Horizontal Falls Adventure Day Trip
Introduction
If you’re searching for a thrilling and unforgettable experience in WA or all of Australia for that matter, look no further than Horizontal Falls in the remote Kimberley Region, North West WA.
The Horizontal Falls is where nature goes against logic as two narrow gorges in the McLarty Ranges together with the force of massive tidal movements create these natural phenomenon ‘falls’.
It is something that needs to be seen to be believed!
After travelling Australia for the last 2 years, we have seen and done A LOT. Although this tour does have a high price tag – we can guarantee in the first 2 hours alone you will understand just how ‘priceless’ this experience is!
Here is an overview of our experience, a definite day to remember!
Tour Company:
After quite a bit of research we chose to go with Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, they had the most amount of awards and included everything we wanted to see on this trip.
We chose Option 1 – Horizontal Falls and Cape Leveque. There is another option which takes you to Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm instead of Cape Leveque, both tours would be great but we had always wanted to see the striking red cliffs of Cape Leveque contrasted with the turquoise blue water of the Indian Ocean.
We chose to Fly/Drive as we wanted the best light at the Falls, but these tours also operate in reverse and you can even pay the extra to Fly both directions instead of driving one way, but we recommend the drive as it is great to see the landscape in this part of the country.
Cost & Tour Details:
We each paid $925 and booked online directly with the tour company.
As these falls are tidal, their website shows availability for tours and the best times to go according to tidal charts. There are two falls running approximately 300m parallel to each other, and depending on the tide, in a fast boat you will either just go through the larger gap (20 metres wide), or in our case of ‘neap’ tides, you can go through the smaller gap (10 metres) too!
Sometimes the water drop can be up to 5 metres high! What?!
The Day:
Our tour started at 5.30am at Broome Airport with a quick introduction and safety brief from our pilot, before jumping into our 14-Seater Luxury Seaplane and taking off over Broome and Roebuck Bay at sunrise.
It was fantastic watching the changing scenery as we covered distance over the Dampier Peninsula and came into view of the calm Talbot Bay where the falls are located.
Our Seaplane made a very smooth landing in Talbot Bay, where we disembarked onto the tour company’s Luxury Houseboat which acted as a base for the few activities that followed.
We had some time to indulge in a hot breakfast of bacon and eggs with a coffee and just take in our surroundings.
We had the opportunity to take a scenic open-door helicopter flight over the falls for $150/10 mins. Originally we weren’t going to do this but when we found out it was open door, we couldn’t miss out – and boy are we glad we went for it, it was the highlight of our day!
After a delicious breakfast we boarded the helicopter from the houseboat and were instantly astounded by the view of beautiful Talbot Bay, the McLarty Ranges and the remarkable Horizontal Falls.
Although the flight went quick, we also felt it was great value considering you take off and the falls are right there so we were able to circle a few times which was amazing.
Next up was going ‘through the falls’ in a 900 horsepower boat. We felt the full speed when they took us on a few laps in the bay and made a run up as we approached the larger gap to go through the falls for a first time. It was such a thrilling experience we couldn’t help but laugh as it took some people by surprise when they were grabbing onto their hats and gripping on for dear life.
They would also hover the boat in the falls so we could witness the absolute force behind the water and marvel at this phenomenon we were experiencing.
Fun fact: The falls are only still for 1 single minute before the tide begins to turn and the water slowly changes direction to fill/empty the bay.
After about 4 laps through the falls we made the short distance back for a slower paced cruise through to the untouched bays and creek systems located beyond the bay. We spotted lots of little red crabs on the mud banks but all the crocodiles must’ve been sleeping so we didn’t spot any that day.
Back at the houseboat, there was a marine viewing cage where inquisitive Tawny Nurse Sharks would come for a feed and we could snorkel close to them, this was unreal!
So at this part of the day we’d already felt we had our money’s worth, but there was still so much on the tour!
We once again boarded the Seaplane and had a smooth take-off, flying over the thousand islands of Buccaneer Archipelago, a group of rocky islands with secluded bays off the coast of WA.
After landing, we then boarded a luxury 4WD bus and visited the One Arm Point Aquaculture Hatchery. The Hatchery is run by the Bardi Jawi Community and on our tour we gained insight into the sustainable production of aquaculture in the area.
We then made our way to the ‘world-renowned’ wilderness camp of ‘Kooljaman’, where we enjoyed a fresh and delicious Barramundi lunch, followed by a relaxing walk along the picturesque beach of Cape Leveque.
After a full day we started the journey home with an interesting stop at the famous Beagle Bay Church which has an alter completely made out of pearl!
All together our tour lasted about 10.5 hours, arriving back in Broome at about 4.30pm.
This is a tour we will be talking about with our grandchildren, and we highly recommend you tick it off your bucket list as soon as you can!
Below is a Vlog featuring footage from our Horizontal Falls day trip, feel free to check it out.
Thank you for reading and watching!
Sarah and Amy