Diary of an aviation nut: Fulfilling a Dream

The Kimberley region is my favourite part of Australia and, for as long as I've owned ZK-VRV, "Thunderbird 6", I've dreamed of flying her amongst the numerous islets and turquoise seas that make up the Buccaneer Archipelago.

Check out this awesome video Andrew took of me doing just that.

Check out Andrew's blog for more stunning images of our trip.

The Kimberley region is in the NW of Australia. It's one of Australia’s wildest and most remote regions — a massive stretch of red cliffs, rocky plateaus, deep gorges, and wide open savanna. This ancient land has been carved by powerful rivers and shaped by monsoon rains. In the wet season I understand it floods and roars with waterfalls; in the dry season it becomes a land of clear skies, dusty tracks, and long, winding rivers.

There's towering escarpments, sandstone ranges, huge cattle stations, tidal rivers, and coastal cliffs that drop into the Indian Ocean. From the air the colours are classic outback: rust‑red rock, bright blue sky, pale green savanna, bounded by a turquoise sea that’s as clear as gin. Unfortunately that sea is also full of vicious crocodiles (salties) and probably more sharks than you would prefer.

Much of the Kimberley coastal region is inaccessible by road and the distances are vast even for boats. The only way to take in this unbearable perfection is to see it by air.

We left Kununurra about 9:30am and set heading for the head of the Prince Regent Gorge 173nm (320km) almost due west. The stream that formed this gorge starts as a trickle and over a distance of 50nm (92km) carves out a deep wide gorge through a rugged and remote landscape. Fringed with sparse vegetation, it's fun to drop down and fly down the gorge with the sides whizzing past your wing tips.

The Prince Regent Gorge empties into the St George Basin and it was here that Andrew and John began to see for the first time the spectacle that is the Kimberley coast.

From the St George Basin we tracked SW over land and sea to the Horizontal Falls.

The Horizontal Falls aren’t really waterfalls at all — they’re two narrow gaps in the red Kimberley cliffs where the ocean gets squeezed so hard it turns sideways. When the massive 10 - 12 metre Kimberley tides rush in or out, the water can’t fit through the gaps fast enough, so it piles up on one side and blasts through like a river running uphill. The result looks like a waterfall lying on its side.

From the air, the two gaps look like someone took a giant bite out of the coastline. You see a calm turquoise bay on one side, and on the other, a boiling mess of white water being shoved through a crack barely wide enough for a boat.

In 2019 I stayed for a night on a floating hotel and got to experience the falls in a boat. Up close, you feel the power of the tides — the roar, the spray, the strange sensation that the ocean has decided to behave like a river. It’s wild, remote, and unmistakably Kimberley: red rock, blue water, and forces of nature doing things they probably shouldn’t.

The Horizontal Falls only run when the tide is right. Prior to leaving Kununurra, I'd tried to work out what time the tide would have the falls running but I gave up. I'm not much of a mariner. However, we lucked out and, as the video above shows, we got a pretty good show as we each circled overhead.

It was a long flight from Kununurra to the Kimberley's Buccaneer Archipelago and I was concerned about having enough fuel to have a good fly around, plus make it to our overnight stop at Cygnet Bay (where there is no fuel) and onto Broome the next morning. I did some in-flight calculations and suggested to Andrew and John that we fly south to Derby, refuel and then come back to explore the Buccaneer Archipelago and take some air to air photos and video that Andrew was keen to capture.

At a low but safe altitude I flew around this stunning area in a wild and varied route as I meandered my way to Derby.

It was as hot as hell in Derby and after we had both refueled we took shelter from the beating sun in a hangar so we could agree how we would take the air-to-air photos and video when we returned to our coastal playground.

Backtracking along Derby's runway 11, I was having trouble keeping Thunderbird 6 straight and then I felt shuddering and vibration which is not normal. Uh - oh. I knew exactly what was wrong. My tail wheel tyre had gone flat. I pulled over to the shoulder of the runway and shutdown. Sure enough, a sad tail-wheel greeted me.

Tail wheels are fragile. They're small, run at a high pressure and rotate very fast on takeoff and landing. As a likely point of failure I'd brought a spare tail wheel with a solid rubber tyre. However, I couldn't change it on my own. Andrew and John had just started up in ZK-LDY so I called them and told them of my predicament. They shut down and walked down the airfield (in about 32 deg heat) and when they arrived, we had the tailwheel changed in about 15 - 20 mins and I was on my way again. It was hot work amongst persistent outback flies but we got it done and I was grateful for their help and that of the airport manager who gave them a lift back to ZK-LDY in his ute.

Returning back to the Buccaneer Archipelago we took our air-to-air videos and photos which you'll see published by Andrew at a later time.

All good things must come to an end and it was time to set a heading for our overnight stop at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm.

Cygnet Bay

Cygnet Bay Pwerl Farm is at the north end of the Dampier Peninsula and is serviced by a well maintained runway. In addition to growing and harvesting natural pearls, it includes accommodation which has been developed significantly since I last visited in 2019. It was basic then but now there’s very nice eco-tents st amongst outback gardens. It’s a bit pricey ($60 landing fee + $70 transfer fee each way to the airstrip) but is worth a visit.

The runway is compacted red clay and there’s a fine red dust which the aircraft blow into a cloud which covers everything. Once this dust touches something it’s near-impossible to get rid of it. Within minutes your shoes are reddened for life and, if you put a bag on the ground, you’ll be reminded of the magical Kimberley forever more.