16th August 2008

This was a somewhat normal morning for us in that Prue went for a walk around part of Derby and I cycled around a fair bit of it and its surrounds. The surrounds included a section of the famous Gibb River Road.

As I was returning on my ride, my mobile phone rang and it was Prue suggesting that we meet for coffee in the “large” CBD of Derby. The choice was the cafe that we had lunch at the previous day. Later in the day, we had lunch again at this cafe.

The morning was easy going chatting with various people in the caravan park. Many tales were shared of where we had all been. It is a great source of information especially if we are going to a new location.

At 1415, we were collected from the caravan park office area by a shuttle bus and taken to Derby Airport. When we arrived there, we were greeted by the imposing sight of several Cessna Caravan Turbo prop seaplanes that obviously can land on hard surface as well as water. This trip was an overnight stay in the Buccaneer Archipelago and is run by Kimberley Extreme Adventures. Our package was the KE2a. Our photos do not do justice to this wonderful package tour and we suggest that you look at the Photo Gallery but we did not go to Cape Leveque.

Anyway, we departed Derby and tracked across to the Buccaneer Archipelago. As we lifted off, some of the locals had been busy making drawings on the ground were large enough to be viewed from the aircraft. Apparently, there were flights in an old Beechcraft 18 for $50 for ½ an hour. The proceeds were going to the Royal Flying Doctor Service at Derby. I saw a few and they had done a wonderful job.

We flew out over the many parts leading up to the Horizontal Waterfalls. It really makes one think about how vast and lonely this country can be. Very occasionally there was a small track visible which must have only been a 4 WD track. No sign of any buildings just a vast uninhabited area.

Finally we arrived over the top of the Horizontal Waterfalls. Our impressions were almost indescribable. I will let the pictures on the site amaze you as they do us.

We landed and were transferred from the Cessna to the pontoon and then to a magnificent catamaran where we left our overnight bags, had a briefing for the Falls ride and also had tea or coffee or cool drinks. Our sleeping locations were organised and our bags dropped in. This boat is so large and part owned by a South African and Australian, with the former on board. There were 5 staff on board, plus a skipper of the cruise vessel, to look after the 10 passengers. The skipper was the only Australian born staff member with the others from Norway, Ireland, Bali, English and South African. All were wonderful to us. The Irish girl was the only female and a worker of 2 years in Australia.

Next we were taken for our look at and then trip through the Falls. In the 400hp plus boat, the skipper played around the edge of and into the main current of the Falls. The volume is something around 1 megalitre per second coming through the gaps. The pattern in the water as it passes through and around is amazing. There are whirlpools and eddies that form as the water escapes and would be very dangerous in the wrong boat. Eventually, we went through the gap in the first part of the Falls. It was like being on a horse that was behaving badly. The water forces gave us the impression of twisting and turning as well as rising and falling. There was a rise in the water level, from the side we entered from to the upstream side, of around 2 metres. We were in this vicinity and the 2^nd Falls for around ¾ of an hour.

Then we returned to a beautiful yacht for a cruise for a little over an hour. It was so peaceful and relaxing especially after the exhilaration of going through the Falls. We had our drinks and nibbles on board as we gently cruised along. Many photos were taken as we travelled and as the sun started setting.

Soon our cruise came to an end and we returned to the catamaran by tender boat from the yacht. We all prepared ourselves for a BBQ dinner preceded by beautiful pumpkin soup. The BBQ was of the famous Barramundi fish and beautifully cooked by the Norwegian staff member. We had some nice wines as we had our dinner which not only had Barramundi but also lovely hot boiled potatoes, tabouli and creamy pasta salad.

After dinner, there was opportunity to chat to our fellow travellers that we may not have chatted to over dinner. We had an opportunity to view a lovely DVD of the area. Eventually, we all drifted off to our individual cabins.