We walk out of our apartment to see a long line of elegantly dressed with high heels, fancy dresses and fascinators, waiting for transport. It seems that the Broome Cup is on today, and it looks just like Melbourne Cup Day back home; well except for the minor matter of the weather. I wonder what these now very fashionably dressed ladies will look like by days end - broken heels, smudged makeup and grazed knees are a fair bet if other cups Ive experienced are anything to go by. I hope theyll think it was worth it.
Today weve booked a seaplane flight to the iconic Horizontal Falls which are somewhere around 250 kms of Broome, and only accessible by boat or plane. We board our craft and track north along Cable Beach, past Cape Leveque, and then turn east across the Dampier Peninsula to King Sound. As we heard a few days ago, this is home to the worlds second highest tide range at a staggering eleven metres. We fly low over the Sound, and the power of the outgoing tide is clearly evident even from the air; its gushing past the many islands at
breakneck speed. We track on towards the Falls across the 800 or so totally uninhabited islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago. This must be one of the most remote and sparsely populated regions on the entire planet; the nearest roads more than a hundred kilometres away. The Falls are spectacular even from the air. We hadnt realised before, but there are actually two sets of falls, some 300 metres apart, separated by a lake.
Our trusty little seaplane lands and pulls up to a large pontoon moored in Talbot Bay, and were herded from there into a speedboat. First stop is the so called Wide Gap, which is some 40 metres across, and is the site of the first of the two falls. Its a massive torrent of water. The cruise has been relatively sedate until now, but our trusty captain tells us that hes about to start driving the boat like its been stolen. Were jetted backwards and forwards through the Gap a few times. Its a rough, bumpy, wet and spectacular ride, and its not hard to see why the great Sir David Attenborough once referred to this as one of the greatest wonders of the natural world.
Were told that we wont be able to go through the Narrow Gap, the site of the second set of falls, because its too dangerous at this point in the tide cycle. This Gap is apparently only about seven metres wide and the difference in water level across it right now is somewhere around three metres. Our trusty captain is however happy to try to get us as close to it as he can. He manoeuvres the boat carefully into the Gaps mouth, but with the bow pointing away from it. The engines revving full steam, but were not going anywhere, and torrents and eddies are frothing past us like theres no tomorrow. Were told that if we were in still water and the boat was revving this hard wed be screaming along at 40 kms per hour. I really hope this bloke knows what hes doing. Im sensing that if we got swept a couple of metres backwards wed get sucked into the vortex, smashed against the rocks, and thatd be it for both boat and passengers. Our skipper decides he hasnt had quite enough fun with us yet, so he jets us back and forth through the Wide
Gap a couple more times just to make sure that weve all had our fill of thrills for the day. The tide range here is apparently somewhere around seven metres, and the two sets of falls are created by the tide rising and falling so fast that the water cant get through the gaps quickly enough to allow the levels to equalise.
But it seems that the danger is not yet over. Back at the pontoon were invited to swim in a cage while one of the staff throws fish to the dozen or so sharks swimming around in the water next to it. He warns people not to put their fingers through the holes in the wire. Really? They cant see the massive sharp toothed monsters swimming around right in front of them waiting to snap off any body parts that get anywhere within reach? Where might these warnings stop.
