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Published: September 23rd 2009
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22-9-09 Woke up to a beautiful day for our Horizontal Waterfall trip, We had arranged for a lady to check on the girls & take them for a walk, so we did not have to worry about them. We were picked up from the park at 8.15am along with 2 other couples & taken to the airport. There were 11 on the trip all together. They were a friendly bunch & even another guy called Dennis. We all got in the Sea Plane for our flight out to the falls & the scenery was great. You don’t realise that Derby is surrounded by mud flats until you see it from the air. At last that blue , green water & lots of Mountains, Islands & Lakes , we came into land & I was holding on like grim death as I had never landed in a sea plane before, well it was the smoothest landing I had ever had. We were greeted by our guides for the day & put into the jet boat & waited till the plane took off & they chased it, it was fun. We were then taken for a look up Cyclone Creek, amazing rock formations
& the colour of the water was magnificent. After that we were taken to a big boat where we had morning tea & the boys went off to fish. Us girls were entertained by the guide ( very nice but too young for this old chook ) He cruised us around Talbot Bay & told us how high the water would get & showed us the first entrance to the falls that we would be going through. The first one was pretty safe , although there is a million litres of water goes through the gap a second & it is about 45 mt’s deep. The 2nd Gap is more dangerous as it is narrower & you only have 1 ½ mts either side of the boat & when it is full tide it is too dangerous to go through as the water is rushing through the gap too fast. The boys had no luck fishing, although Den caught a small fish they used for bait. One of the girls that was fishing out the back caught a fish though, it was the ugliest thing I had seen, big bulging eyes, they called it “The Mother In-law Fish “. The
boys came back on board & it was time for our first run through the falls. We were told it was not for the faint hearted & I asked did he have any nappies on board, he just laughed along with everyone else. We were all loaded into the jet boat & told to hang on tight, we could not take photos going through to gap as we were too busy hanging on. He lined the boat up & gunned it, it was scary but a great thrill. He must have taken us through about 5 times & then we headed for the 2nd entrance. He backed it up & we went through backwards & there was not much room, he then got us through & gunned it again & got us wet going through the opening. We had about 5 goes at that & it was amazing. We went back through the first entrance & back to the boat, the water was starting to rise, so we had lunch on the big boat. We had Barramundi & Salad & we had taken our own beer & wine so we had a nice time. Then it was time for a
swim in a little rock pool they took us too, it was refreshing as it was hot, probably 36 deg. After our swim we put our life jackets back on & got ready for our second run at the falls as the water level had come up to the black lines. We all got in the jet boat & Den & I were at the front, unreal, cause I screamed a few times, lucky Den is deaf, if he wasn’t, he would have been after the ride. The guide lined it up & you could see we were actually going down water & it was very choppy. Well here goes nothing, I should have put that nappy on (only kidding), we hung on tight & got a bit tossed around , but was the best ride of my life & Den had a grin from ear to ear. We were taken through a few times & then taken to the 2nd entrance for a look. It was too dangerous to go through, the water rapids were rough & extended into the bay a long way, (you could see it from the air on the way back). What happens there is
so much water rising from the tide in Talbot Bay & the water is trying to squeeze through the small openings into the next bay. But it cant get through fast enough, so therefore that causes the drop in the water levels in the next bay & that’s why you are going down water (if that makes sense). Well how do you top that, I think this was the highlight of our trip. We were then taken to the pontoon to watch our plane land for the flight back., We all got in & for the next 45 mins we enjoyed the scenery from the air, you could see a s we took off how much more water was going through the falls entrances. We came in for another smooth landing & everyone had a great day. Well worth the money. We were picked up & taken back to the caravan park & the girls had been excellent for Sue, we sat outside & had a drink, reminiscing about our day, when the other Dennis came over for a chat. We were late having tea so had eggs on toast & had an early night. A great day had by
all. I actually slept all night.
Sorry 2 pages of photos, we took 220 so was difficult to pick the best ones.
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