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| OUR BIG TRIP MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA |
KIMBERLEY - Page 28
28 August 2007, Tuesday
Continuation of the Bird Observatory, Dinosaur Prints and Moon Eclipse...
29 August 2007, Wednesday
Today we booked a tour at the Willie Creek Pearl Farm which is about 38 km's North of Broome on dirt roads. In that direction
we would continue to see the Northern Beaches before heading back to town for the Staircase to the Moon. Willie Creek
Pearl Farm tour was very good. First you get about 40 min. of technical description on how Pearl Farming is actually done.
Quite interesting on what they have to go through before a pearl is actually harvested. After that, morning tea with absolutely
fantastic damper (beer used instead of water) and a short trip around Willie Creek on a boat including seeing the oysters
hanging in the water. They actually have more than 300,000 oysters currently in the farm - quite some number. Out in the
Ocean they have about 45 people stationed on a boat you take care of the oysters 365 days a year. I think they run 2-3 month
shifts out at sea before getting back on land. Still quite a hard job, but not as bad as the old days. After an interesting tour, we
drove off towards the Northern Beaches not knowing what to expect. The first point was Barred Creek. We needed a little bit
of 4WD to get their and the track at the end went through tidal area which looked a little too soft and wet, so we stopped next
to another vehicle and went towards the coast over some rocks. Reaching the top of the rocks the view was just amazing -
this turquoise water above the rocks and when we reached the top you could see the cliffs along the coast - just amazing.
From here we went back to the main road and further north to Quondong Point. At all those places, you can camp without
any facilities - quite a nice place to stay for a couple of nights. At Quondong Point we could reach the beach - and what a
beach it was - awesome. We spend some time here and had lunch. After soaking up the atmosphere here at the beach we
went on to James Price Point which was a few dunes and a beach quite a walk away. We decided that we saw enough
awesome scenery and we wanted to be back in town for the first night of the staircase to the moon viewing. Three areas in
town can be used to view the staircase to the moon - Mangrove Hotel, Town Beach and the Golf Club. We decided to see it at
the Town Beach. We arrived quite late and it was already full - everywhere. We decided like half of the people to stay at the
beach just in front of the coffee shop. WRONG !!! You have to be on the jetty or around it on the rocks to see anything,
because the moon rises behind the little mountain which looks like a jetty. When we saw the red moon rising above the jetty I
just walked as fast as possible out on the mud plains around the jetty - about 200 m at night across the mud not seeing
anything. I did not care and just wanted to see it. Mary stayed back at the beach and took care of our stuff. It was worthwhile
doing it and getting a first impression on how it looks - quite nice, but the smoke from the fires made it a little less shiny. We
decided that tomorrow we would stay at the same place but on the jetty - just need to be here early enough. Below lots of
pictures from the day's events.
28 August 2007, Tuesday
Continuation of the Bird Observatory, Dinosaur Prints and Moon Eclipse...
29 August 2007, Wednesday
Today we booked a tour at the Willie Creek Pearl Farm which is about 38 km's North of Broome on dirt roads. In that direction
we would continue to see the Northern Beaches before heading back to town for the Staircase to the Moon. Willie Creek
Pearl Farm tour was very good. First you get about 40 min. of technical description on how Pearl Farming is actually done.
Quite interesting on what they have to go through before a pearl is actually harvested. After that, morning tea with absolutely
fantastic damper (beer used instead of water) and a short trip around Willie Creek on a boat including seeing the oysters
hanging in the water. They actually have more than 300,000 oysters currently in the farm - quite some number. Out in the
Ocean they have about 45 people stationed on a boat you take care of the oysters 365 days a year. I think they run 2-3 month
shifts out at sea before getting back on land. Still quite a hard job, but not as bad as the old days. After an interesting tour, we
drove off towards the Northern Beaches not knowing what to expect. The first point was Barred Creek. We needed a little bit
of 4WD to get their and the track at the end went through tidal area which looked a little too soft and wet, so we stopped next
to another vehicle and went towards the coast over some rocks. Reaching the top of the rocks the view was just amazing -
this turquoise water above the rocks and when we reached the top you could see the cliffs along the coast - just amazing.
From here we went back to the main road and further north to Quondong Point. At all those places, you can camp without
any facilities - quite a nice place to stay for a couple of nights. At Quondong Point we could reach the beach - and what a
beach it was - awesome. We spend some time here and had lunch. After soaking up the atmosphere here at the beach we
went on to James Price Point which was a few dunes and a beach quite a walk away. We decided that we saw enough
awesome scenery and we wanted to be back in town for the first night of the staircase to the moon viewing. Three areas in
town can be used to view the staircase to the moon - Mangrove Hotel, Town Beach and the Golf Club. We decided to see it at
the Town Beach. We arrived quite late and it was already full - everywhere. We decided like half of the people to stay at the
beach just in front of the coffee shop. WRONG !!! You have to be on the jetty or around it on the rocks to see anything,
because the moon rises behind the little mountain which looks like a jetty. When we saw the red moon rising above the jetty I
just walked as fast as possible out on the mud plains around the jetty - about 200 m at night across the mud not seeing
anything. I did not care and just wanted to see it. Mary stayed back at the beach and took care of our stuff. It was worthwhile
doing it and getting a first impression on how it looks - quite nice, but the smoke from the fires made it a little less shiny. We
decided that tomorrow we would stay at the same place but on the jetty - just need to be here early enough. Below lots of
pictures from the day's events.
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| Gantheaume Point panoramic |
| This guy was great explaining all the detail about the pearl industry including the anatomy of an oyster. |
| This example of an oyster has two natural pearls - can you spot them? |
| Willie Creek - this is were the farm starts - just a few oysters hanging around - the majority is out in the ocean about 10 km's offshore. |
| Due to the extreme tides the water is flowing very fast in and out of the creek and the oysters get a free feed stream all day - see the angle of the oysters in the water? - the tide current is very strong. |
| The panel of oysters and one of the guys cleaning the oyster - which is the main work they have to do throughout the two years it takes to harvest an oyster - keep it clean. |
| Fires everywhere - all day - all the time we are in Broome. |
| Not sure if you can read this - $100,000 for the string of pearls - some people must have too much money. Good that Mary does not like pearls... |
| Some panoramic pictures of Willie Creek |