shown on the map as being accessible by a track, looked potentially nasty.  He decided they should check on the boats at this point.

As David and Tony crested a hill in the Landcruiser they saw a huge rapid that stretched as far as they could see in both directions, up and down river.

“I hope they don’t go into that.” -- David Whitney after first seeing the rapid.

“Too late, they’re already in it.” -- Tony Overstone, in reply.

The Bus crew waited in vain at the Ross Graham Lookout
 

Meanwhile The Bus crew had arrived at the Ross Graham Lookout earlier and walked 300 metres to a vantage point overlooking the speeding water.

“It looks dangerous to me.” -- was Tay Overstone's understatement.

They had been waiting for so long at the Lookout they reasoned that the boat crews must have struck trouble.

“They had 30 kilometres to do and the current was flowing about 15 kilometres per hour.  After waiting for two hours it didn’t take too much to know they were in trouble.”  --  Kim Epton.

Tony Overstone's urgent arrival from upriver just confirmed what they suspected.

The fast flowing water at Ross Graham Lookout