Overnighting to catch the Horizontal Falls? “Brilliant, no matter how you see them,” says Alison Huth
A trip to see the Horizontal Falls was an absolute must for all of us. We had a serious planning meeting in February 2021 and decided on a date to be in Derby to ‘do the Falls.’ We then decided to do the overnight stay and bravely booked then and there. I say bravely because these days you can never be 100% sure of anything.
Well, we made it. We arrived in Derby and set up our caravans and much to our dismay there were signs saying do not wash your car or caravan here. Obviously, they get too many straight of the Gibb! So, we brushed our cars and caravans and did a little hand washing of bits here and there.
AN AERIAL VIEW
The next day we packed our bags with a maximum of 5kg, and that includes any alcohol you want to drink. We joined a group waiting outside the park and filed onto the bus. From now until we got to the pontoon, it was mask time. We were all given a safety briefing at the airport and then it was off to the seaplanes, via the scales. When we had booked, we all had to give our weights, so they check them again, plus your overnight bag. No eyebrows were raised, but our group of six got a plane to ourselves!
Strap in, and up we go. The flight over is really interesting because you see the land change from mud flats to green flats, to hills, to red to just about everything you can imagine. Then we are over the ocean and get our first sight of the Horizontal Falls. They look interesting from the air, but it’s the strength of the water I wanted to experience.
Love at first sight!
We landed very smoothly on the water and easily made our way to the pontoon where we left the plane, collected our bags and waited for a little while to be given our cabins for the night. They were a reasonable size given that all you are going to do is sleep in them. The bed was comfortable and made up. We did have to bring our own towels within our 5kg weight limit, not a problem.
FUN LAPS?
After a bit of a safety chat, it was time to get into the boat for a trip to the Falls. The trip starts out rather gently, then the very experienced operator gives the four huge outboard motors a bit of a rev and we sped up. Around the corner and there is the first of the Horizontal Falls. There are two, the big one and the small one.
The tides weren’t really good for us, so the big one was just a bit flat. That meant we were taken for ‘fun laps’ through the small one. Fun laps means revving the motors and hurling your three-meter wide boat through a seven-meter wide gap between two huge jagged rock faces, with the water swirling around. You go one way and you’re climbing the water which is flowing the other way. It’s no calmer going with the water flow because there is a lot of water trying very hard to get through that small gap.
I started thinking of the right adjectives to give to this experience and ran through some alphabetically.
- Adrenalin activating
- Brilliant
- Crazy
- Delightful (a bit weak that one)
- Exhilarating
- Fantabulous
- Gargantuan
You get the idea. There is not one single word that can describe the gargantuan exhilarating experience of this trip.
Back on the Pontoon, it was time to feed the sharks and swim in the pool next to them. Done and dusted – another swimming first for me.
Alison Huth looking WAY TOO CALM this close to a shark
BARRA BY SUNSET
We made our way to the boat again for a pleasant sunset trip, just making our way in and out of the bays in the area and coming back to the pontoon to see the sun going down. It was all very pretty. A catered happy hour, then up on the top deck for a freshly cooked meal of Barra, salad and dessert.
We had planned to stay up a bit and enjoy the evening, but somehow all that fresh air and the gentle rocking of the pontoon had us all in bed rather early.
Beautiful WA Sunset
An early start for 6am breakfast followed by a few more ‘fun laps’ and it was time to get on our plane for the flight back. The flight back was a different flight path and we saw more of the coastline and some of the thousands of islands in WA.
The trip was so good, it is a real bucket list item. I am so glad we got to do this. It’s not cheap, but worth every cent we paid. The staff were wonderful, the pontoon was well-equipped and the catering was excellent.
If you only do one thing in this part of Australia – this is the thing.
More of the the Buccaneer Archipelago. Glorious, this bucket-list box keeps on ticking!
HORIZONTAL FALLS SEAPLANE ADVENTURES
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Website: https://horizontalfallsadventures.com.au/