THE LONGEST NIGHT
(Unless images credited otherwise)
“What a beautiful place to die,” I thought. I lay on red rocks, surrounded by an ancient stone gorge with a fierce river cutting through it. I knew there were blue freshwater pools just a few hundred metres from where I lay, and giant boab trees reaching into the star-filled sky. I could hear the sound of huge waterfalls nearby, but the sun had already set on the scenery. Only a handful of people had ever seen this place before, deep in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The utter remoteness of this land was part of the appeal for a whitewater rafting adventure. But now I knew that it might also cost me my life.
THE BITE
February 19, 2021. Right now we are on Ngarinyin Country, where the Traditional Custodians hold First Law strong today. We’ve just finished Day Three of our two-week journey to raft from near Mt Barnett to Fitzroy Crossing, travelling along the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) and its upper catchments. It is a rarely travelled route, possible only in the wet season when torrential rain and flooding is common. We’re here to experience this land, to immerse ourselves in it, and to help bring attention to the river’s plight.
Hugely important to its Traditional Owners, the Martuwarra is considered an ancestral being at the core of their belief systems, while also being home to a number of endemic species like the critically endangered freshwater sawfish. But other groups are also interested in the river—some want to take water from it for irrigation and agriculture; others want to explore the area for fracking.
“I HAVEN’T BEEN ASLEEP LONG WHEN I WAKE WITH A JOLT—A SUDDEN IMPACT AND INTENSE PAIN ON MY TOE. I’M WRENCHED OUT OF SLEEP, THINKING, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?”
Our team of six is asleep beneath tarps held up with paddles in case a storm blows through during the night. I haven’t been asleep long when I wake with a jolt—a sudden impact and intense pain on my toe. I’m wrenched out of sleep, thinking, What the hell was that?
My head torch is next to me; I grab it, swing the beam
