Horizontal Falls - World Wonder Spectacular

Up with the duetting night birds of the campsite an hour before dawn to catch our shuttle bus to Broome airport.

Next we boarded our floatplane for an hour's flight across the wilds of Dampier Peninsula before crossing Buccaneer Archipelago, a web of remote islands stretched out below.

Prior to landing next to Cyclone Sound, we did a sweep above the Horizontal Falls, a dramatic tidal phenomenon where 1.6 million litres of water rush through two rock passage narrows every second. The tides have a variation of 11 metres in the six and a half hours between low to high tide and vice versa. These tides are the second highest in the world after those of Nova Scotia, Canada. The water trying to push through is so powerfully backed up by the tides that the falls stand up to four metres high. No less than David Attenborough described this as "One of the greatest natural wonders of the world".

A moment to catch our breath at the floating pontoon, then we were off on the 900 horsepower speedboat, aptly named Full Throttle, to get up close and very turbulent with the Falls.

Amazing how our guide and skipper was a young bloke in his 20s in charge of the fastest boat in the Kimberley. Aussie life rules!

The first falls looked calm from afar as the tidal flow surged through a tiny gap, but as we approached, the water boiled and seethed like a cauldron, the boat's engine growled, then crescendoed in high curving turns to gather immense speed to fight and overcome the mighty tidal flow. The skipper gathered more speed and we bounced through the maelstrom with white knuckles, expletives of delight from the passengers, and wet feet up front.

The second falls were smaller in width, but simply too wicked for us to chance the whirlpools, boilers, and incredible strength of the tidal force with a crossing. At the back of the opening a huge wall of water reared up. At full throttle, we advanced to within metres of the opening, juggling at full throttle across the angry churning waves, then sped off to the pontoon.

Gen wanted aerial shots, so we took up the offer of a doorless chopper. We lifted up for spectacular views of wild rocks, beaches, and sandbanks bathed in turquoise water, before swooping over the Falls in all their awesome glory. On our return leg of the flight we spotted crocs, including one just floating serenely in his territory with his legs spread out sideways.

Back at the pontoon, we watched wobbygone-like sharks being fed next to swimming cages. Amazing to see and hear the popping sound of the hoovering mouths of the sharks sucking in the rest of the bacon left from our breakfast.

The return flight again took us over the Buccaneer Archipelago, an amazing remote maze of beaches, islands, and bays. From there we turned past Cape Leveque and Kooljaman eco resort where we had just stayed in a beach shack, then continued down the coast past aboriginal communities, and controlled burns, back to Broome via Cable Beach.