Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley launches new accommodation
There’s a new way to experience the astonishing natural phenomenon of Horizontal Falls.
There are moments as a tourist when you fluke something. Like when you drive into Derby in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, head swivelling to clock each boab while searching for your accommodation, and chance upon a sight so arresting it feels seared into memory forever.
The sky is ablaze when I spy Derby’s Sculptures on the Marsh. Since 2019, local artist Mark Norval has gradually installed six creations across the tidal mudflats, which are divided by a road leading to the curved jetty (two more sculptures, by Indigenous artists, are in the pipeline). I discover Norval’s Kimberley stockman, footy players and a commanding Indigenous face. I’ve miraculously rolled up at sunset, when the backlit sculptures are at their photogenic best. Others are revealed under the next day’s bright morning sun. Norval later tells me that one of these, Kimberley Moon Goddess, lines up with the full moon and that the flats are a popular place for “marsh parties”.
I’m in the frontier town to hop on a seaplane to reach Jetwave Pearl, a glamorous houseboat moored near Talbot Bay’s Horizontal Falls. Also known by the Indigenous name Garaanngaddim, the falls are created when the region’s extreme tides funnel water through two narrow inlets twice daily. The geographic quirk prompted Sir David Attenborough to gush, in his 2002 documentary Great Natural Wonders of the World, that the phenomenon, tucked within the Buccaneer Archipelago, is “Australia’s most unusual natural wonder”.
Since that celebrity endorsement, people can’t get enough of the action, although you’ll feel you’ve experienced them every which way if you opt for the Jetwave Pearl experience. The vessel takes just 20 guests through a high-octane, 24-hour schedule that would exhaust even the likes of James Bond.
WATCH:Incredible drone footage of Horizontal Falls in action
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Launched by Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, part of the Journey Beyond portfolio, which includes The Ghan and Indian Pacific along with the Great Barrier Reef’s underwater Reefsuites, the 28m houseboat is stashed in Cyclone Creek. This tranquil spot is a 10-minute boat ride from the company’s pontoon, which offers less luxurious accommodation. The pontoon also serves as an aquatic airport of sorts, with up to six seaplanes ferrying guests and day-trippers here from Derby, Broome and Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm on the Dampier Peninsula. We touch down after a 30-minute flight northeast from Derby airport where passengers and luggage are weighed before takeoff. I score a left-hand plane seat, which offers a lofty view over King Sound’s enthralling geometric patterns formed by tidal creeks that started life as tiny cracks in the mud. At the Derby jetty, information boards explain the formation of this “natural fractal laboratory”. Those fissures are scoured and enlarged by the tides – among the most extreme in the world – until they form meandering channels that extend inland. These patterns are echoed in the ochre and cobalt swirls woven into Jetwave Pearl’s carpets.
With our overnight bags (we’re limited to 5kg each) retrieved from the seaplane floats, we head to the houseboat. As we glide in to tie up, a four-person helicopter, perched on deck like a dragonfly, awaits. Refreshments are served as we break into small groups for a doors-off scenic flight over the falls. While this unfolds, the rest of us are shown to our cabins. Their names – Pinctada Maxima, Kuri Bay, Keshi (small all-nacre pearls, no nucleus) – reference the region’s history.
When the helicopter’s final joy flight lands, it’s straight back into the high-speed boat for the first of our trips through Horizontal Falls’ wider gap. We’re told that for cultural reasons, no boats can traverse the narrower gap. Safety messages, such as staying seated at all times, are drilled into us (last year, a boat crashed into a rock wall, injuring passengers) before we surge through the cascading flows and eddies that contrast with the enormous stillness of the ancient sandstone walls.
Next on the schedule is lunch. French chef Thibault Villanueva cooks barramundi drizzled with lemon beurre blanc, accompanied by cauliflower puree, pearl barley, pickled grapes and radish, and seared apple. A flower-sprinkled strawberry tart arrives for dessert.
I’m ready for a cuppa and a fully horizontal relax but half the group is dispatched to a shark show at the pontoon while the other half heads out to fish. We cast our lines, heavy with barra chunks, into the Windex-blue waters. I feel several nibbles; someone reels in an undersized blue-spotted emperor that is returned to the water.
Luckily, the sharks are more predictable. Barra is thrown to a dozen tawny nurse sharks and a bull shark that flock to the pontoon knowing a gourmet feed awaits (they’re summoned with a few bangs on a wall). You can also clamber into a neighbouring enclosure to eyeball them through a grate (only one couple and I don snorkels to try it).
Tommy Sherer, a deckhand/skipper who is part of Jetwave Pearl’s personable youthful crew, confesses he sometimes spends quiet time with the sharks. “They actually do have personalities, believe it or not,” he says, pointing out the bigger characters by name. As the Kimberley’s perfect dry-season day temperature drops, we head for home, passing nearby lines of fire (prescribed burns that mitigate wildfires) that transform this landscape into a Tim Storrier painting.
Finally, it’s time for sundowners although sadly I haven’t brought along drinks. Guests must BYO alcohol and I had every intention of doing so – except by the time I scoffed my garlic prawns and grilled barra dinner at Derby’s Spinifex Hotel (nicknamed the Spini) the previous night, the cash register was closed. Spot the city-slicker.
With a sparkling water in hand, I console myself with the heaving cheese and charcuterie board. During the convivial sunset get-together, I discover my fellow passengers include four friends from Darwin, couples about to tackle the legendary Gibb River Road between Derby and Kununurra, and others simply enjoying a luxury side-trip from Broome.
After another excellent meal (eye fillet with red wine jus, confit shallots and roasted asparagus followed by chocolate mousse with creme anglaise and caramelised hazelnuts), I duck out to the back deck to soak up the star-spangled sky before tumbling into the deepest slumber. It’s such an early night that I’m awake for the predawn birdsong. The sky shuffles through the colour wheel – mauve, rose, tangerine, lemon – before settling for another endlessly blue canvas. I savour the momentary stillness because there’s more activity to come: one last fast blast through the falls while they’re flowing in reverse.
IN THE KNOW
The 24-hour Ultimate Horizontal Falls Luxury Stay aboard Jetwave Pearl, departing from Derby (220km from Broome; watch out for wandering cattle, wallabies and dingoes when driving the route) or Broome, starts from $1700 an adult (aged 12 and older). The seasonal experience, available until August 26 and resuming in May, also pauses during neap (small) tides. Ensuite cabins are available on the main and upper decks, with two upper-deck cabins offering balconies.
horizontalfallsadventures.com.au
Visit Derby’s Norval Gallery, on the corner of Loch and Johnston streets, a block from the Spinifex Hotel, to chat to artists Mark and Mary Norval and Indigenous artists working onsite. You can also buy art and enjoy coffee and cake in the gallery’s lush gardens. Sculptures on the Marsh are at their most spectacular at sunset, sunrise and under a full moon. Motel-style rooms and secure parking are available at the Spinifex Hotel.
Katrina Lobley was a guest of Tourism Western Australia.
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