View Our Video
Stay At Our Home
Find All Our
Sailing Adventure
Stories
View The Map
|
Nhulunbuy - Gove Australia
Cyclone Ingrid
Gove Yacht Club is a hot spot for yachties traveling to
and from Darwin for either a short visit or extended stay,
which is often for the purpose of building up the cruising
kitty. It is a friendly place which provides all the facilities
you need plus great food and plenty of cold beer!
The town of Nhulunbuy is leased by Alcan for the purpose
of bauxite mining and royalties are paid to the traditional
land-owners, the Yolgnu Aboriginal people of Northeast
Arnhem Land. |
|
Certain areas of land outside the lease are designated as
recreation areas and can be accessed by residents of Nhulunbuy.
Dhimurru is the Aboriginal organization to contact and they
have an office in town.
The yacht club is in Melville Bay, a large anchorage which
has good holding in thick mud.
A favorite getaway of ours was the Granite Islands only
3nm’s southwest of the yacht club where you can swim
without stingers and enjoy barbeques with friends. |
|
We spent 6-7 months in Gove Australia, Mike working as a painter
(another of his talents) plus some boat repairing, and
I worked for the yacht club as toilet cleaner extraordinaire
and as the occasional kitchen hand.
One accomplishment was translating Podiatry information,
and in particular, foot care for Diabetics into Yolgnu
with the help of many of the local women. Sadly the final
stages of this have not yet been completed, as time did
not allow. It is hoped this can be remedied in the not
too distant future.
We made many friends there and had a great Xmas party
which included swimming in blow-up pools provided by the
club, a luxury away from the stingers and crocs! Cyclone
Ingrid hit Whimoway whilst I was visiting family in Tasmania.
She was a Category 4 with a reported wind speed of 120
knots, and the eye passed only 20 kilometres or so north
of the town of Nhulunbuy!
My memories are of a long worrying night waiting for the
next text message to come. Mike recalls how all yachts
prepared their anchor gear and decisions were made as
to who would stay on board. A few yachts moved to another
bay whilst the lucky catamarans wound their way up protected
inlets. |
Whimoway held her ground during the first half whilst Mike
was tossed around in the cabin getting attacked by my books!
Some yachts dragged past her but then in the final half
as the wind direction changed, Mike caught a glimpse of
the shore and realized that Whimoway was dragging too.
She was only 30 metres from the rocks at this stage so Mike
fired up the Perkins motor and powered on for the next few
hours until it abated.
Whimoway has no dodger so Mike was outside with the full
force of the wind and rain upon him! |
|
Several yachts broke away, some ending up on shore. The
catamarans were fine but the people who moved bays were
bombarded with free flying Indonesian fishing boats which
the authorities had moved there the previous day.
Elizabeth Bay pearl farm was all but destroyed and their
crew vessel, brought into Gove Australia for protection, ended up
on the rocks where Whimoway was heading. All was well
and at least we knew our rigging was strong!
There is lots to explore around Gove Australia and the fishing is
GREAT but it was time to go back to Darwin so we allowed
another 4 weeks cruising in Arhnem Land on the way, then
we prepared for our trip to Indonesia. |
Map Of Nhulunbuy - Gove Australia, Arnhem Land
|
|
