Day 42 - Horizontal Falls

Thankfully we didn’t have any incidents last night and the police did lots of patrols through the caravan park.

We were all very excited when we woke up today as we have been looking forward to our day trip to the Horizontal Falls.

What are the Horizontal Falls - They are formed from a break in-between the McLarty Ranges, reaching up to 25m in width. The natural phenomenon is created as seawater builds up faster on one side of the gaps than the other, creating a waterfall up to 5m high on a spring tide. Within each change of the tide, the direction of the falls reverses, creating vast tidal whirlpools. The powerful tides in the Kimberley can reach more than 10 metres and the direction of the flow reverses ensuring the water flows two different ways each day.
The northern, most seaward gorge is 20m wide and the southern, more inland gorge is 7.5m and they are both 40m deep. Above each of the gorges are natural reservoirs between 6–8 km long, which fill and empty with seawater through the gorge openings. The inner gorge is also partly fed by fresh water from Poulton Creek.
The Horizontal Falls have been described by naturalist David Attenborough as "one of the greatest wonders of the natural world"

We were collected from the caravan park at 8am and driven to Derby Airport. Here we were given a briefing and advised which seaplane we were boarding (there were 3 departing at the same time). We were the last 4 to board our seaplane (I think cause we were the lightest!!) and we all got window seats.

We took off and flew over the mudflats towards Talbot Bay. We had a great water landing and pulled up at the house boat.

We were ushered up to the top floor where we could admire the beautiful views while we had coffee and another safety briefing.

Next we were strapped into the front seats of a 900hp boat for an exhilarating ride through the falls. Wow what an adrenaline rush it was and the kids and I were both screaming with delight - it was amazing.

The narrower gorge looked like such a tiny gap and the water was powering through we didn’t think we were able to go through but luckily the waterfall was only 1.5m and that is the highest they can go through.

We thought we only went through each fall twice but we went through each fall 6 times. We also stopped in the falls so you could see how powerful the tide is.

We were taken back to the houseboat for morning tea and then we got changed ready for snorkelling in the shark cage. Here they fed the grey tawny nurse sharks, bull shark (which was down too deep so only saw a shadow), the giant trevally and bat fish. It was also great viewing around the pontoon.

Next we boarded the boat again for a leisurely cruise through cyclone creek. Which is a narrow stretch of water that takes you into the depths of the wild and colourful Kimberley country. The rock formations were amazing and there are normally resident crocs on display but we didn’t spot any today. Cyclone creek is also where they store their houseboats and pontoons during the wet season as it’s protected from the cyclones.

We then went through the horizontals Falls another 6 times and this was on the change of tide so it was pretty flat and not as exhilarating as our first go.

At the change of tide the water is still for only one minute and this is when the marine life (dolphins, sharks, fish, crocs, dugongs & sea turtles) travel through the gorges.

We then went back to the houseboat for lunch which was beautiful barramundi and salad. As we enjoyed lunch Rog spotted some dolphins so we enjoyed watching them and the sharks swimming around.

We then boarded the speed boat for the last time and we were lucky to get the front seats again. Again we went through the gorges 6 times and this time we experienced the Falls going the opposite direction.

We then relaxed on the houseboat until it was time to board our seaplane for the 45 min journey back to Derby airport. This time we flew over Talbot Bay and it was so pretty. We also saw a barramundi farm.

We had a very smooth landing then hopped into the bus for our return trip to the caravan park.

We were all on such a high after an amazing day. It was so actioned packed and they had us moving constantly.

We then chilled in the caravan and spoke to the neighbours while the kids played with their dog.

Had dinner then we all crashed as we were all exhausted.