We moored overnight beside the Horizontal Waterfalls, Talbot Bay which were named by David Attenborough. It wasn’t until morning that we could get our bearings having moored in the dark.
We had a continental breakfast at six o’clock and were on the special craft to take us to the nearby falls. The eldest passengers, Mum, Pauline and Keith sat at the back of the boat and Harry, Henk and I straddled the specialised seats which were very similar to riding a horse. Cathy decided not to go as it could have been too strenuous after her recent operation. Adrian, the boatie cum tour guide, was quite a cowboy in the boat and we had a thrilling ride through the first horizontal fall to the second. We didn’t go through the second fall as the tide was flowing very strongly.
The Horizontal Waterfalls are two narrow gaps in vertical sandstone rock and create two “waterfalls” when the tides reach peak flow in both rising and falling conditions. The first and wider gap is about 45m deep and the second is 70m deep. When we returned to the boat we were all feeling invigorated and Amber had banana pancakes waiting for us.
We set out for Crocodile Creek passing Cockatoo Island and Koolan Island. Crocodile Creek is named after the crocodile-shaped rocks near the entrance to the area.
We had a swim in the rock pool under a cascade followed by a picnic of Thai chicken sandwiches. As this was our last full day on the cruise Mum finally decided to get into the water and had an enjoyable refreshing swim. The water was turquoise and the cliffs a brilliant red as it was in the middle of the day. At the side of the pool was a tree with a range of boating memorabilia hung on it. It seems to be the custom that each passing boat that calls into the creek leaves something with the boat’s and crew members’ name on it.
At three o’clock the crew anchored and prepared the boat for the journey back to Broome and possibly rougher water due to going further out to sea. The little tinnie was hoisted up to the top of the roof and tied down.
We all had a pleasant afternoon taking in the last of the scenery and taking a lot of photos before our trip was over.
After dinner we had our final after-dinner briefing from Matt and the crew. We thanked the crew for a wonderful trip. They had compiled a DVD of photos taken during our cruise. It was a lovely gesture and brought back many fond memories of the trip. We each received a copy of the DVD to take away with us.
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