Day 37 Tuesday 19th July

Day 37 Tuesday 19th July

Today we were up early, leaving the Derby Caravan Park around 7.45am. to head to the Airport where we were flying out to see the Horizontal Falls. By the time we had gone through all the safety procedures there were 4 × 14 seat sea planes linedup on the tarmac. The flight to the Horizontal Falls  pontoons and houseboat took about 30 minutes. The scenery as we crossed the huge mud flaps and coastline was just stunning. Landing on the calm water in Talbot Bay was very exciting. We pulled up next to the pontoons and were off-loaded, along with the passengers from the other planes. Other passengers who had stayed overnight were lined up ready for the return trip to Derby. We were given a few brief bits of essential information and then were able to help ourselves to tea,coffee, cool drinks and fruit, on the top level of the shaded pontoons.  Following this, one of the young crew that work at the pontoon station started to feed the numerous sharks who live in this area and know when they are on a good thing. Rob swam in shark cage and got some good photos. The sharks are only fed a small amount as they still need to hunt in the wild. The Horizontal Falls station is closed for 4 months during the wet season and the sharks need to be able to feed themselves. We then went for our first trip on the 900hp boat through the Horizontal Falls. We sped through the rough water of the first fall several times  and checked out the narrower(7.4mt) second fall. The water was rushing through this one and it was too dangerous for the boat to go through. Back to the pontoons for  a lovely morning tea and then we headed back out in the boat up Cyclone Creek. The creek is named like this because it is a safe haven for boats during the wet season. The houseboats and pontoons are put up here during the wet season and are quite safe. In this area the great sandstone of the Kimberleys meet the beautiful blue waters of the bay and creek. We loved the scenery and it was a quiet, beautiful trip. Back to the pontoon for a delicious barramundi lunch. Rob and I had also booked a helicopter flight over the Falls and Cyclone Creek. Rob volunteered for us to be split up as there were only 3 passenger seats on the chopper. I scored the front seat next to the pilot. There were no doors just openings. It was fabulous, amazing and a fantastic way to see the Horizontal Falls, Kimberleys and Cyclone Creek from the sky but up vey close. After our chopper trips and lunch we headed out once more in the boat, this time to go through both of the falls. Again a sensational experience. The  falls exist because of the huge tides in this area, trying to rush in and out of two extremely small openings and are a rarity in the world. Once back we headed off in our seaplane for Derby. Our pilot flew us over some of the barramundi farms and also magnificent thousand island, Buccaneer Archipelago. Truly, this was a very memorable experience. Once safely back at Derby airport we picked up our car and van and immediately started driving to the freecamp, where Heather, Paul, Steve and Lyn had stayed and extra night waiting for us to catch up. Despite some traffic holdups due to roadworks, we made it to their camp around 7pm.