In this remote corner of WA, it’s like your eyes are playing tricks on you
The billing is justified. It does look like a waterfall incongruously rising from and tumbling into the sea. We’re in the upside-down, supersized to Kimberley proportions.
We’re skimming across King Sound beneath a big, blue Kimberley sky. What a morning. The overnight chill has been chased away and it’s time to hold on to your hat as skipper Stewart Rees guns the powerful land-going launch. The tide at Waterfall Reef waits for no one.
We arrive flush on the ebb to a sight to behold: the lagoon is emptying in a frothy rush, exposing the top of a 10m wall of coral enclosing the rocky outcrop of Tallon Island. Up close – and we approach to touching distance of the glistening embankment – it’s evident this is not a single sheet of briny water, but a myriad of foaming rivulets, tinkling like musical spoons.
The vista reaches for as far as the eye can see: white on blue, merging with a bleached horizon that shimmers in the rising heat. (It will top 32C even at this mild time of year.) And, yes, the billing is justified. It does look like a waterfall incongruously rising from and tumbling into the cerulean sea. We’re in the upside-down, supersized to Kimberley proportions.
Here, the Sun sets into the Indian Ocean in a blaze of mauve and orange hues, entrancing those of us visiting from “over east”. As Rees points out, the glassy surface of King Sound masks what lies beneath. Some 66 billion cubic metres of water – 116 times the volume of Sydney Harbour – surge in or out of the basin on each tide. That delivers a stupendous 12.5m variation between the high and low water marks. “The tide drops faster than the water in the lagoon can escape,” he says, explaining the waterfall effect.
It’s running hard now, falling by more than 1m in the hour we spend at the reef. On the short ride back to the mainland, we skirt the sound’s legendary whirlpools while Rees recounts tall stories of the 12m “standing waves” found in the inlet’s island-studded mouth, another function of the monster tides. Our journey begins at The Ritz-Carlton Perth, which has partnered with roving culinary creative, Fervor, to create bespoke itineraries connecting travellers to remote corners of Western Australia. Our destination is Cygnet Bay, a working oyster farm near the tip of the Dampier Peninsula, two hours by road from Broome. It’s a friendly, family-owned concern that has branched out into ecotourism. The launch’s retractable wheels clank down as we approach the mangrove-lined shore. No need to muddy the shoes.
A quick refresh in my airconditioned, ensuite-equipped safari tent and it’s on to our appointment with Bolo Angus, a local Bardi-Jawi man who is to show us how the Old People lived off the land. First, he points us to the sweet water bubbling up from a spring marked by melaleuca trees at the edge of the mangroves. Then we follow the tracks of a mud crab – indented like tyre treads on the swamp’s spongy floor – to the lip of its burrow.
Bolo digs with his spear and retrieves the olive-shelled crustacean. “Just a little fella,” he says, gently dropping it back.
He leads us onto the coastal flats, now fully exposed. We’re on the clock again because you don’t want to get caught when the tide turns. Bolo has us fan out, looking for crabs in the muddy sand. By the time he holds aloft a plate-sized specimen, its solitary claw clicking, the sea has gone from a distant blur to lapping at our feet in a disquieting rush.
Bolo also speared a rock cod, which is added to the pile of pipis and bombshells – mangrove snails – he’s had us collect. We eat them straight from the grill with damper and homemade sambal while the muddie bakes. “That bit’s no good,” he grins, diving for a morsel in the glowing crab shell.
Our co-hosts, chefs Brian Cole and Paul “Yoda” Iskov, have been busy too, foraging with Bolo for delicacies for tonight’s banquet back at the oyster farm. We’ve had a taste of their fare during a stay in Perth’s luxurious Ritz-Carlton Hotel, a sanctuary of hand-cut Kimberley sandstone in the buzzing new Elizabeth Quay precinct. My studio room was a revelation: jarrah-floored, with floor-to-ceiling windows commanding a spectacular view of the Swan River, it was larger than some places I’ve lived in.
Sierra Leone-born Cole, 31, heads up the hotel’s Hearth Restaurant and is renewing a successful collaboration with Iskov’s pop-up kitchen, Fervor, to deliver this bespoke dining experience in the Kimberley. At 41, Iskov pairs the discipline of cooking in Michelin-starred restaurants in Mexico, Brazil and Denmark with the insights he has gleaned from countless hours in the company of Indigenous elders such as Bolo on the finer points of bush tucker.
“It’s a real honour to be here on your country, cooking food from your country,” he tells Bolo when we sit down to the meal. It starts with lightly cured pearl meat with wild rosella, followed by braised crocodile leg in native lemongrass and min min, a native bird flower. Tea tree-infused wild barramundi, succulent in a saltbush and butter sauce, is voted dish of the night. There’s kangaroo, of course, with bush carrot (narhrrgah) topped by a wattle seed and myrtle miso. Dessert features a sandalwood nut nougat and bush mint aero. The perfect end to a memorable day.
Checklist
Getting there: We fly Qantas from Perth to Broome and travel by hire car to Cygnet Bay. Packages inclusive of local transfers are available.
Stay: The Ritz-Carlton, Perth x Fervor experience is a bespoke package that can be tailored for each group — Cygnet Bay has been included as an example itinerary to showcase one of the spectacular locations in Western Australia. To experience the full itinerary curated by The Ritz-Carlton, Perth in partnership with Fervor including an “under the stars” dining experience with indigenous ingredients foraged by Chef Brian Cole and Paul Iscov, please contact The Ritz-Carlton, Perth: reservations.perth@ritzcarlton.com.
All-inclusive two-night, three-day packages including transfers from Broome from $2400pp. Camping is also available at the Divers Creek accommodation area, about 1km from the main pearling village, but you will need a four-wheel drive to get there. Indulge yourself with a night at the Ritz-Carlton in Perth, where rooms start at $616.
Do: Don’t miss the bush foraging experience with Bolo Angus from Southern Cross tours. A two-hour Waterfall Reef tour from Cygnet Bay costs $260 (adults), $145 (child), and other day trips are available.
Eat: You won’t be disappointed by the locally-sourced seafood and quality fare served at the Cygnet Bay restaurant and pool. Day visitors are welcome for a meal and swim in the pool.