Horizontal Waterfalls

Talbot Bay, North- West Kimberley

Day 35, Friday 16 July

Friday morning spent doing some admin around camp then it was to the lock up for the Amarok and Bernie, and the Derby airport for us. We were heading to an overnight stop on a pontoon/ houseboat in Talbot Bay with ‘Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures’

The ‘Horizontal Waterfalls’ essentially occur because of the massive tidal range in Australia’s north west / The Kimberley and two large cracks between the ranges adjacent to Talbot Bay which allow impounded water to flow between them on the various tides ( except neap tides , of course🙄). The local indigenous people , call the place ‘Lalang-garram’. We acknowledge the Dambimangari people as the traditional custodians of this special place and offer respect to their elders, past, present and emerging.

Flying North / Northeast to Talbot Bay

The flight up took around 35 minutes, the scenery was amazing . Landing on the ocean in a seaplane was also a first for both of us.

The setup in Talbot Bay was sweet. Nice cabins , big interlinked pontoons, aircraft and boat moorings and few chopper pads.

Soon after arriving , safety briefs and dropping bags, it was onto a jet boat for a run through the falls. There are two – one is about 12 metres wide , the other is narrower at 7.5 metres. The former wasn’t doing a great deal, but the smaller one started pumping while we where there. Apparently it rises / drops around an inch a minute , leaving not much time before it can become to hairy to safely navigate. It was spectacular, not sure the images we captured truly do the sight and experience justice.

After several exhilarating runs through the gap ( and getting soaked in jet boat hijinks 😀) it as back to the houseboat. They were feeding dusk nurse sharks when we got back, that ‘fun’ stopped when a bull shark turned up…. Apparently they don’t want to associate food with human activity…( hmmm… no swimming off the pontoon!)

Then it was time for a quick sunset trip up ‘Cyclone Creek’ prior to a dinner of BBQ Barra on the top deck of the pontoon.

After a good night it was up early for brekkie and another run through the falls on the jet boat.

Then it was back onto the Seaplane for a different route back into Derby over Cone Bay, then tracking down King Sound.

We were back into Derby in time for second breakfast and coffee. We then drove to Yawaru country to spend a few nights in Broome.