Horizontal Falls - The Kimberley
We had two reasons for visiting Derby. 1. It’s the start of the Gibb River Road and 2. We wanted to visit the horizontal falls. First it was the falls. As they are hard to book into our whole trip had largely been planned around this experience. It was expensive and I hoped it wasn’t overrated.
We had opted to do the overnight stay, so on Saturday afternoon, the ‘rock doctor’ (rd), myself and 30 other people were rounded up from various destinations including Broome, Derby and Cygnet Bay and delivered to the Derby airport at 2pm where we awaited our flights to the falls. After the first of several safety talks we would have to endure over the next few hours (but fair enough), we were directed to our various seaplanes. Four in total which meant we all had a window seat….hurrah.
Our pilot on the way out was…well as a nod to another great aviator let’s call him Burt as in Burt Hinkler. Burt was a 30 odd year old, with slicked back hair, great confidence and an ego to match…. which upon reflection is what you want in a pilot. I liked him. He reminded me of a 1940s flyboy and I was waiting for him to break out in a horrible historyesque type song and dance.
It was a 30 minute flight on which they were trialing some headsets. We were all asked to put them on. The idea was that Burt was going to provide us with a commentary of our flight. Burt did provide some commentary but what was disconcerting were the warnings that kept being repeated through the headsets. The words,‘traffic, traffic’ were often heard and my particular favourite was heard when Burt flew us so close over a cliff I could see a caterpillar on a tree below me. Here the warning ‘500,500’ was bleated out rapidly. I took my headphones off and decided to sweat it out in silence.
After we cleared the ridge Burt decided to surprise us all by dropping the nose by about…oh….90 degrees, into the deep Gorge below before levelling out and delivering us safely to our pontoon accommodation. As we exited the plane he told us this entry was one of the most exciting in the world. I would have picked another adjective.
As soon as we arrived we were shown to our rooms. The accommodation was essentially a few double storey houseboats all strapped together with a central eating area. It was all very civilised.
Our first activity after another safety briefing was to learn about the local wildlife and in particular the local tawny nurse sharks. You had a choice to either stand on the deck or go for a swim in the cage adjacent. We chose swim. Excitedly we entered the water. Soon after we exited. Why? We had to fight our way to the front and when we did the water was murky and visibility nil. In addition when we came up for breath we had to dodge the snorkel expulsions of a male passenger who had swiftly manoeuvred his way to the front early on and had settled in. We decided to take our chances on the deck, sans snorkel man. It was much better.
After a quick dry and change we hopped on the speed boat and were taken up Cyclone Creek so named because it is where they berth the boats in an event of a cyclone. Talbot Bay is impressive. With its blue clear waters and steep sandstone cliffs rising from the ocean it reminded me of Milford Sound in NZ. It really is a beautiful area.
After a quick geology lesson, many photographs and yet another safety briefing it was time for the falls. Our driver was a young woman in her late 20s/early 30s and she was in charge of 4 X 300 hp engines. She had some serious power and all our lives in her hands. I was a little bit nervous.
The first waterfall is around 15m wide. Our boat was 4.5m wide so it had some wiggle room and our trusty captain manoeuvred us through skilfully. While a little thrill was had from the experience I would have been just as happy to see them up close and learn about this natural phenomenon that doesn’t occur anywhere else in the world. But nevertheless we went back and forth through the first fall a couple of times. We were then driven up to the second fall.
This gap is only 7.5 m wide and it was running hard and fast. It looked unnerving. At one time they took people through the second fall but they no longer do so. As I sat there admiring natures power I wondered why they ever did! That’s one thrill I’ll gladly do without.
Back to the boat and a glass of wine and some nibbles as we watched the sun set over the mighty sandstone cliffs of Talbot Bay closely followed by a full moon rising over its calm waters. Dinner and pleasant conversations with our fellow guests followed then it was off to bed to be rocked to sleep by the gentle movement of the rising and falling tide.
Next morning started like an army boot camp. Up early, watered and fed, lifejackets back on for our last ride through the falls then onto the planes for the return trip.
As we stood there waiting for our plane to arrive we speculated as a group who our pilot would be. We decided we wanted a young one, for the planes only had one pilot and you probably had less chance of the pilot and us of all going down if they had quick reflexes. Be careful what you wish for! As we moved toward the plane we saw a very, very young male jump from the cockpit. We thought for a moment he was a guest but his uniform gave him away. We wanted a young one but this was a foetus! We shall call him Ace and he seemed a bit jumpy. Actually maybe he wasn’t jumpy at all but as we had been hanging out with over 50s and 60s maybe we had just forgotten how quickly the young of our species move.
Before boarding he gave us our last safety talk and explained our route. We shouldn’t have worried. Ace was an excellent pilot and his commentary was very engaging. Ace first circled us over the falls. Seeing the falls from the air was brilliant as you could see how the water that entered the area was landlocked and hence why the falls are so powerful. He then took us out over the Buccaneer Archipelago and then low over Cascades Bay so we could do a bit of croc spotting. Finally he returned us safely and smoothly to the tarmac at Derby. One woman who flies a lot said it was the smoothest landing she’d ever had. Three cheers for the foetus. Once safely returned to Mother Earth we asked Ace how old he was. He told us in his polite but slightly nervous manner, that he was 23. He’d been flying since he was 15. He smiled. I think he knew what we were all thinking.
It was a quick, chatty bus ride back to the caravan park during which we all expressed how much we’d enjoyed the trip….it was not overrated. In fact I would say it was the highlight of our trip to the Kimberley.
After saying goodbye to our new found friends it was time to prepare for the next part of our journey, the Gibb River Road.
If this story has stirred your adventuring spirit, I’d love you to visit my art gallery page and explore the drawings these travels have inspired. www.catherinegordonart.com
*We travelled to the Horizontal Falls in July 2025.
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