Horizontal Falls

Monday the 6^th July and time had finally arrived for the Horizontal Falls overnight flight. We put the van into storage, had a last look around Derby and, to make it more of a special day we had lunch out at the wharf. We were picked up at the van park at 2.15pm and went out to the airport, met the pilot and were in the air flying out of Derby. Everything works like clockwork with these Horizontal Falls tours, with one new lot of tourists in and another lot go out.  (Photos from the flight of Derby and King Sound are in the 'Derby' post).

The Horizontal Falls came into view. There are the two narrow passages, one being narrower than the other. Just beyond is Talbot Bay where the houseboats were moored where we would fly into. Linda got a great video of us landing in the seaplane. I don’t think I can upload the video but will look into it and edit the blog later if I can. The seaplane takes a steep descent between two ranges, it’s like he just drops out of the sky. The flight alone was just fantastic.

The skipper of our houseboat and speed boat was Adrian and a very cool dude (the guy with the glasses, not the woman). He has been working in this area since he was 15, having dropped out of school and has been doing this work the longest. At 27 he was a veteran at this. Very blessed to have him showing us around. The group of 12 of us were on the one houseboat on our own as there was an overflow of tourists booking at this time and so the company had brought in Adrian with his boat that he normally does 4 day tours on. It made it a better deal for us, not being crowded and queuing. This was our houseboat and our fast boat. Everyone else was on the joined, two houseboats.

 

 

 

 The rest of the tour groups.

 

He took us up the bay into some mangroves for an exciting ride. Then back to the main houseboats where these bottom feeding sharks come up for a feed. We got into the shark cage to get closer. Later that night there was one of these sharks that just swam constantly behind our houseboat, picking up what bait fish he could which were attracted by our lights.

 

 

We then went through the Horizontal Falls. There are two narrow passages where the waters flow through at a furious rate and because so much water is needing to come through the water banks up. It is amazing to see. Adrian explained that the tide right at that time was not flowing hard but it would be in the morning and we would be going again then. The photos don’t do it justice but the videos I have of it help. Unfortunately cannot load those on but I have put a couple on facebook so you can have a look there. My facebook name is Pete Southey if you want to send a friend request.

 

Then it was back to the houseboat for sunset drinks and nibbles. Just a beautiful setting. Met some really nice people who were on our tour.  We had a dinner of barramundi and I had some snapper as well, salad. The nibbles and food was a little disappointing really.  The only small downside in an amazing day. The moon photo is like a steps to the moon.

Next morning we had a breakfeast of bacon and eggs. Forgot to get a photo of our room but it was quite nice. I got two pano photos, from front of the boat to the back to give a good idea of our setting.

 

 

Linda and I went the extra mile, literally and dollars wise and had a helicopter flight. It flew over from the pontoons and landed on top of our boat to pick us up and we did a big circuit. The photos I am putting on of the chopper flight don’t include actual horizontal falls photos because we did videos which again I will edit into the blog later if I can.

 

 

Then it was time to do what we came for. We got into the fast boat again and Adrian took us to the falls and this time the tide was pumping. We went through the first, wider passage but Adrian would not take us through the narrower passage as the height difference was to great. There was a huge wall of water where the water was banked up, trying to rush through the passage. There was an element of risk involved. He said when he was 15 he used to do it but not anymore. This, without doubt, was one of the most exciting and fun things I have ever done. The whole experience was definitely worth the money.

 

 

It was over all to soon. The flight back to Derby was again awesome. I got to sit by the pilot. The Buccaneer Archipelago is just beautiful.

  

 

 Hard to see them but there is a barramundi farm down there. Some circular pools showing in front of the seat in front of Linda.

 

Derby

Sunday the 28^th of June and it was so good getting back to the van after another six nights in the tent. The Gibb was great but Oh, the comfort of the van! So we had arrived back in Derby.

It would not be inappropriate for me to post a photo of our TV as, at that stage, we have only had two nights of TV available over three weeks. There were numerous nights in the tent and other nights when there was no TV reception. That is indeed a record for us.

We have been having a very relaxing week here, catching up on phone calls and the blog, doing a bit of maintenance and cleaning and planning, morning coffees and dinner out at the wharf. Derby was a major port for many years but the wharf is now pretty much disused. There is a restaurant out there which is a great location for the sunset.

 

 

Alec Beckett is a country music balladeer who has been here for the week and I have caught him performing four times this week, three times at the van park where he and I are staying and the wharf restaurant. I had seen him for the last two Tamworth Country Music Festivals busking in Peel Street. I bought one of his CDs which he has written four of the songs. Happy to support such as him.

The tides here are some of the highest in the world, about 11 metres. Compare the photos of high tide to low tide.

 

There is another Prison Boab tree here which got a lot of use apparently.

 

We are killing a bit of time here before doing the Horizontal Falls overnight flight on Monday the 6^th July. On the morning before going on the flight we thought we would take a last look at Derby and have a look at a couple of things we had not seen yet. Went to the pioneer cemetery and saw these headstones. William Richardson was a Policeman who was killed by the Aboriginal Jandamarra who I mentioned in the post about Tunnel Creek on the Gibb River Road. I love the simple language they used on the headstones back then.

 

When we took the flight we got a look at Derby from the air and also views of King Sound and the hinterland on the way to the Horizontal Falls.

 

 

Gibb River Road - Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek

Saturday morning, the 27^th June we went to Windjana Gorge. After setting up camp we went the 37km further on to Tunnel Creek. It was a good option to be doing Tunnel Creek during the heat of the day. We were nice and cool in the tunnels. This is an amazing area. The tunnel goes through from one side of the range to the other. The history is interesting as there was an Aborignal called Jandamarra who led an uprising against white settlers in the area. He was shot dead by a black tracker when he was seen coming out of the cave.

 

 

Sunday morning we walked into Windjana Gorge. There are a huge number of freshwater crocs in the river there. Not having a swim there.

By this time we were a bit gorged out and ready to swap the tent for the comfort of the caravan.