Sunday 23rd June 2013 – Derby

Up early this morning and breakfasted ready for our pick up at 8:15.  After picking up a few people from other accommodation we arrived at the airstrip where two Cessna seaplanes were waiting for us.  In addition to their floats they also have retractable wheels which enables them to land on land.  Consequently they sit quite high off the ground.  After the obligatory safety talk (we had to wear life vests) we, along with about 10 others squeezed into one of the planes with the pilot, Richard,  who looked about 16 years old.  Fortunately he was very capable and the lift off and later the landings both on water and land were all quite smooth.

As one would expect the view from the air was amazing,   initially over the mudflats around Derby and then over the land on the way to Talbot Bay.  We did a circuit of the falls from above and then came in to land on the water near two house boats fastened together and to quite a large area of pontoon decking – almost a floating village.

After a drink and some fruit we were aboard a 600hp boat to go and see the falls.  There are two falls, one wider that the other.  The falls exist because there are large lagoons (or small inland seas) which are filled only trough a small gap.  Because of the extreme between high and low tide in this area the water rushes in as the tide goes in and out as the tide goes out.  Today on the outer falls (the wider ones – about 20m wide) the variation from one side of the falls to the other was about 2.5 metres.  It can be up to 5 metres.  We sped through the falls several times much to Jill’s horror but didn’t go through the inner falls.  The gap being smaller meant the water was rushing too much and made it too dangerous.  Ben, the driver, did back into the beginning of the inner falls and held the boat at 11 knots to stay in the one spot.

Back to the “floating village” where Bryne fed the sharks.  The sharks (nurse sharks apparently) are quite large (up to 3 metres) but not dangerous although you still wouldn’t go swimming with them.  There were about 10 of them and while Bryne fed them you could enter shark cages either side for a closer look.  There were also lots of fish, small yellow and green stripped fish looking for a feed.  The highlight however, was Gordon the Groper – at least 3 metres long and quite majestic. 

Back in the boat and we were taken for a more sedate run up Talbot Bay into Cyclone Bay and eventually Cyclone Creek.  This was quite a protected spot where ships could anchor to avoid the cyclones which are common up this way in the wet.  Amazing rocks again. Twisted and lifted Leopold Sandstone which was a bit like what we had seen in Hamersley Gorge.

Lunch was barramundi with salad (and gluten free toast instead of the buns on offer) – very nice.

After lunch we were back on the fast boat for a run through the inner falls.  The tide had now dropped and both falls were much easier to navigate.  The interesting thing was that while the tide had started to run out from the outer falls it was still running in to the inner falls.

Flying back we took a longer route down the coast – very scenic looking out at the Buccaneer Archipelago.

For sunset today we went to the Dinner Tree, a boab on the edge of town which is quite effective with the sunset behind it. It’s called the dinner tree because in the past it was where drovers rested the sheep and cattle before loading them onto ships at the wharf.

We had an excellent dinner at the Spinifex hotel – Jill had Kangaroo and I had Salt and Pepper Squid.