Thursday, September 22, 2016

22 September - Beagle Bay, Cape Leveque, Buccaneer Archipelago and Horizontal Falls; Kimberley

22 September 2016 – 188 192
Beagle Bay, Cape Leveque, Buccaneer Archipelago and Horizontal Falls; Kimberley



https://horizontalfallsadventures.com.au/
https://horizontalfallsadventures.com.au/tour/broome-full-day-tour/
This morning we were up super early, ready to be picked up at 5:25am.  The bus was actually slightly early to collect us.  After picking up the remainder of the passengers we headed north along the Cape Leveque Road.  Our first stop was the Beagle Bay Aboriginal Community, where we visited the church.  This white stone building is almost one hundred years old and quite nice to look at from the exterior.  The inside is amazing; the altar, window frames, trims on the floor, etc are all made of pearl shell – it is quite spectacular.  We then drove up to Kooljaman at Cape Leveque.  Here the beaches are quite unusual – there are red rocky cliffs going down to the white sandy beach.  Hayden and Drew both enjoyed a swim.  We were then driven over to One Arm Point, from where we took a seaplane over the Buccaneer Archipelago.  This was really pretty – the coastline at this end of the Kimberley is quite different to that at the Wyndham end.  I have never previously been in a seaplane – the take-off from land was very similar to other small planes, landing on the water was much gentler than on land.  The Horizontal Falls themselves are two small openings in the cliff faces that the tide races through creating a waterfall.  We were able to go through the first fall, which is 20m wide.  This had a definite drop in height as we went through and the speed boat then bounced around in the waterfall.  There were also whirlpools, about 1-2m wide in many places around the opening.  The suction of water was awesome.  We then went over the second fall, which has an opening of 7.5m.  Due to the narrower opening, this one has much more force.  We did not go through this fall as the drop was 3m, which apparently is not safe to go through.  The skipper reversed the boat into the opening, and then drove it forward at 13knots to maintain position (i.e. to stay still).  We then had several more goes through the first fall – it is a unique experience!  The skipper then took us for a tour of Cyclone Creek, a natural boat shelter during the wet season – it has high cliff walls and deep water for the boats.  Last of all was the seaplane flight from Talbot Bay back to Broome – take off was gentler than conventional small aircraft and landing was very similar to conventional aircraft.  We flew back over King Sound and the Dampier Peninsula – again some beautiful scenery.  We arrive back at the caravan park at 5:10pm – 11 hours 45 minutes all up.  Needless to say we were all very tired – we had a quick swim and got ready for bed. Wow – what a day!!









































1 comment:

  1. Hi Guys, We are enjoying reading about your adventures. What an amazing holiday! And the photos are spectacular...beautiful scenery. Safe travels and continue having lots of fun. Sandra, Brad, Abby, Jake and Ben xx

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