Willie Creek- Cultured Pearl Farm – Boat Trip Touring the Oyster Beds

Your tour to Broome wont be complete without visiting Willie Creek Pearl Farm. I booked a four hour conducted tour on our arrival in Broome Australia to better understand the subject of the pearl. During June this is a very busy Kimberleys town, & unless you book well ahead you will miss out.

The previous day we spent a bottom numbing day from early morning to 11 pm that night, bouncing along in a four wheel drive coach, in order to take a boat trip along Gieke Gorge, hundreds of kilometres to the east of Broome. Fortunately the coach trip to Willie Creek Pearl Farm is only around 38 k north of Broome.

The four hour coach tour cost $65 per adult and included the following:

• Hotel pick up/drop off

• Transfer to Willie Creek Pearl Farm

• Coach Driver commentary

• Willie Creek Pearl Farm tour

• Willie Creek boat cruise

• Morning tea

• Jewellery showroom time

• Souvenir guide

I had a hire car & my initial thoughts were that surely I could drive there under my own steam. Fortunately the front desk at the Seashells Resort, where we were staying put me right on that thought. While it is only around a 38 K drive each way, north along Cape Leveque Road, around 10 K of that trip is on unsealed red ochre coloured track and also over tidal flats. The hire car company would not have been impressed. In fact I would not have tried to continue anyway if I had tried the trip once the bitumen ran out.

If you have your own four wheel drive vehicle go for it!

The coach collected us right on the dot of 8.30 am from the front of the Seashells Resort. We picked up the remainder of fellow tourists at various other hotels and then drove north east along Broome Road for around 10 K’s then turned north onto Cape Leveque Road. The weather was perfect. Quite warm. Not a cloud in the sky and everyone in a good mood following a good night’s sleep following our previous day’s marathon road tour.

Our Coach driver turned out to be an excellent source of information. He gave us a full run down about the history of Willie Creek, pearling, luggers, how to buy pearls, and interesting facts about the cultured pearl industry.

The Cultured Pearl, Pearl Shell processing Demonstration

Once the coach left the bitumen I was delighted I had taken the Hotel desk’s advice seriously. The track was nothing other than red dust and the cloud the coach left behind us would have blotted out all vision for any vehicle travelling behind us for a few K’s. After around ten minutes of redness we travelled across tidal flats. You really needed to take care travelling here if this was your first visit.

After around a 45 minute trip the coach pulled up at the Willie Creek Pearl Farm. The Farm is quite an elaborate setup of attractive buildings consisting of a large show room, an outdoor area for dining and a separate area under a pergola structure for the pearl processing demonstration. Our guide ushered us direct to the pergola where a friendly couple of young girls gave an excellent presentation of how a pearl is extracted from the shell, as well as how each shell is seeded prior to being placed back into the sea water. (See photo above). We were provided with ample time to handle the pearl extracted from a shell, as well as given plenty of information about the pearl farm, cultured pearls & freshwater pearls, & variants such as Tahitian & Mabe pearls.

Following the demo we took a short walk to where the Tour Boat was moored. From there we were taken on a very pleasant boat trip to view the oyster beds. Our tour guide, who turned out to be the driver of our coach, then took us for a spin around Willie Creek, which is really a very large bay. Prior to heading back to the jetty our guide, assisted by a few others, gave us a demo of how the pearl shells are inserted into grids and then hung back into the water. The  boat trip was excellent & very informative.

Enjoying Morning Tea and Home Cooked Damper – Willie Creek Pearl Farm

On arrival back at the main buildings we were treated to an excellent morning tea, including a very delicious home cooked damper, with a selection of jams and cream. Very yummy. The environment & scenery were tops, the company great and the morning tea superb!

After morning tea we were let loose in the showroom where everyone, well mostly the ladies, ogled the exquisite selections of Willie Creek Cultured Pearls as well as selections of freshwater pearls, tahitian pearls and mabe pearls. The Coach Driver then collected us back into the coach & we enjoyed a pleasant, relaxed drive back to our resort at Cable Beach. I should mention that Willie Creek Pearls have a helicopter available for those who wish to take a quick flight around the region while visiting. (At that time $50 per person based on three passengers…but please check the current price at Willie Creek Pearl Farm)

I highly recommend the 4 hour tour. The amount of time was sufficient and left plenty of time to head to Cable Beach for the afternoon. Visit Willie Creek Pearl Farm for further information.

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