Day 34 – Broome

This morning we arose to a very foggy outlook (the humidity is just so high!). Very strange to see in this warmth. We left Broome at 7am, to drive the long drive up to the tip of Cape Leveque along the Dampier Peninsula. The road in is 220km of mainly very sandy, red dirt (excluding the 14km at the start and the 80km at the end of sealed road. It was a slow drive on the dirt, but we were really pleased with the way the Santa Fe handled it.

 

After two and half hours of fairly slow driving (around 70km per hour on the dirt parts), our first stop was at One Arm Point to see the Fish Aquaculture Hatchery. After stopping at the supermarket/office to buy a day permit from the Aboriginal One Arm Point Community ($15 per adult), we headed for the fish farm at the end of the road. The short drive out there past One Arm Point was stunning. The Ardiyooloon community is the home of the Bardi Jawi people, who still hunt for traditional food in the surrounding seas – turtle,dugong, fish and trochus shells. One of their main industry is to cut, polish and carve these beautiful decorative shells.

 

Once inside the building we were taken on an hour tour of the tanks that housed beautiful starfish, pencil anemone, and many other fish including the barramundi.

Lily stepped right up (while Sam stepped right back) to feed them with a piece of cut up fish. The barramundi have sharp teeth, and make a huge splash and a loud noise as they clamp down on the fish, but Lily didn’t even flinch as all the other onlookers gasped and said “that girl must have nerves of steel”.

 

The program is wholly owned and run by the Aboriginal community, and it was so wonderful for the kids to see them making such a positive contribution to the tourism industry. We watched as the trochus shells were polished, ready to be made into jewellery. The meat is also sold for food. The industry is huge and the shell and meat are exported worldwide.

 

Next it was retracing our steps back down to beautiful Cygnet Bay, where we called in to do a pearl farm tour. You can stay at the resort (beautiful infinity pool), or just day visit like us and be taken on a tour of the farm.

 

 

We were taken around the farm by a jeweller, who explained the process to us. The baby pearl shells are spawned, then grown in a special tank until they become the right size to place out in the sea in racks. Then they are implanted with a tiny seed (made from crushed pearl shell), which irritates the muscle of the pearl, so it grows a luminous layer over it (which becomes a pearl).

 

We were taken past the lab (where algae is created to feed the baby pearl shells), and where the technicians pry apart the shells to make an incision in the muscle, and insert the seed. We then also watched as a shell was opened so we could see the beautiful shell within.

 

We were then invited to carry the pearl (me!) into the showroom, to learn about grading the pearl according to its type (round, teardrop, circled, etc), color, lustre and size. All very fascinating, and I skipped past the pearl retail area without even blinking!

Next it was off to Cape Leveque itself – or Kooliaman as it is known, to the main restaurant /café area where we had lunch outside overlooking the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean. (Yep, sorry kids no fish and chips for us – just rolls and apples). We then had to buy another day pass ($5 per adult) to go and have a swim in the beautiful waters of Cape Leveque.

There are two beaches to visit here – the Western Beach (only for looking not swimming because of the massive tidal currents and crocs), and the main beach (beside the caravan park), which is absolutely stunning – crystal clear, warm, vivid turquoise blue waters, white sand, red rocky cliffs – awesome!

 

We enjoyed a lovely swim around, unable to believe the size of the splashless waves (due to huge tidal movements) – lots of fun to ride back into shore.

At about 3pm, we dragged ourselves away from this paradise, and headed for home, as we knew it would take us at least 2.5 hours, that the sun was setting around 5.30pm, and we didn’t want to be on the sandy road in the dark. We had one more quick stop to make half way home, at the Beagle Bay aboriginal community, about 5km off the main road. We were interested in visiting the stunning white, locally built church, built back in 1917 by German monks who were interned there during the war.

With help from the local sisters, and aboriginals, they made the bricks, made the lime mortar (by melting shells), and collected many beautiful shells of the area to decorate the interior. This process took them two years to build the church, then another year to decorate the inside. The interior is simply stunning in design – hundreds of beautiful large pearl shells imbedded into the walls, around the stained glass windows, and on the altar. Many other local shells are also used.

Beagle Bay was also home to the stolen generation of aboriginal children who were removed from their parents and sent here by the WA government. The Sisters of the St John of God from Ireland, cared for the children, teaching and nursing them. Today the church has worshippers from descendants of these children.

We enjoyed our visit, took some photos, and it was back in the car for the long trip home.