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Much of this wondrous, ancient and remote corner of Australia can only be seen by ship. With the tourist season about to start, Carolyn Beasley has the ultimate guide The sky reveals the bare idea of pre-dawn pink, and my watch reads 5.20am. It’s not a time I’m familiar with, but I’m expedition cruising in the Kimberley, and the 10m tides won’t wait. There’s a narrow window to visit Montgomery Reef, so I step into the Zodiac tender and rocket across a glossy black ocean. Motoring inside a reef drainage channel, seawater cascades off the coral structure. Our guide says that as the tide recedes, this living reef appears to rise some 5m above the waterline. We glide past herons gobbling stranded fish and a beach stone curlew wrestling a flailing octopus. The sun peeks over the exposed reef, illuminating turquoise water, where turtles and baby sharks inspect us. Hiding in the biggest sea-waterfall, a mighty crocodile waits, mouth gaping.
It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before, and I’m shaking my head with awe. I’d better get used to it, I think, because that’s how the Kimberley rolls.
Cruising the Kimberley is an unforgettable, world-class adventure. With 12,000km of sandy islands, fairytale waterfalls, Indigenous rock art and very few humans, the Kimberley coast is one of Australia’s greatest wildernesses. Most attractions cannot be accessed any other way than by cruise, and it means you’re likely to have these wonders to yourself.
WHAT YOU’LL SEE HORIZONTAL FALLS, TALBOT BAY The linear ridgeline of the McLarty Range thrusts out of the ocean, and at two eroded gaps the mighty 10m tides surge through. The result is a raging whitewater river of seawater.
Why go: As your speed boat approaches the cliffs, you’ll feel the adrenaline as the boat strains against the tide. If conditions are safe, the boat may careen right through the 25m-wide gap, before closely inspecting the narrow, 12m gap.
How to: Some cruise companies transfer their guests to the commercial speedboat operator based here, while others explore with their own tenders.
MONTGOMERY REEF, IN CAMDEN SOUND, 20KM OFFSHORE This living coral and algal construction occupies about 300sq km of ocean. As the tide drops, the reef becomes exposed while water drains out like waterfalls....