The Horizontal Falls

 Wow, what a day!! Is this day 'up there' with our Lake Argyle trip or what?

To begin with, we were picked up outside the caravan park in Derby by bus and taken to the airport to board our float plane for the 35 minute flight up to Talbot Bay and the beginning of our Horizontal Falls trip.

The aerial views were just great - here is a sketch map of our flights. Talbot Bay is top right hand corner.

Yes, there are actually two horizontal falls, however the top one is the smaller of the two and although a bit of a thrill to go through it, it is the larger one (bottom of above photo) that gives you all the thrills!

Once we disembarked ....

we got onto the 'Horizontal Hotel' - the pontoons that were the landing stage for the day, not only do they do day trips, but you can also stay out here overnight.

We were given a lovely morning tea, and then it was down to the jet-boat to have our first ride through the actual falls.

This opening on the larger of the falls is just 7.5 m wide and the torrent of water that flows through is absolutely phenomenal - not sure if you can see the 'dip'  (of approx 1m) that you take when the boat goes through, but apparently it is something like around 4m during the king tides, and they do not take the boats through as it would be too dangerous. The boats have 3 x 300hp motors on the back, one boat actual has four of these big motors. At one point the driver of the boat, at the beginning of the 'rapids' was doing approx. 10 knots per hour just to keep the boat steady. There is terrific power in this water.

It is also amazing to see the whirlpools and bubbling waters on either side of the falls. Makes a washing machine look like you were doing some hand washing!.

Did we get wet - maybe just a tad, but as it was a glorious day, no one cared. Then prior to lunch we saw some wild sharks coming up for a feed, although they do not feed them a lot, as when the operation shuts down for the 'wet' season, the sharks have to fend for themselves.

The lunch that was put on for us was a delicious buffet, and if you did not enjoy it, then you would be very hard to please.

It was after lunch that were were again taken out on the boat for another run, however this time, the tide had changed from incoming to outgoing, and another amazing fact it that right on the turn of the tide, the water through the falls is 'still and calm', then fires up again in the opposite direction.

During the cyclone season, they tow the pontoons up Cyclone Creek and tie them to a safe mooring to ride out the cyclone. However the float planes and boats are all taken back to Derby.

Once back at the pontoons, it was time to board our float plane for the flight back to Derby.

Just before coming in to land, the pilot did a circular run over the township of Derby - Peter and Des actually picked out our vans as we flew over the caravan park.

Our trip to the Horizontal Falls has come to an end, and after leaving the plane, it was back onto the bus to go back to the caravan park.

Now it is time for a drink and marvel at the wonderful day we have just had.

'Til next time,

June

Across The Kimberley

 To begin with, we were packing up our gear, and Peter had the doors on the canopy open, he was reversing to couple up the vehicle and caravan when tragedy struck - his aluminum water bottle fell from the back and he ran over it!! It was such a sad, sad day for Peter, considering he had had it in the fridge all night and the water in it was nice and chilled for the beginning of our trip across the Kimberley.

After consoling hubby, it was time to move on and head for the first stop on our Kimberley run. It was only a short drive (about an hour) into Kununurra for a few days stay.  The scenery as we drove along has been changing quite dramatically of late and we are continuously confronted with long straight roads - mind you, really good roads, it must be said.

Whilst staying at Kununurra, we left the vans in the caravan park so we could do a day trip up to Wyndham which is around 100kms north of Kununurra. What should greet us, but a Croc Cafe/Bakery - morning tea here we come!

We also took a drive up to the 5 Rivers lookout, which is where 5 rivers converge before heading out to sea. A very impressive sight.

On the Friday, Des took a flight over the Bungle Bungles and Peter & I took a little time out.

Leaving Kununurra, we continued to head west taking 3 days to reach Derby. We stopped off at the Doon Doon Roadhouse (which is really out in the middle of nowhere) where we topped up with fuel, and had a laugh at the sign on the front of the bowser.

Continuing on our way, our first nights stop was at the Bungle Bungle Caravan Park where we all but shook the insides out of the car and van on the corrugations of the red dirt track into it. Here we had unpowered sites for the night, as no bookings were taken. However, it was the 'open air' ensuite blocks that really took our fancy.

Yes, you saw correctly, no roof on them, so by day, be sure to wear a hat, and by night a shower by the stars.

Have to say, considering the abundance of red dirt, they were very clean.

On our way next morning, it was off to our second nights stop at Fitzroy Crossing, but before that, we stopped for our morning break at Hall's Creek, fuelled the cars and then found a lovely rock to have our morning tea. 

Further on our lunch break at a lay off, when it was my turn to create a stir. I had opened the car door with my map book in my hand, and taking it easy (I thought - it is a long way down you know) and when I tried to put my foot on the ground only to find my foot went from under me having skidded on the red dirt round pebbles and I ended up 'stuck'!!  I had my elbows splayed out on the 'running boards' on the side of the car, and that was all that was holding me from slipping any further. (A day or so later I did find a rather colourful bruise below my waist at the back) I had to call Peter, as I could not get myself up or if I had not come to rest on my elbows I would have ended up on my backside. Wasn't funny at the time, but very soon, all of us were laughing.

Sorry to say (no I'm not) - no photo!!

However, I did manage to take this one of our roadside cuppa boiled by our fearsome twosome on the little gas stove.

On into Fitzroy Crossing where we stayed the night at a very nice resort/caravan park. Had power and water, and met up with some lovely people - happy hour was one of the best so far on this trip.

Now it was into Derby where we were staying a few nights and looking forward to another of our special treats for the trip.

Our first day here, we found an old boab tree that was supposedly used as a prison tree in years gone by, along with the longest water trough for cattle as well.

After setting up in Derby for the night, we ventured to check out the extraordinary tides that occur in this part of the country. Now it was time to bed down for the night ready for our treat tomorrow.

'Til next time,

June

Lake Argyle

We arrived to a long line-up of vans, campers, caravans and any other sort of form of accommodation that you can think of, and a lot of them were lining up for sites that that may be spare ones, as they had not booked!! We had booked our sites here in November last year. All good. What a lovely park right on the shores of Lake Argyle.

Checked out everything (including the laundry, as you do) including confirming our booking for a sunset cruise the next afternoon/evening. The guys even checked out the 'Infinity Pool' that overlooks the lake and appears to be part of it.

To fill you in on a few statistics of Lake Argyle, I believe it is some 70 kms long and has approx. 90 islands in it. It is an old cattle station that was established by the Durack family after spending 2 1/2 years herding a mob of cattle from Queensland to the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia. The lake was created in 1973 and forms the storage reservoir for the Ord Irrigation area. The result is a massive expanse of freshwater on average equivalent to 17 Sydney harbours. It is also home to quite an array of wildlife including 25,000 freshwater crocodiles and 26 species of native fish.

Now for our sunset tour - we were picked up by bus around 2pm and taken to the area where we got on the boat, so help me, from where the bus dropped us (around 3 ft from the waters edge) to the ramp to get on the boat, was all of about 4-5 steps - piece of red carpet included! 

We buzzed around on a small portion of the lake (approx the top quarter I would say), before coming to a stop, in the middle of the lake, for people who would like to have a swim with champagne and nibbles on a small floating bar. Peter of course was all for this, however decided that when he felt something under his feet, it was time to get out. It was possibly a croc, and of course freshwater crocs are not after humans for their supper. The rest of us enjoyed champagne and nibbles on board the boat.

It was just after this  (oh around 5pm) that the sun began to sink into the west and we were given the most glorious display of natures' colour palette imaginable. Because we are so far west from where most of us come from and closer to the equator it was a lot earlier than we are used to for a sunset, and a lot quicker for the sun to go down too. What a sight!!

I think this is going to be one of the highlights of our trip - it was so awe-inspiring, and the details about the dam were mind blowing to say the least.

With these scenes floating through my brain as I head for bed, I shall finish off for now, and say goodnight.

'Til next time,

June

PS Sorry for the delays in posting to the blog - the internet connections are not all that good up in this part of the country.

Welcome to Western Australia

 Wow, to date we have covered over 4,000 kms since we left home, and thoroughly enjoying every one of those kilometres.

Before we left Mataranka, we visited the Bitter Springs for a dip, what a pretty area. Lots and lots of people enjoying the hot springs.

It was now time to head a little way up the Stuart Highway to Katherine, then turned left and headed west. The road was very good, however not so the scenery. Truely not really a great deal to see.

Just on lunchtime we pulled into Victoria River Roadhouse, filled the vehicles, filled the bodies, then decided we had had enough for the day, and we were guaranteed a powered site for the night.

A very qwerky sign on the roadhouse for the new managers!! It was an amazing place out in the middle of nowhere, but had lovely shady sites and the ammenities were very good. It was here that we got our first sunset over the ancient rock formations of the Kimberleys.

After a good nights sleep, we travelled on toward the NT/WA border.  First though, would you believe in this lonely outback place - Timber Creek, not far from the border we found a bakery!! Well of course that meant mornos and more muffins, after filling the vehicles with diesel. 

It  is not far now to where we  find out if our border passes are acceptable or not. We had emptied the fridges of any fresh fruit and veges, along with the honey (although not much) were to be got rid of. Thankfully we had worked our menus etc so that we had minimal to put out.

All good though, and we were into WA. Yay!! We are definitely on our way. Our first stop in WA will be Lake Argyle. However, it is time to see where our site for the next couple of nights will be.

So I will close off for now,

'Til next time

June