29th and 30th July
Had heard about this amazing sight when we were here in 2001
but getting there was a bit out of our price range at the time. A colleague
from work had been to the Kimberley just before we left on our trip and came
back waxing lyrical about this natural phenomenon so we were keen to experience
the Horizontal Falls this time and so pleased that we did. What an incredible
thing to see and certainly another highlight of the trip so far. Thanks Leoni
for putting this on our radar again.
The Horizontal Waterfalls are a natural phenomenon on the
Kimberley coast. They are a fast moving tidal flow moving through two narrow,
closely aligned gorges of the McLarty Range, located in Talbot Bay. The
direction of the flow reverses with each change of tide. Due to the large tidal
variations in this part of the world, the change of tide gives rise to a
significant difference to the sea level on either side of each gorge giving the
appearance of a horizontal waterfall.
Visiting them involved departing Derby on a seaplane and
flying about 30mins over the mud flats and then the Kimberley coast to land on
Talbot Bay. Very cool – neither of us have ever been in a seaplane before and
it was amazing landing on the water! We then got into a power boat and were
taken to the falls where we hooned through the narrow openings a number of
times (like jet boating in NZ) and then cruised around the surrounding
waterways and into Cyclone Bay (which is a protected bay which can withstand
high level cyclones so the perfect spot for boats to moor in inclement weather).
We spent the night at the ‘Horizontal Hotel’ (essentially a
houseboat) on Talbot Bay where we watched the sunset with nibbles and then were
cooked a sensational barramundi dinner. The ‘hotel’ has a couple of shark cages
that guests can swim in and watch from close proximity the afternoon feeding of
the tawny nurse sharks (about half a dozen came in to be feed). Later in the
evening you could see these sharks swimming off the pontoons at the ‘hotel’
along with a couple of bull nose sharks. A good idea to keep any partaking of
alcohol to the top decks as it would be easy to topple overboard from the
pontoons should you get excited with the nocturnal fish show.
Sunrise from the boat was lovely and then breakfast and one
more speed boat trip to the falls (they were flowing the other direction this
time) before heading off in our seaplane back to Derby via the spectacular
Kimberley Coast and Buccaneer Archipelago.
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