Like I wrote earlier, Broome is known for its pearls so I told Wolfgang that I wanted to go on a pearl farm tour. He was such a trooper and said he would go too (even though I know there was plenty of other things he would rather do). Right after the kayaking tour, we showered off and ate some lunch. The Willie Creek Pearl Farm tour picked us up from the hostel at 1 pm and drive about 45 minutes to the farm. We didn't mind this because our hostel's a/c wasn't the greatest so it was nice to sit in an air conditioned vehicle.
When we arrived at the farm, they split us up into colours to represent our group. Wolfgang and I were in the blue group and went straight to the informational part of the tour. This was when they talked about the history of pearl harvesting, process to make a single pearl, and showed us a pearl valued at over $10,000. They taught us how to pick out a valuable pearl and how to test if the pearl is real or not.
We then got on the ferry which took us around the pearl harvesting area. Here they pulled up a section of oysters and showed us how they clean and maintain them.
After, they took us to the show room and showed us the different pearls and had us guess their values, since we were suppose to be "pearl experts". I really wanted to buy some real Broome pearl earrings.. Little did I know, was that even the smallest real "reject" pearl earrings cost $300. I was not about to spend that kind of money on earrings.. I still bought pearl earrings in Broome but they are fresh water pearls probably from Singapore. O well, I still bought them in Broome and that is what is most important to me.
Although it wasn't the most exciting thing ever, I was glad we went on the tour. It was very interesting and we learned about some of the history of Broome at the same time...
Showing us the organ system of the oyster...
The the black oyster which produces the "black pearl"
I thought it would make a pretty nice necklace (:
The oysters right after being brought on to the boat
Dirty
Even though my parents would never approve, I wanted to go on their helicopter tour.. Unfortunately, it was over $100 for only 5 minutes of flying..
Getting ready to go back on the bus after the tour
First of all, you were darn right that we would not have liked you riding the helicopter. If you see one fatal helicopter crash, you are cured for life.
ReplyDeleteSecond, you should have bought me the $10,000 pearl.
Mommy