We’ve talked about it, speculated, anticipated and budgeted for our trip to the Horizontal Falls. A planned highlight of this years journey, an opportunity to see something rare, certainly unique in this part of the world. We’ve read about tides second only to Nova Scotia in magnitude, up to 11.5 metres. So when it came time to book our Falls experience we were more than a bit surprised to learn that we had to wait for a later date because the proposed dates fell on a ‘neap’ tide. In effect, no falls – no tidal movement. Well we just had to wait. I suppose this would seem to be a bit of an anticlimax and given that the tidal range following a neap tide does not approach the maximum tidal height, we did think that perhaps we’d made a bad decision time wise. But, we’re here now so our choice of timing was now limited.
So on the 29th of July we took flight. Picked up by bus from the Derby caravan park along with 38 others we went to the airport to be shepherded into a terminal packed with returnees from the Falls. Four Cessna Caravans sat out front waiting for us to be loaded in weight for balance order. After being checked in, given our name tags and assigned our respective plane we traipse with our small hand luggage out into the afternoon heat, stand by our plane while we load our bits into a pontoon, are given our buoyancy vests, given our safety instructions and then summonsed in to sit where our respective weights balance out the plane. Our pilot is just into puberty. Surely he is just the warm up guy.
But no, he climbs into the pilot seat and cranks up the engine, puts on the headphones and then announces that he has done this before. We’re the first plane to move off. I find this encouraging cos it means that there are three to follow and they will be able to search for our bodies. I don’t like little planes and as most of you know I never really enjoyed flying so here we are in a little plane with a kid, wet behind the ears, in control with only one engine up front and we’ve already got our life vests on. Now Judes concern that we are flying over water and crashing brings on the sharks is all too real cos one of the features of this trip is a swim with the sharks so we know they’re out there. So we’re both a bit nervous, perhaps for quite different reasons. Bugger me, the flight was fantastic. As it turned out it was only half an hour but I could have comfortably flown further. Yes, there were a couple of rough patches but my flying lesson of so many years ago sort of prepared me for this. Cruising at 5500 feet allowed a great view of some beautiful landscape (which was also distracting) but there was a bit of haze in the air so photos are not brilliant…..
A mechanical voice (or is that maniacal) reminds the pilot to retract the wheels cos we are making a water landing. And so we did . Smooth as silk. In the course of conversation the pilot tells us that he, along with his colleagues spend about 8 hours a day in season flying this route, from Derby, Broome or Cape Leveque, backwards and forwards so went the attempt to further instil confidence. I must say I had no reservations about facing the return journey next day (although I was a little more comfortable still when our next day pilot seemed a little more mature).
On arrival we were greeted by another bunch of kids. I think the oldest was 22 and we know that cos it was his birthday. They were terrific. They knew their stuff. They were great hosts.
We had met two couples in Derby who flew out with us but they were relegated to another boatel so we only managed a catch up during the shark tank experience but that did nothing to detract from the occasion. Once relegated to our quarters it was all back on deck to board the boats. Two boats from our boatel, another smaller one from the other boatel all then set out to see and experience the Falls. It was a thrill ride……
this first trip just taking us into the wider falls and the first bay, as the narrower opening to the second bay was running too high for these 900hp boats to handle. Several passes through continued to exhilarate, even though the fall was not as great as the brochures depicted (only about 2 metres). Then it was off up the creek for a bit of a look at the coastline..
until the tide turned for a return to the falls. The dark line you see along the base of the rock walls is the tide line – some 9 – 10 metres above where it was at this time (tide going out, nearly absolute low tide).
Back to the boatel for a dive with the sharks. There are two cages set into the pontoons around the boatel and the sharks swim in open water between them. Obviously the sharks and other fish know it is feed time because even before the feeder gets into her pit they are well and truly cruising through…..
then the young lass gets into her own little cage as others look on from outside….
and feeds the fish. These sharks are tawny nurses perhaps not the most dangerous species but sufficiently sized and quite capable of sucking off fingers and toes. Most of these were around 3 metres, although the little flat fish were just cute.
Then, back to the boats to ride the rapids into the second bay. By now the tide has turned and the two bays are filling up so the ride in was ‘downhill’. All quite exciting and exceptionally picturesque…..
Several runs through the falls and then back to the boatels for dinner. The kids cooked up barramundi, enough for twice the number of people and served it with salads followed by a desert. Being BYO drinks were well taken care of although soft and tea/coffee was also plentiful. The evening was only a meal and it sort of petered out early as most peeled off to their cabins by about 9.00. A couple of stalwart drinkers made it to about 10 but it was all over by then. Probably just as well cos the next morning was a 6.00am start with a cooked brekky and another tilt at the falls before flying out back to Derby…..
and all too soon it was over. The sights are beautiful, the experience exhilarating. It was pretty well as expected, perhaps a higher tide may have been that little bit more exciting but overall a great adventure. Price is high – $1690 for the two of us for just 20 hours but its is easy to see the cost of providing the service. Just the infrastructure and its maintenance are very obvious costs, coupled with the season only being about 8 months each year.
We loved it though!
We had planned to leave Derby the day after this but as we were not expecting our new aircon in Broome for some further 10 days and we expected caravan park fees to be over $50.00 per day there we opted to stay on for a few more days at the cheaper rate. Then as we were packing to leave eventually the bedroom slide out crapped out again and we had to stay on longer to repair it. For I think about the sixth time now the slide out drive shaft bolts sheered and whilst not a huge job it is a difficult one. We discovered a neighbour from Benalla was parked up next to us and his engineering skills were eventually brought to bear. Thanks Bill and Ro.
Derby we discovered is a very isolated township of some 5000 people. On the King Sound near the mouth of the Fitzroy River it bills itself as the first town in the Kimberley. A very large indigenous population but it has everything including a couple of gaols….
the boab used as one cell, the water trough to water 500 head of cattle, an early “swimming pool”, a newer two cell gaol but one wonders who got to use the toilet and the newer gaol next door..
Once a port for live cattle it really doesn’t serve much else other than tourism today. It is one end of the Gibb River Road, an infamous beef road that four wheel drivers seem to like to challenge. We heard some stories of wrecked vans and campers but people still boast of taking on the challenge….
We headed for Broome. We are there waiting parked up in an “overflow” caravan park cos all the other 5 or 6 are full. Our first few nights were in an unpowered section (also with no water) and the inevitable happened – our solar batteries gave up the ghost. Only $900.00 this time and we’re further from civilization than was the case back in 2013. The aircons about $2200.00, a handle for the washing machine which we are also awaiting is just $60.00 but put them together and we’ve more than expended the fuel savings anticipated from the new engine management chip ( in fact about 5 fold). This has turned into a costly trip but what the hell – we’re doin’ it!
We are now further from home than we have ever been but we are on the downhill run. We do actually get further from home before we turn back though. Hopefully heading off down the coast by 12 August providing all our bits arrive by then.
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