Tue 2nd September – Day 115: Broome – Middle Lagoon, Dampier Peninsula

This morning we made the decision to take the trailer with us to Cape Leveque. We were going to leave it in storage and just take the car and tent but time got away from us yesterday and we didn’t get organised. So, despite the warnings about rough roads & the fact that caravans are banned, we pack the trailer tight head northwards.
En-route we make a quick call and manage to get a spot on the 12pm Willie Creek Pearl Farm Tour, where we learnt much about the Australian Pearling Industry. This is the only Pearl farm open to the public and we saw live seeding demonstrations, a cruise to view the operations and information on how to keep your own pearls looking fabulous.
Pearling Facts:
• South Sea pearls are produced by the silver or gold lip pearl oyster Pinctada Maxima, the largest pearl producing oyster growing up to 30cm and weighting up to 5kgs!
• The Australian cultured pearl industry currently grosses over $200 million / annum!
• The annual 600 000 ‘wild’ collected shell quota is shared between only 19 pearl licences, 18 of which are in WA (the other in Darwin)
• Divers are still used to collect the majority of oysters used in pearl production.
• The Mississippi mussel shell is used as the nucleus for nearly all Australian cultured pearls – Xrays can distinguish this nucleus if you suspect yours may not be the ‘real deal’.
• Pearl technicians are highly skilled and may earn > $100K for 3 months work.
• The 5 virutes of fine pearls:
1. Lustre – exceptional > fine > dull
2. Size – 8 – 18mm
3. Shape – Round, drop, button, circle, semi-Baroque, Baroque
4. Colour – Silver, silver rose, white, white rose, gold, white gold
5. Surface – exceptional > fine > marbled
We left Willie Creek full of Pearling knowledge and wishing I had $18K to spend on a necklace. Back to reality and the endless dirt again - red sand, corrugations, dust, heat, unbelievable shaking. The difference now is the clouds building up each afternoon in the Northeast – signalling the start of the build-up season, a sign of the coming wet.
Middle Lagoon is a about half way up the Dampier Peninsula and offers relaxing accommodation and camping on an isolated beachfront. We arrived just before the sunset and although ridge-top sites overlooking the beach were free, we elected to set up a little further back under a few shade trees. We were very thankful for this shade in the coming days when the temperatures pushed towards 40°C. Owned by a local aboriginal family we were pleasantly surprised to have bore water, power and solar showers, plus the kids stayed free.
There were only a few other campers and once the sun went down we were plunged into darkness with a million stars overhead. Thank god for the dreampot and we settled down to beef stroganoff and a hot shower before bed.
Middle Lagoon Campground (powered $30)