Broome - day 4

33 degrees today again and just perfect!
My kittens were all required to be ready to head out by 8.15 so I told them to be ready even earlier, and that works well as we were all ready for when our small bus arrived to take us to Willie Creek pearl farm. Our lovely driver David was very informative during our trip out to the pearl farm, much of it on dirt roads and clay pans. I always try to sit with a different kitten each tour so was sitting next to one of my first time travellers, who had only gotten out of hospital and given the all clear to travel 3 days before we left! She is a tiny little thing, very thin and quite shy so it was lovely to have her tell me that she is so pleased she came on this holiday with us as it has given her confidence a real boost. Yesterday while in the pub in the afternoon, another new to our group traveler who is 84 (her spouse passed away last September) was thrilled to find out that I knew her son who is a serving police officer, and then I’m not sure who was even more surprised her or me, when we worked out that her daughter was married to a police officer I had known for over 30 years, and he sadly passed away last year too. He’s the guy who gave me really good info on some things to do in Bali, that I did while there so recalled all the travel conversations he and I used to have.
And just to prove yet again just how small a world it is, we arrived at Willie Creek and had a presentation from a delightful Aboriginal lass, and when it finished were given morning tea. While we are having our drink and damper a fellow came up to one of my kittens, called her by name and then even I recognised him as one of the retired SA Police Band members! We have now had two days running when within our group we’ve caught up with people known to us, and we’ve come over 4,200 km to do so...
Anyhow, back to our tour. We are fast becoming mini experts on how sea pearls are cultivated. we now know all about not just the harvesting of the shell, but the grading of the pearls. It really is an intricate process and even though we have already been to other pearl farms or galleries, we learn something more every time. I’m even appreciating pearls even more. After morning tea we get on an open sided boat to go out into the creek to be shown how the oysters are cleaned and farmed. The waters are a beautiful blue but no one trailed their hand in the water due to crocodiles in the area, even though we didn’t see any. Due to the big tides, the mangroves were dense by the shore line, but pristine white sand dunes were also visible making for very pretty coastlines.

After our boat ride and the mandatory visit to the shop, five of my kittens have elected to go on a short helicopter flight over the farm, so it is nice to sit in the shade of the buildings while we wait for them. One of my kittens comes up to me to tell me that she had just been to the ladies toilets to find another lady who had been calling out for help as she had discovered a metre long brown snake in the toilet with her! Thankfully it wasn’t one of my kittens as I’d never have heard the end of it, but it did make for a good story amongst us all. Time to get back on the coach as we head back to town, where we are also booked for a tour of a pearl Lugger (boat) and tour through a little museum.
By the time we get to town it is almost 1.30. A couple of the kittens want to go straight back to the hotel as they are worn out, so the rest of us get ourselves ready to start the next tour after I remind them that we will be here about an hour and a half so it will be a very late lunch for them after that. Two more kittens decide that they are starving so decide to go and get food. The remainder were then shown through Pearl Luggers by Stuart who gave us a really interesting history lesson on pearling in Broome, followed by info on the actual diver’s experiences including seeing all the gear they had to wear. The whole outfit would have had to weigh about 80 kilos, keeping in mind most of the original divers were small a Japanese men who would barely have been 5’8 and wouldn’t have weighed 80k!

After the tour which ended in the obligatory store, we were also given the opportunity to try pearl meat which is so highly prized in Asian countries, selling for at least $100 a kilo. We were only given a sliver, but it was enough for me to decide that it is highly over rated, and relies on whatever it is marinating in, to give it any flavour.
Our tour finished a bit before three, and most wandered off to get something to eat, while I was happy to get the town bus back to the hotel where I was quite content to have a cup of soup and some fruit in my room.
Time to pack my suitcase and update the blog. Even had time for a medicinal whiskey while penning these lines. It has been a really good trip. The weather has been perfect and no major dramas for or with any of my kittens. (They all know I call them kittens and I even hear some of them calling themselves that!) The hotel is really good, the food has been great and each tour has ticked all the boxes so I am interested to get my travel feedback surveys back from my kittens tomorrow to see if they feel the same.
Dinner soon, so time to sign off for now.