DAY 70 – HORIZONTAL FALLS – IT WAS ON HIS BUCKET LIST…..
bus for a 5:30 a.m. pickup to the
seaplane at Broome airport, we woke to get ready at
5:00 a.m. We picked other
passengers along the way and with a packed busload arrived
at the airport
before 6 a.m. where we all were briefed for the flight and each
given our small
self-inflatable life jackets.
Up in the cockpit with the pilot |
Check out the co-pilot |
Co Pilot Steve with Pilot Ben |
You can't tell they are half excited. |
The seaplane seated about 12 passengers and Steve
sat in the co-pilots seat. What a
buzz! The flight was fiary uneventful until we reached the Buccaneer Archipelago
ranges just past sighting where Derby was.
We flew at a height of around 15000ft and
much of the flight was automated, allowing the pilot to document and record readings
and check other instruments
whilst flying. He assured me it was not easy as there was
an immense
responsibility.
One of the other planes flying in.. |
On arriving at the falls (~1 hour flight), Ben, the pilot,
circle the falls so that
passengers on both sides of the seaplane could get
some photographs (some moments
involved sharp turns where you could almost drop
out of the plane if it was not for the
side wall and windows – let alone the
seatbelts). The 2nd inlet (10m wide fall)
contained a lot more body
of water and would take longer to empty, thus the larger
fall.
Flying in over the Horizontal Falls |
Horizontal Falls |
We heard Ben talking to other pilots on route and as we approached to land I saw
another
plane close to the water surface and under us – I hoped it would be out of the
way by the time we landed – it was. It was a relatively smooth landing on water.
We
taxied on water to a group of pontoons that was setup for accommodation and
was
given a cuppa & biscuits before hopping on the boat to the falls. It
was all rushed.
The sea plane they arrived in. |
We were taken to the first fall (30m wide fall) and through it
several times. There was
a 1m height difference with a depth of 40m – a lot of water
flowing out again. The
tides up there are up to 10m difference so you can
imagine the amount of flowing
water involved.
Heading off to see the Horizontal Falls |
The water was turbulent however,
the skippers throttle work made it more jerky than
necessary. There were some
amazing rock transformations.
The 2nd fall (10m wide
gap) was high 2 – 3m difference in height and the boat craft
was not permitted
to go through as the boat was 5 m wide, however, we approached
the fall to
within ~10m and the turbulence was pretty severe, creating up to 3m
diameter and 1m
deep. After two approaches to the 10m fall, we returned to the
pontoons for
breakfast (bacon eggs, cereal, coffee, tea.
Again, after a little while we were invited to feed the Tawny sharks and trevally. Kathy
& I hoped in for a
swim in the cage. Visibility was not so clear under the water – little
After about 115 minute, we were
directed back on the boat for a tour of Cyclone Creek
where the pearlers stored
their gear on the upper sand banks through the cyclone
season (the Wet). The
added advantage was to keep the hulls clean from barnacles.
This tour had some
amazing layer formations in the pushed and folded sedimentary
rocks. Just
before we entered Cyclone Creek, we saw a small 3m crocodile basking on
a mud
bank.
Cyclone Creek |
Still crocs around here |
Up close and personal |
Before we knew it, it was time to
depart on the plane so we put on our
life jackets and
took off on a different path at a lower altitude along the
west coast. Steve sat on the
Eastern side (under the wing) and saw plenty of
coast line formations (sand, water –
incoming & rushing – good fishing
spots J ).
We landed back in Broome by 11:00
a.m.
and were home (Roebuck Bay Caravan Park) by 11:30 a.m.
Homeward bound again... |
Whilst these
guys enjoyed their morning flying out to the Horizontal Falls, I got some much needed housework done, and then I enjoyed the lovely ocean breezes as I sat out
under our awning whilst I caught up on some photo editing and post card writing.
I also got
to meet our neighbours from behind, and the neighbours next to Ian and Kathy
who happened to be good friends with my Dad back in Queensland. The Haines and Cullens were here with a group
of other Gideons who are heading to Perth for the National Convention. The Cullens live in Caloundra and often pick
Dad up and take him to the Gideon dinners in Caloundra as well as join him at
the RSL for lunch occasionally. The
Haines are from Eucha in Victoria and Graham has served on the National Cabinet
with Dad when we was National President.
It is a small world.
Steve, Ian
and Kathy were home by lunch time, with wonderful stories of their morning at
the Horizontal Falls. They loved it and
would all do it again. It was a little
disappointing that I was unable to join them, but that is what it is.
Steve went
for a bit of a fish after lunch, although he wasn’t really successful today,
and then later in the afternoon we headed onto Cable Beach to watch the Camels
and sunset. It was quite magical. I can never get enough of the sunsets over
the water. This is something that is
rare in the Eastern States as we are more used to seeing the moon rise over the
water…
Sunset on Cable Beach |
Our car on Cable Beach |
Because I
knew we wanted to go watch the sunset again this evening, I ended up doing a Beef Stroganoff in the
Slow Cooker so at least when we got home tonight, dinner would be cooked for
us.
Magical sunset over Cable Beach in Broome WA |
The camels heading home after another long afternoon on the beach...
Enjoying another magical sunset at Cable Beach |
Feeling blessed to be in such a beautiful spot. |
Ian and Kathy on Cable Beach |
Tonight was
also the last night of “Staircase to the Moon” for this month, and we were keen
to see the last one, another reason to
have an early dinner. The moon was
almost an hour later rising tonight, so it was around 8.45pm before it was due
to rise.
After
dinner, we decided to take our chairs out to the beach headland, along with
some wine and cheese and enjoy the last full moon for September. We were fortunate that quite a few people had
the same idea and the folk just up from us also had some lovely music playing
that created quite an ambience for our evening out under the stars and
moon.
Enjoying watching the "Staircase to the Moon" at Roebuck Bay |
How blessed
are we, getting to witness the sun
setting over the water, and then a couple of hours later watching the moon rise
over the water…
Still
pinching myself often, can’t believe
that we are living the dream….
Loving life
on the road, and can perfectly understand why people do this full time.
1 comments:
Love reading your blog posts and following your journey. Glad you are having a really blessed time.
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