Morning Tidal Change at Horizontal Falls

Everyone on board the pontoon seems to manage getting up at 5.45am in time for sunrise. Some of the guests have chosen to do a 10 minute Heli ride across Horizontal Falls but we decided that the seaplane flight captured the moment perfectly for us.

Breakfast is served, plentiful bacon, eggs, toast and mushrooms and we fuel up just like the jet boats for another pass through the falls.

The whole Horizontal Falls Overnight tour is seamless, so well organised and even better than we had imagined.

This morning the tides have changed and they are now flowing back up through the gaps so we fly through the lower falls and then hit the throttle as we spear the narrow 7.5 metre gap in the upper falls. I estimate that the width of the jet boat is about 4.5m so that leaves a 1.5m margin either side of the boat as we pass at high speed close to the rock face. Sensational.

We repeat the pass a few times and a few more at the lower falls to complete a memorable and exhilarating experience.

Returning to the pontoon, our seaplanes arrive and land like clockwork bringing day visitors to the falls. We board our return flight and take off with ease as there’a no extra alcohol weight left. For some reason the pilot has demoted me to cattle class with Jen?

The 50 minute flight path back to Derby airport takes us over The Buccaneer Archipelago, a series of 700 to 1.000 rocky remote and beautiful Islands at the top end of Western Australia. The tides and whirlpools here cause havoc with shipping vessels especially in the Pearling industry and many a sailor and diver have lost their lives.

We fly directly over a Barramundi farm located at Cone Bay and I capture an overhead image of the large circular sea cages creating an artistic visual of human ingenuity. I guess that’s where our Barra came from last night.

The remaining flight takes us across King Sound which has the second highest tides in the World behind Nova Scotia ranging from 11.8m to 1.5m.

Landing at Derby, it’s barely 9.00am and it feels like we have already done a day’s worth of adventure already. Phew!

DRIVE: Derby to Cape Leveque (389km).

We collect the 4WD and hit the road for the drive towards Broome, then heading up the Dampier Peninsula to Cape Leveque. This is our last Kimberley adventure destination before we head to Broome on Tuesday. We are back on dirt or rather sand and clay for about one third of the trip up the peninsula. By next year, the whole of the road up will be sealed but for now, its a work in progress and even so, a lot smoother than the Gibb.

CAMP: Kooljaman at Cape Leveque / 2 Nights.

We stop at Beagle Bay on the way up to Cape Leveque and visit the 19th century Sacred Heart Church. Beagle Bay is an Aboriginal community with about the population of 300. Further up the road which is now smooth, sealed and endlessly straight, we reach Kooljaman at the top end of Cape Leveque, our base for the next two nights.

The camping area sits right on the peninsular with the eastern sunrise beach on one side and the western sunset beach on the other. I recall a good friend, Manny telling us it’s ok to swim on one side of the peninsula beach and not the other because of the crocs but I can’t quite remember which beach he said was ok, east or west!

The campground at Kooljaman is red sand with sites squeezed in in a random fashion. The reception area and cafe/restaurant are modern but the amenities and especially the toilets are well the worst we have come across. A bit disappointing as the destination is so good. Czytaj więcej