next we head for the famous horizontal waterfalls an extraordinary natural
wonder where two large bays empty and fill through a pair of narrow gorges in
the Kimberley escarpment country with up to a 10 metre rise and fall in the tide
the power of the water has to be seen to be believed a peak flow on the mid tide
the water is running at around 10 to 15 knots forming some pretty hair-raising
Rapids with up currents and whirlpools everywhere there she is mate
yeah really sure where we should be taking that bike through that
what are you reckon what go through there a rubber dinghy a moment that's
very thick for the rubber dinghy clay instead I'm gonna hit it go straight
down the guts yep oh you got to pick that line there yeah stay on the gas and
that'll get us through to the second. yep. let's do this. goin' in.
now the tourist boats that run these rapids are purpose-built with far more buoyancy
and the biggest difference is two 300 horsepower motors
with less than half the horsepower, we've got to be extra careful
because with all this white water the motor really struggles for thrust
now that Simon is the wide one this is the narrow one this one's barely wide
enough for there's the length of our boat we more refrain from that one what
do you think I don't think we need to risk that we do get to have a look at it
the narrow gap is deadly and even the tour boats can get in trouble here over
the years has been plenty of accidents and lives have been lost
now these boats don't go through when the waters in peak flow and given that
it's the biggest tide of the month will show some uncharacteristic caution that
is pretty that's a pretty impressive stuff there like I've seen some rough
water and we've been through some rough rough water just recently but that there
that's crazy that should that swallows boats up and
spits them out chews them back up again and spits them out and that's just to
suck us in there that's some serious mother nature action
going on there right there and just sitting here has got my
adrenaline pumping off it's not
we're in the center Bay and we've got to get back out again little do we know
what lies ahead going in that's the easy part it's not too bad but going back out
that's where she really stands on its head
and the problem is you've got this massive volume of water trying to force
its way through and the water comes up pushes up and spins around like this and
if you get a side we get something coming from the side tip us on the
outside and then if we cut that water boom it's all over the force of the
water will roll us and that'll be the end of it
be swimming don't want to be millionaire we don't want to be swimming but you
pick your course pick the track it's doable I'm confident it's doable that's
the only way we're gonna get back through it you go to hold the gas on
brother
okay here we go
that's scary
now looking back at our run we were aiming for the smoother water to the
side but as we entered the current it shot us 10 meter sideways in less than a
second not a nice feeling and it wasn't over yet
out of nowhere huge whirlpool forms in front of us and as we plow in the boat
lays right over and loses Drive just between you and me I was more than a
touch worried if the harlot dug in just a bit more we would have taken on water
over the side and the folk could have flipped hominin I would have been in the
drink along with Crocs and sharks and it would
have been the end of our Kimberley adventure so we won't be doing that
again real soon and that is the power of the horizontal waterfalls
you