We have now enjoyed a week in the seaside town of Broome, north West Australia. Broome is a real tourism hub for this region, with its warm temperatures, beautiful beach and warm seas.

Broome Beach

We are very much enjoying our time here, having pottered around the little township, investigating Chinatown, the history of pearling and the old pearl luggers and the waterways. We were very lucky to arrive during full moon, to see the natural phenomenon of the “Staircase to the Moon” that occurs when the full moon rises over the exposed mudflats of Roebuck Bay at extremely low tide. This creates the illusion of a staircase reaching up to the moon. The Kimberley Coast has the biggest tides in the southern hemisphere, with the difference between high and low tide as much as 10 metres, thus low tide can expose a significant amount of mudflat when the tidal movement is at its greatest. We, along with lots of others positioned ourselves at the right place and time, armed with cameras to watch this special effect….and it was quite beautiful. But alas, unless you have an amazingly good camera when you photograph it, all you get is a black screen and some strange looking light spots, not at all what you see with the naked eye. So, disappointingly, no photos to share!

On Thursday we journeyed to the Horizontal Falls, the only 2 waterways in the world that run horizontally. David Attenborough describes these as ‘one of the greatest natural wonders of the world’. With a 5.45am pickup in the luxury 4×4 Bus ‘Big Foot’, off we ventured.

The 4×4 beast

We (J&S and Kerry and Therese) were prepped and ready for our early morning flight – imagine our puzzlement when we went the opposite way than the airport, and started our journey by road. The trip was an all-dayer, a combination of fly, road and boat. We learned we were the group starting by road (the opposite of what we had expected), however we were really pleased…..the first part of the trip is by road up the Dampier Peninsula to Cape Leveque and much is still dirt, and they say, usually fine to travel at 90kmphr. However, with recent rains on the Peninsula dumping some 200mls, the road is very rutted and corrugated and from our Bungle Bungles experience I don’t need to tell you what that feels like! Even in this especially built 4×4 bus we felt the bumps! We were last on and had to sit in the back seats, so it was a bumpy way to start the day, but better that than at the end of the day. On our way up to Cape Leveque we stopped at Beagle Bay, an aboriginal community, Kooljaman (world renowned wilderness camp, famous for its red cliffs meeting the pristine white sandy beach and crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean) for a light breakfast and One Arm Point, another aboriginal community and where we both visited an aquaculture hatchery and jumped on board the seaplane to Talbot Bay, home of the Horizontal Falls.

The seaplane trip seemed to be over in a flash. We flew low level over the stunning 1000+ islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago.

The islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago

What a magical vista from the plane, so picturesque with vibrant turquoise seas, islands of all shapes and sizes and quick running seas with whirlpools and little waves whipped up by the ferocity of the tidal movement. The conditions here caused havoc with the pearl fishermen last century and many sailors and divers lost their lives. Oh what an amazing waterway to sail in, with lots of inlets, rivers and bays to anchor in. After 30 minutes there were the falls, the twin gaps that are part of the McLarty Ranges with their two parallel ridges approximately 300m apart.

Looking down on the Horizontal Falls

The most seaward gap is ~20m wide and the second and most spectacular just 10m apart. The view from the air confirms just how small these gaps really are.

We flew in to a pontoon that houses overnight guests, a restaurant, helicopters, speed boats to the falls, a shark diving cage and all the supporting services and facilities. During the very enjoyable afternoon we did 2 exhilarating trips to and through the falls in the 900hp ‘beast’. With the speed of the tidal flow it is a feat of control and driving for the skippers of these boats. We have several videos of charging through The Falls, however sadly cannot post them into the blog.

The Horizontal Falls, looking into the 10m gap

After a lunch of fresh barramundi, we enjoyed a dive in the shark cage (the sharks are pretty harmless) which was an excellent cooler, and then took a ride up into Cyclone Creek, a long and very sheltered waterway that runs between stunning red bluffs and escarpments, yet still demonstrates dramatic whirlpools and strong waterflow given the extreme tides. This is where the pontoon and boats are housed during the hurricane season.

To cap off the day we enjoyed a one hour seaplane trip back to Broome. And did we have fun – yes we did. Hopefully you can enjoy the spectacle through some of the photos in the blog.

We have enjoyed long walks (and swims) on the 22.5km white sands of Broome Beach, sometimes driving down onto the beach where 4 wheel drive vehicles are permitted.

Steve and the camels!

In the afternoons we have been greeted several times by camel trains close by – a favourite tourist activity is camel riding on the beach and especially at sunset. So far we have resisted this activity. The smell is enough to put you off!

Last Friday morning we went off to hunt out the dinosaur footprints that can be seen at very low tides at Gantheaume Point. We climbed down the beautiful rich red but precariously slippery rocks and the small cliff from the lighthouse to explore the sandstone rocks, and there we found them….apparently 120 million years old dinosaur prints embedded into the rock.

A 120 million year old dinosaur print alongside Steve’s foot so you can appreciate its size

Along this coastline some 20 different species have been identified from embedded footprints, some up to 1.7m in diameter.

We expect to be here for another week enjoying consistently warm 30 degree sunny days and the delightful local hospitality before continuing on down the WA coast.