Kelso's Great Aussie Adventure: Back in Broome

We are back in Broome. We came back to Broome and had 4 nights here being tourists. We went and had dinner on Cable Beach while watching the sunset before heading off to the outdoor movie cinema. This was a great experience; we sat in deck chairs under the stars and watched the final Harry Potter movie. It was funny because the cinema sits directly under the flight path for the airport so at one stage during the movie a jumbo jet came down overtop of us to land.

Aidan, Cody and Jaime sitting in the outdoor movie cinema

We had a brilliant day the next day when we flew to the Horizontal Falls. We took off from Broome in a sea plane and flew low up the coast line to the Buccaneer Archipelago which was a spectacular view all the way, to finish by landing on the water up at the Horizontal Falls. Cody was extremely excited as it was his first time on a plane and for the rest of us it was the first time in a sea plane. Aidan and Cody both said that landing and taking off on water was super cool!

Cody - very excited - first time in a plane

Cape Leveque from the air

On the pontoon, with our sea plane behind

As we climbed off the plane and onto the pontoons they put us straight onto the jet boat and took us up through the Horizontal Falls. For safety reasons, there is a very limited window of opportunity to take people through the Falls during each tide, but with the timing of our trip and the tides we were lucky enough to be taken on both tides, once when we first arrived for the incoming tide and then again just as we were about to leave for the run out tide.

Cody and Aidan going through the falls in the jet boat

Note the high water level on the rock closest, then see the drop and the high water level on the rocks on the other side

It was fascinating, the Horizontal Falls occurs because they have such large tides up here, (high tide was 9m while we were up here) and the water has pass through two narrow cliff passages with each change of tide, and it simply struggles to run fast enough. You can clearly see that water level at one end of the gorge is a couple of metres higher / or lower than the water level on the other end of the cliff passage. So as the jet boat goes through water rushing through the gorge you either drop a couple of metre or have to go up a couple of metres. There is massive turbulence created in the water surrounding the gorge which throws the boat around a bit. The tour guide got the jet boat to hold position in the middle of the falls at one stage, but the boat had to be going at 33kms an hour to hold position. They say that as the tide runs faster the whirl pools we could see get bigger and stronger and can suck a boat in and flip it which is how some deaths have occurred at the fall’s previously.

Horizontal Falls from the air

When we first hopped off the plane we noticed there were sharks swimming all around the pontoons. They are set up a shark cage that you can swim in get a bit more up close and personal with them all. We all had a swim in the shark cage and Aidan and Cody both got to pat a shark – they said that was really freaky! We saw an enormous Groper that lives around the pontoon, had a beautiful lunch of Barramundi and then were taken for a tour around the area and introduced the local pet Bat Fish. These fish are an incredible looking fish and which have been hand feed for enough years that they are able to pick them up out of the water. All in all it was a fantastic day!

Aidan and Cody swimming in the shark cage

Enjoying lunch

Bat Fish

We finished off our time in Broome, with a Camel ride along Cable Beach at sunset. Aidan and Cody rode on a camel named Bella and Jaime and Shell rode on Xena. The sunset was once again stunning.