As I type this we are travelling through an extraordinary landscape: a series of approximately parallel long hills with water in-between.  There are breaks in the linear hills, through which we sail to progress north through the range of flooded mountains. 

The water is without waves, in marked contrast to the sea this morning: out departure from the overnight mooring had to be delayed by several hours because the wind was too strong, and had created very rough conditions.

When we did get started, our first stop was at Crocodile Creek; a beautiful spot where there were two freshwater pools separated by waterfalls from each other and the sea.  We climbed up to the second pool and swam there.  Although initially cold, once we had been swimming for a few minutes the temperature felt lovely. In keeping with the name, at the lower pool we had to keep a good lookout for crocodiles, as it was only a metre or two above sea- level and only about ten meters from the creek.  We were discouraged from swimming in the lower pool …

We sailed/motored on, past Koolan Island, which is one of the few modern infrastructure sites that we will see on this trip: a huge iron-ore mine which has largely consumed one of the islands here.  Despite the remote nature of the site it is worthwhile because the ore is such a high percentage of iron – the second richest iron ore in the world, we were told.

We are now travelling on to Talbot Bay, where are found the “Horizontal Falls”.  These are small gaps between the linear hills, with water on both sides.  The tidal range is so large (it can be over 12 metres from low to high water), that the tides create tidal races through the gaps. 

Finally, once moored, we were visited by sharks.