Happy Anniversary! It is our 24th wedding anniversary today. Luckily I put a reminder in my phone for the day before because we have totally lost any sense of the day or date. I was surprised that Peter remembered too!
Today we went to Willie Creek Pearl Farm for a tour. You can either go from Broome in their bus or if you have a four wheel drive, you can drive yourself to the pearl farm. We chose to drive there ourselves and could understand why you needed a 4x4 as the road was very deep sand for most of the way. It took us about 40 minutes to drive there.
Willie Creek Pearl Farm
Once everyone had arrived we were introduced to the staff and then we moved outside to a pergola and were given a talk on the anatomy of a pearl oyster. We learnt the names of all the bits and pieces from a live oyster. It was interesting to learn that most of them have a little blind frog in them. We were told about the different sorts of pearls and that it takes about 8 years to get the Broome Pearl(Australia's South Sea Pearl) which explains why they are so expensive! We got to see the different pearls up close too. Then is was off to have morning tea which included the famous Kimberley Damper, both plain with jam and date with butter. Yum! They gave us the recipe so will definately be trying that when we get home.
Mother of Pearl
After morning tea, it was with some trepidation (given my sea sickness on both earlier boat trips) that we boarded a small boat for a tour. First off we went out to where the pearl oysters were hanging in racks on a line. One of the guides pulled up a rack and showed us how they regulary clean them to get off any algae, fireweed etc and we got to look at one up close. We then went for a tour around the tidal creek and because it was high tide we were able to go quite a way up the creek. When we came back she showed us the jetty that they normally use on a lower tide and it was completely under water. They have huge tides here, up to 10 metres. I didn't have any problem with the boat ride so I think it is just the big swells that set me off.
Pulling up a rack of pearl oysters
One up close
The line that the racks hang off
Then it was into the showroom where we were shown how to care for the pearls and how to identify a good pearl. We also had to guess the prices of some of the ones she showed us and whomever guessed correctly could wear it for a little while. One of the pearl necklaces was $50,000! Then it was shopping time. My lovely husband bought me a pearl for my birthday/anniversary (possibly for the next five years!). We also bought something for our neice's (Meg) birthday. Can't say what it is as she hasn't received it yet. Happy belated birthday Meg!
We drove back to Broome, had lunch and I had a swim and Peter relaxed.
We went to the Bistro over the road for dinner and we both had wild barramundi and it was delicious - melted in your mouth. As we were celebrating our anniversary we also had a strawberry and apple pie for dessert and it was to die for! We both waddled home to bed.
cheers
Pete and Roz
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