Derby, The Kimberley (WK 12)

Derby is in the west Kimberley region of Western Australia near the amazing Horizontal Falls. Amazing is an understatement! Due to the tidal range (11 metre), volume of water in a connected lake and only one narrow water access point, the tide rushes through the channel to create a ‘horizontal’ waterfall.

We arrived in Derby on 12/06/2021. After the usual setup we headed out to the wharf and to watch the sunset before a well earned pub meal.

On 13/06/2021 we went to visit the Prison Boab Tree. They think boab seeds were swept to Australia millions of years ago from Madagascar. Boab’s thrive in derby although in the dry season they shed their leaves so are not overly attractive! Boab trees are hollow so their age cannot be determined; some are thought to be 1000 years old. The Prison Boab Tree is so large it was used as a prison during the late 1800’s in a period of aboriginal incarceration and transportation designed to quell unrest and create a labour force for the pearling industry.

At 2pm we were picked up from the caravan park and taken to the Derby airport for our seaplane out to a pontoon which was to be our home overnight. The flight was brilliant and gave us our first glimpse of the falls. After feeding some Tawny Nurse sharks (there is no swimming in the open sea here, sharks, crocs and sea snakes….) we got on the speed boat for a trip to the falls. It was incredible and it was wet!

We were back for sunset and nibbles followed by dinner. An amazing evening.

We were all up to watch sunrise over Talbot bay and a cooked breakfast followed by another speed boat trip to the falls. This time the height of the water at the smaller opening was too high so we were unable to go through. The speed of the water was 30mph, incredible. And before we knew it we were back on the seaplane. An amazing experience.

On 15/06/2021 we set off to the beginning of the Gibb River Road. We are hoping the corrugations are not too bad……… we will be travelling along the road for the next few weeks until we reach Kununurra on July 8th. No idea what signal we will have so may not be posting on blog for a while.