captainpete's experience @ Ripapa Island / Fort Jervois
Welcome to Ripper Island!
It was a great plan. We’d get there an hour before low tide, spend two hours there then cross back hopping rocks and not getting our feet wet. We were to meet some friends on the island who’d had a head start. These things of course, never play out according to plan.
Internet satellite reconnaissance showed land between the water and the access road but we planned to wing it on arrival – which is always a good idea. We pulled up 45 minutes later behind our friends vehicle and a DOC ute. There are three paths you can take to get to the bay nearest the island. You can cut straight across the farm, which involves sheep shit, trespassing (but not with criminal intent), old electric fences and a great view from the top of the hill. You can drive for a bit and walk down a shared driveway to the sea, then track West along the coast. Or, for the particularly game, you can take the scenic route around the cliffs to the West. The shortest path is probably to the East.
Once on the island we found it was access all areas. There are gated areas but one of the gates as a bar missing so it’s easy to explore the tunnels. DOC have been taking really good care and restoring this place to its WWII glory. The island has a lot of history and is important to different people for different reasons.
Our friends, who arrived before us, showed up 90 minutes later carrying a class II Warehouse Destroyer, boat of boats, filled with supplies. They had taken the scenic route.
They stayed the night out there (the next low tide was at 0300) and we headed back using rope and our trusty Warehouse Frigate that we’d brought along.
I recommend taking a warehouse boat and some rope if you’re not up to timing low tides. At high tide in high winds you can cross if you time it right and leave from the up-wind tip of the island. It’d be good to go back and take more photos.
Random Photo
Uploaded by rob
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