Western Australia
The largest State taking up nearly 1/3 of our country
The following information will give you an idea of distances you need to travel to get anywhere in Australia.
To get from Melbourne to Perth, Western Australia by car takes 35 hours, something we have done with 4 stops on the way, by plane it is 4 and a bit hours with a distance of 2700 km, but if we want to fly to Derby it is 3063 km and a flight time of 4 hours 55 mins. So as you see we live in a very big country, one reason we don’t worry about how long it takes to get anywhere, we are used to it.
Starting from the northern most part of Western Australia right down the coast to Esperance there is always something of interest to see. Today I have chosen two locations, the first right up North from Derby to the Horizontal Waterfalls by seaplane.
Our travels were done entirely by car as part of our drive around Australia, the day we drove to Derby we left from the town where we had been staying, Fitzroy Crossing, where the beautiful Geikie Gorge is located, I can’t say that there was too much else of interest there.
When you see the photos you will probably be thinking, what is she talking about, that isn’t a waterfall! To try and explain this phenomenon it is caused by massive, up to 10 metre tidal currents forcing the water between the two coastal gorges. Anyway I thought I would share a video I found to help explain it far better than I could.
It seems that I haven’t been able to organise for you to watch the attached video, but it will be an easy find on YouTube and I do recommend that you check it out.
We drove out to the airport and waited for our pilot to turn up, this chap sauntered across from a hangar wearing a pair of shorts, a white shirt and thongs, he came into the office and took our money and boarded us ready for our flight. Who was going to be our pilot, him of course. We flew in to the Horizonal Falls from Derby by seaplane and that was a bit scary, particularly when the pilot decided to do a few tricks before landing. On arrival we were taken to a waiting yacht and served some food then it was time to get into the jet boat. I was feeling pretty nervous.
What an amazing experience, I’m glad we were able to do it because I think it is now going to be banned due to an accident which occurred in 2022, there were several people injured when the boat crashed into the rock wall whilst navigating through the falls, I just checked the internet and it says that trips are being phased out by March 2028 to protect the sites cultural and environmental significance, hmmm another place we won’t be allowed to visit. You will be able to fly over, which is an experience in itself, but not quite the adrenaline rush.
There are many stories of places we visited in WA, but for now I’m now taking you down to a tourist spot just north of Perth called The Pinnacles which is in Nambung National Park. They certainly are amazing natural limestone structures which were formed 25-30 thousand years ago, well worth a stop off for a wander around.
When we visited we found it wasn’t the sort of place you went to for a picnic as it is pretty barren and sandy being quite close to the Indian Ocean, as you can see in a couple of the photos above, but then that was in 2004, a lot of things could have changed since then. There is a town called Cervantes on the way if you are travelling south, and apparently they have some very good eating places, I’m not sure about other towns before you get to Perth if you decide to travel further for a meal.
Thank you for coming on another journey, next week I’m returning to New Zealand but I’ll keep the location a surprise.
Bye for now
Sally 🤗
I laughed when you described the pilot…what did you expect Sally? A man in full uniform? lol! I saw the video. You are brave. I don’t know that I would have wanted to go over those falls and I can understand how easy it might be to become a projectile into the rocks. I shared the video with hubby. Cheers!