Broome and Horizontal Falls

Broome:  29 July

On Monday morning, we enjoyed breakfast with the people we had met on our Kimberley tour.  Soon, it was time for each of us to go our own way, and we said our farewells.  We were driven to our caravan park, where we retrieved Chaunticleer from his parking spot:  he was covered in a thick layer of red dust after two weeks of sitting quietly but, otherwise, he was in good knick! 

After getting unpacked from our tour, we drove into Chinatown to have a most enjoyable lunch at Shady Lane café.  Then, we were off to check out some pearl shops.  We found some very nice mother of pearl pieces to buy:  the range of pearls and mother of pearl goods is amazing (with prices for pearls going up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars!).

On our way back to our caravan park, we stocked up on food supplies as we prepared for our friends, Norm and Roz, to arrive after their long drive from Karratha.  They had a good run through to Broome and arrived in the late afternoon. 

We drove to where they were staying and then set off for Matso’s Broome Brewery for a lovely al fresco dinner.  We had a beaut time catching up on news from Canberra and on the experiences we had each had on our trips to Broome.

Horizontal Falls:  30 July

As Tuesday dawned to another superb day, our amazing adventure was to continue with our trip to the Horizontal Falls.  We spent the morning sorting things out and getting our blog a bit more up to date:  we are slowly catching up on telling everything about our wonderful trip through the Kimberleys.

In the late morning, we were picked up by the Seaplane Adventures bus and taken to Broome airport.  There was our sea plane waiting to take us north to Talbot Bay.  We had our safety talk, clambered aboard and we were off.  The pilot, Mal, flew low over Willie Creek Pearl Farm and then we climbed as we headed north following the coast to Cape Leveque.  We had glorious views of James Price Point and there were views of the sea making extra-ordinary patterns in the tidal flats.  We were able to see a number of small communities, including Beagle Bay. 

Cape Leveque came into view – with the settlement comprising a number of buildings, the airstrip, the lighthouse and the cliff around the shore.  This is quite a remote place so it is an adventure for people to travel there. 

We then headed east across the mouth of King Sound.  There were large and small islands stretching as far as we could see through the Buccaneer Archipelago, interspersed with small sand atolls and rocky outcrops.  It was a marvellous vista of ocean, islands and incredible colours.

As we neared Talbot Bay, Mal flew us low over a number of islands and steep gorges in this incredible wilderness.  We were fascinated by the maze of waterways, inlets and steep-sloping banks falling away to the blue sea.  Surprisingly, there are so many waterways twisting in every direction that there were reflections in some areas because the sea was so sheltered!  The entire scene was enough to take your breath away.

Then:  there they were – the two slices through the towering cliffs which create the horizontal falls!  As Mal flew low over the cliffs, we could see that the tide was coming in and the water was rushing through the two gaps.  The two falls were an absolutely amazing sight from the air. 

After Mal had given us an incredible view of the horizontal falls, he flew us through the ranges at the head of Talbot Bay and we landed in the sea beside the permanent pontoon.

Our trip so far had exceeded what we had been anticipating – and there was more to come!  The crew on the pontoon gave us a safety talk;  then, while lunch was being prepared, we went to see the feeding of the resident Tawny Nurse sharks plus Bull sharks. 

These sharks cruise around the pontoon continually and the crew have even given them names (there is even one called Tim)!  While they are being fed, we were able to put on snorkels and jump into a shark cage and watch under water as the sharks were being fed.  Of course, not everyone was brave enough to do this – but Tim did our group proud by spending quite some time in the shark cage.

We also caught up with Michael and Barbara from our Kimberley Tour, as they had come to the falls via a bus ride to Cape Leveque and then flying to Talbot Bay.

Lunch was ready:  fresh, wild barramundi lightly grilled on the BBQ with salad!  Barramundi never tasted this good;  it was so delicious that we all had seconds.  Well, absolutely fresh barramundi must be good for you!  No sooner had we finished lunch than we got onto the jet boat to ride through each of the horizontal falls.  The jet boat has very powerful engines and so we were off in a shower of spray. 

Our first sight of the wider fall (the gap in the cliffs is about 20 metres) showed us the difference in height between the water we were on and the water on the other side of the gap:  as the tide was coming in, we were nearly a metre higher. 

The boat in the photo is not ours but it shows how wide the wider gap is.  Engines revved and we were into the gap and through:  the water was a maelstrom of swirling currents and waves as the incoming tide pushed the water through the gap.  How exhilarating! 

Then it was on to the narrower gap (this gap is only about 7.5 metres):  it looked even narrower from our small boat.  As we looked through this seemly ridiculously small gap, we could see that the difference in water heights had increased.  The water was boiling as it was forced through this gap – and we were into the gap with engines revving and our boat bucking seemingly every way at once and then we were through. 

What an incredible experience!  What an adrenalin rush!  One runs out of superlatives in attempting to describe what we were experiencing.  We returned through the small gap against the water flow and, again, there was much bucking as our boat was thrown about.  As if that wasn’t enough, we then went back through the narrow gap two more times!!  We were covered in spray but who cared? 

We had come to one of the geographic marvels of what Australia has to offer and we had had such exhilarating fun!  When we returned to the wider gap, it seemed a bit of a let-down as the effort to get through was seemingly much less.  Of course it wasn’t, as there is still just as much danger with the swirling water and the bucking boat even with the wider gap.

A couple more times through this gap and we were off to Cyclone Creek.  The calmer waters of this water course, with its towering cliffs and dramatic landforms, was quite a contrast to what we had just left.

Back at the pontoon, we boarded our sea plane for our return to Broome.  As we neared Broome, the sun was setting and we had a glorious view of Roebuck Bay and Broome in the golden rays.

We caught up with Peter and Betty from our Kimberley Tour for dinner at the Roey and then it was back to our cabin to relax after a magnificent day in our Kimberley adventure.

Broome:  31 July – 1 August

Our remaining two days in Broome were spent relaxing, shopping and becoming familiar with the town.  We looked at beautiful pearls and mother of pearl shell in numerous shops.  When we needed to have a rest, we went to the Shady Lane café and enjoyed mango smoothies or similar drinks (they are ideal in the warm Broome air!).  The Shady Lane café is in Jimmy Chi Lane and great music from the 1960s is played continually:  it is a beaut place to simply veg out.

One evening, after a great meal of oysters, prawns and lightly grilled fish prepared and cooked by Roz, we went to Sun Pictures again and watched Satellite Boy in the balmy evening warmth.  This time, we took pillows and so we were very comfortable in the sling back canvas deck chairs!  There also was a group of school children from Fitzroy Crossing at this screening of the film, as Cameron Wallaby, who stars in the film with David Gulpilpil, attends their school.  They were thrilled to see their friend in the film.

Our last afternoon was spent on Cable Beach swimming in the warm sea (although there were no waves to be caught).  As we had driven onto the beach along with hundreds of other vehicles, after our swimming, we were able to sit in the sun reading, chatting and watching people fishing. 

As the sun started setting, we set off for the Cable Beach resort, where we sat at the al fresco café to watch the sun sink into the Indian Ocean. Kerryn and Roz enjoyed a cocktail each.  

Then it was off to the Roey for our final dinner with Norm and Roz in Broome before we packed Chaunticleer ready for an early departure next morning.