 |
| 5.20am, and I'm ready and waiting for the bus |
 |
| How lovely to have a sign written for me to see up above |
Beep, Beep, Beep went my phone alarm
it was 4.50am and I have to get up, it’s the day. I had been awake at 12.30am,
2.30am and 3.30am, so feeling like my eyes were going to pop out, I leapt out
of bed and dressed and ready to go. Mark woke the kids up and they all walked
me out to the bus, which was picking me up at the front gate. It was still dark
of course and no signs of anyone else in the park awake. Kissing everyone
goodbye and off I went, all waving and wishing me luck. Already on board the
bus were 2 couples and then we basically speed around to other pickups to
collect about another 15 people. One lady we picked up said no my husband is
not coming now, he has a stomach bug. My thoughts were, wow, you just wasted a
whole lot of money and then I was thinking now there is a spare spot, can we go
pick up Mark and he can come,ha ha ha. Arrived at the airport and a quick demo
on safety and to strap the life jacket package around our waits. All started to
pile in to the aircraft, some people went on the all day and some on the half
day. Mine was half day with 10 passengers on board. As I hoped in the pilot had
said take he back seat it’s the best seat to see things from. I had the whole
back seat to myself, and a great lift off and landing. I got a text message
from Mark and kids saying look out for us on the beach and we wrote in the sand
for you. I did but it was difficult to see, but Mark did show me the photo of
what they did, writing in gigantic letters, HI MUM
 |
| My Seaplane |
A beautiful soft land when we hit the water in Talbot Bay.
The flight was 1 hour. WE were escorted off the plane and lead upstairs on this
very trendy houseboat. The rundown on safety was given and the fact we were
about to go on the Jet Stream boat so life jackets were to be worn for this one
also. Back down stairs to board the Jet Stream, this is the fastest boat in the
Kimberley Region. I laughed to myself when I saw that we had to straddle the
set and hold on. It was like riding a horse. Started off and whoosh, we were
moving and at times I am sure we were air Bourne.
Despite their name, the Horizontal Falls are a fast-moving tidal flow through two narrow, closely
aligned gorges of the McLarty Range,
located in Talbot Bay.
The direction of the flow reverses with each change of tide. As tides in the
Kimberley can reach 10 metres, a peak tide gives rise to a significant
difference in the sea level on either side of each gorge.
 |
| The first Falls, going through the Gap |
The two Falls are different, the first being 20 metres wide and the
second one being only 12 metres wide.
 |
| On top of house boat for Breakfast |
 |
2nd of the two Gaps
Deadly if we went through |
 |
| Fantastic views |
 |
| Shark feeding time |
 |
| Proof I did it, In the shark cage |
Wow, that was fun as we drove through the 1st Fall, water
spray everywhere but no we didn’t get wet. Probably because we were too fast.
The young skipper, knew his information and was a very experienced at what he
was doing. We went through the falls again spinning around and facing them head
on again. The lady next to me, said’ Yes do it again do it again”, it was fun
and certainly the adrenalin was pumping. We actually went through about 6 times
and moved on to the next Fall. I thought to myself this one looks a little
narrow and faster flowing from where I was sitting. We reached the 2nd
Fall and the skipper, Christian said we won’t be attempting it today due to the
extremely high tide and at the moment it is deadly. So basically we won’t be
going through this one or we’ll die. We did get close and saw how fast the
water was moving through the gorge and flowing through the small gap, otherwise
known as the Horizontal Fall. Back to the first one and we did another couple
of rides through it again. It was like a high-speed roller coaster, actually
better than that. I hung on but I tried to also get photos and video. Back to
the houseboat where another young lad was going to introduce us to the sharks
and to feed them. Oh no, this was the part I remember Mark saying you have to
get in with the sharks, you have too. I kept telling Mark, over my dead body am
I doing that. After a couple of bits of barramundi thrown into the water and a
few taps on the bottom of the boat area where you feed sharks. Bang, they were
there, swimming and crossing over one another. They didn’t look like sharks
they looked like giant fish, but in fact they were Tawny Nurse sharks. They
have a flatter face, not pointy like the sharks we know. The young man got down
close to the sharks and began to tease them with the barramundi and they would all
put their mouths out of the water and try and suck the bait. It was so
interesting watching until he then said, anyone wanting to swim with them to
hop into that cage. The time had come, do I or don’t I get in the water. I had
my bathers on just in case. Well I’ve come all this way, I better do it. Out of
the 10 people on board only 4 of us hoped in the water. I did it, I did it, and
I put the snorkel on and swam next to them and looking at them from my side of
the cage to their side of the cage. “Excuse me, could you kindly take a photo
of me in this cage, just so my husband believes I did actually get in the shark
cage”, is what I had asked a dear lady. A quick dry off and now, breakfast was
served at the rooftop of the houseboat. The breakfast was anything you could
possibly think of and it was delicious to have an egg and bacon roll, juice and
coffee. After breaky now we were to go back on the Jet Stream boat and just
cruise around another corner to Cyclone Creek. This was lovely just taking in
the scenery and I decided I would jump up the very front this time to get a
good view. Looking at all the different rock formations, colours and how over
time they break away due to the seasons. Back now to the houseboat and they
call for the half day cruise to board the seaplane as we take off up to the
Dampier Peninsula and further onto Cape Leveque. I am totally speechless and I
can’t even begin to tell you all how wonderful this was, seeing the sights from
above and just how beautiful our country is as well as huge in size. I didn’t
realize how many small little islands there were running off Australia and the
watercolor was just so blue. I glared out the window constantly and kept taking
video and snapping away with the camera. I really wanted to make sure I didn’t
miss anything so I could show the kids and Mark what an adventure I was on. An
hour and 20 mins flying high and then low as we saw so many different sights
from above and I knew we were getting closer as the pilot comes down quite low
coming into Cable beach. I texted Mark to let him know I was 5 mins away. He
had said look out for us we are on top of the hill next to the life saving
club. That time of day when everyone is around was difficult to see again. Back
on the bus headed to the caravan Park, and here is my gorgeous family waiting
for me with such an excited look on their faces,” Well, how was it Mum”, I
could hardly speak. How can I thank you all so very much for an exciting,
thrilling and adventurous tour that I just had. Where do I begin…. So I started
from the beginning. ‘Oh yeah mum, just to top your day off we are booked in to
ride camels this afternoon”, wow, that will be fun. I received from the company
too, a great Horizontal Falls promo video, which was good to show Mark and the
kids what it was sort of like.
Nothing I don’t think can top that off, the best birthday present I have
ever got.
 |
| View from back seat of plane |
 |
| It doesn't look real, but it is.The view from up above |
3pm came around quickly and we hurried down the beach in the blazing
sun, to the red camels. There are 3 different companies that do camel rides but
are all color-coded. There is also the Blue and Yellow Camels. We were given a
gift from Sheryl and Ian when we stayed with them back in mid July and they had
said to spend it in Broome. What better way to do that then to all go for a
ride on the Camels. I fell in love with the tall beasts. They are such gentle
and caring animals and funny sometimes to watch. Mark had Lily in the front of
him and Oliver on the front
of the other Camel, which was called Tiny. Dylan and I were together on
the one behind, called Isaac. Our Camel was 23 years old and was a camel that
has taught a lot of other camels also. He IS A BIT OF A LEADER. But I think,
Tony’s story of his life was a lot more detailed when they explained he was
rescued, he was on a boat bound for Malaysia when the boat ran aground. He was
to be eaten however running aground was meant to be. He was rescued and became
a working camel. Lily of course screamed when Tiny stood up as they use their
front legs and you have to lean right back. We walked slowly up to the nudist
beach, and I kept saying to Dylan are those couple nude as my eyesight isn’t as
good as it used to be, and he says quietly, yes mum they are. I said so you can
see everything then, yes mum I can. It was a good experience for the kids, riding
the camels and hearing about where they came from. It was a half hour ride,
which was plenty of time on them. We walked back to the grass area where
everyone watches the sunset and Mark had promised Lily she could go to the park
to play, the boys were so exhausted they had got up at 5am just to see me, and
yes Lily too, but oh no, she’s not tired she says. It was like an 8pm bedtime
tonight and everyone was out to it straight away. This day I will never ever
forget, it was truly amazing, spectacular and wonderful and I just can’t thank
Mark enough for doing such a beautiful thing for me, for my 40th
birthday. When the 28th November comes around though he better still
take me out for lunch/dinner. I thanked the kids so much for a lovely gift and
they were happy I made it back, as Oliver had said, ‘What if the plane
crashes’. Dylan and Mark had kept a secret from me, as they knew the plane was
going to go on its side at some stages, but it really wasn’t scary. Glad they
didn’t tell me though.
Mark will now write what he did on this same day, as he and the kids
were kept busy also.
We awoke at 5.00 am to see Hayley off. After waving Hayley off at
the front gate we ventured down to Cable Beach to see the plane take off. We
left a large note on the sand for her to see before returning for
breakfast. I knew that if we could
get organized we could see the dinasaur foot prints at Gantheum Point. We got
to the point at 7.20 am and had missed the chance to see all the foot prints as
the tide had turned and was starting to come back in. Low tide was supposed to
be at 7.11 am. We managed to see some of the footprints before the tide hid
them again. It was amazing to see
the rocks that had been covered the day before at high tide and where some
locals had been jumping into the water with the high tide swells threatening to
mash them on the rocks. One of the sea birds an Osprey caught a fish and
returned it the nest that it had built in the light house. The fish was still
flapping whilst it was being held by the birds feet.
 |
| Dinosaur footprints |
We took the car down
onto the beach before giving it a quick wash and then returned to the park and
Lily had a swim in the pool. We
then ventured down to the beach to watch as Hayley’s plane returned.
 |
Car on the Beach
To top of my Day Off , Lily gives me a Flower |
3pm came around quickly and we hurried down the beach in the blazing
sun, to the red camels. There are 3 different companies that do camel rides but
are all color-coded. There is also the Blue and Yellow Camels. We were given a
gift from Sheryl and Ian when we stayed with them back in mid July and they had
said to spend it in Broome. What better way to do that then to all go for a
ride on the Camels. I fell in love with the tall beasts. They are such gentle
and caring animals and funny sometimes to watch. Mark had Lily in the front of
him and Oliver on the front
of the other Camel, which was called Tiny. Dylan and I were together on
the one behind, called Isaac. Our Camel was 23 years old and was a camel that
has taught a lot of other camels also. He IS A BIT OF A LEADER. But I think,
Tony’s story of his life was a lot more detailed when they explained he was
rescued, he was on a boat bound for Malaysia when the boat ran aground. He was
to be eaten however running aground was meant to be. He was rescued and became
a working camel. Lily of course screamed when Tiny stood up as they use their
front legs and you have to lean right back. We walked slowly up to the nudist
beach, and I kept saying to Dylan are those couple nude as my eyesight isn’t as
good as it used to be, and he says quietly, yes mum they are. I said so you can
see everything then, yes mum I can. It was a good experience for the kids, riding
the camels and hearing about where they came from. It was a half hour ride,
which was plenty of time on them. We walked back to the grass area where
everyone watches the sunset and Mark had promised Lily she could go to the park
to play, the boys were so exhausted they had got up at 5am just to see me, and
yes Lily too, but oh no, she’s not tired she says. It was like an 8pm bedtime
tonight and everyone was out to it straight away. This day I will never ever
forget, it was truly amazing, spectacular and wonderful and I just can’t thank
Mark enough for doing such a beautiful thing for me, for my 40th
birthday. When the 28th November comes around though he better still
take me out for lunch/dinner. I thanked the kids so much for a lovely gift and
they were happy I made it back, as Oliver had said, ‘What if the plane
crashes’. Dylan and Mark had kept a secret from me, as they knew the plane was
going to go on its side at some stages, but it really wasn’t scary. Glad they
didn’t tell me though.
No comments:
Post a Comment