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Horizontal falls and Cape Leveque - 26 July 2017

We saw the sun come up over Cable Beach

A ghastly 5.30 am start but so worth it! We saw the sun come up on our way north - wow, wow and wow again! Five seaplanes took off from Broome that morning plus a bunch of 4WD trucks. We flew over coastline which would make Slartibartfast proud! Archipelagos, rugged cliffs and gorges softened here and there with tissue-thin green velour cast wide like a mist net. Finally we landed in Talbot Bay which nestles within the McLarty ranges. The whole area is characterised by towering sandstone pushed up in angular planes, compressed into curvy strata - and then there are the reefs. Huge expanses of them which magically rise out of the sea and disappear with the tides. But we were there to see the falls! Man oh man .....

Fling over the McLarty Ranges

The falls from up top!

I'm sure you've all see the advertising footage of these interesting falls so I won't go into details ...... oh alright! No really I won't, other than to say we zoomed through both narrow openings at enormous speed many times - and yes I was whooping along with everyone.

These are two house boats coupled together. People stay here over night so it's very well equipped.

That's our wee plane. As fast as one lot of people were unloaded another lots were lined up ready to board.

It's not possible to capture the falls on still camera (my video is too big to upload). The turbulence of the water was quite exciting with waves and whirl pools forming and dissipating as fast as you could get the camera lined up. It was fab!

We had to come back to this one when the tide changed because the drop in water through the gap when we first arrived was 2m! Try climbing up that! no way our 900 hp boat would have made it through. It's a huge torrent of water!

We breakfasted on a houseboat-duplex-pontoon thingie just near the falls where sea planes were landing and taking off, and where helicopters buzzed in and out like dragonflies. Bacon and eggs never tasted better!

We watch Tawny Nurse sharks being fed. Huge gentle creatures. Some people hopped in a caged area next to where the sharks were milling, but not this little black duck!

This group of sharks while still very much wild creatures have makes and have been trained to come in on a signal. A couple are quite happy to have their tummies stroked and present their fins to be grabbed. Amazing and beautiful!

Totally replete, we were bundled back on the boat for a trip up Cyclone creek through a majestic sandstone gorge. Plus another few passes through the falls! Then it was time to board our little floating flying machine and head over to Cape Leveque for a Barra lunch after a visit to a trochus hatchery.

This group of sharks while still very much wild creatures have makes and have been trained to come in on a signal. A couple are quite happy to have their tummies stroked and present their fins to be grabbed. Amazing and beautiful!

Back on board for the trip across King Sound to Cape Leveque taking in the Buchaneer archipelago.

I have forgotten the number of islands in the group but it's a big number! Only 4 are inhabited by man.

Our return trip took us to a remote beach for a paddle and then a visit to the Beagle Bay community to see the mission church with its astonishingly beautiful pearl shell alter. Then we hit the dirt for home a few hundred km south. It was a long exhausting but entirely fascinating day!

We visited the trochus hatchery at Ardiyooloon near the Cape. There are a number of species being protected and bred from that spot.

The beach was glaring red rock, pale sand and turquoise water. Rather idyllic - except for the heat

The interior of the church is decorated throughout with pearl shells. Gorgeous.