Broome, Pearls and MUM

We left Derby on the same day as Megan and Luke hoping to camp together somewhere on the side of the road however due to Carlos needing internet for work we had to leave them behind and make our way straight to Broome. We spent two days in Broome, I would like to say exploring but it was cleaning, after having a spanking clean van from Derby, on our way to Broome a bottle of oil managed to fall down and spilled everywhere. On the positive side we met with Ray and Maureen again and they are just lovely, travelling in their bus, originally from Swan Hill always a pleasure to spend time with and talk to.

Ray has been been very kind showing Carlos some fishing tricks, so overall we didn’t do much but we didn’t mind anyway because…. MUM was due to arrive in Broome in two weeks to spend a whole month with us, we were counting the hours, we were so excited, we have not seen mum since we left Melbourne back in February.

Remember the backpackers we met at the Gibb? They gave us the contact for the Pearl farm, well we managed to get through to Erin from the Arrow Pearl base in Beagle Bay and to our surprise agreed to have us for two weeks, working in return for accomodation and food, it was unreal. To be honest we had never, till then, considered working at a farm or station at all. I guess its because we are a family, not a young couple full of young muscles, we do not only have 3 kids but also we have the two dogs! We were excited, curious? Erin was so lovely and even offered a place for us to leave our van in Broome as the road to Beagle Bay is quite corrugated and sandy. We left two days after we arrived in Broome and got to Arrow pearl base on the 4th of August, this is where we experienced two of the most amazing and memorable weeks in our trip.

The road north to Beagle Bay was horrible, but we are used to horrible, I mean if anyone should get a terrible road licence, it should be us, after all, we have done Cape York, Savannah way to Borroloola and lets not forget, most recently the Gibb, after the turnoff to go to the farm there is still 45 minutes of off road, 4WD driving but finally we made it and let me tell you, it was definitely a sight for sore eyes. We met Erin and she took us to our rooms, as she did so I kept quiet as I was in awe with what I was seeing, the rooms were facing the ocean, they had open metal shutters instead of your usual windows as the region is cyclone prone, the kids had their own room with three beds and we had our own, with a ceiling fan and small fridge inside, it was like a resort, that is when we met fellow helpers, Thibaud and Marion from France.

We started our stay getting to know the people, the young French couple, Erin and Steve, Mark who also lived in the property and on that day another young man arrived, Alex and that was it. We started our day at 7 am in the kitchen having breakfast together, the room was huge with great wooden tables and a commercial kitchen, lots of interesting books and pearl shells. As I got talking to Erin the first job she gave me was to organise the pantry and shopping as it usually gets done once a week from Broome. To do that I decided to plan a week’s menu and it was just like that that I became the designated “chef/cook” of the Pearl farm. In the meantime, Carlos got given work with Thiboud and Alex to build a wooden frame for solar panels and my kids, well, their job was picking up leaves, moving sprinklers and throwing rocks at white cockies as they were destroying the nearby trees. We worked until midday had lunch together and then had time for ourselves to do whatever we wanted to do. I must admit I really loved my job, having a whole commercial kitchen to cook on (after 7 months of cooking on a small table outside my caravan!) and although I made everyone vegetarian for two weeks, everyone seemed to really enjoy my cooking. As the days went on we really got in to a routine, I actually got up earlier and really I couldn’t help it as we were awaken by the sun rising over the sea, majestic sight every morning, from our window!

I would then do some yoga and weights, have some breakfast, start cooking for the day and help out with whatever needed to be done and in the afternoon do some homeschooling with the boys. Sometimes we would walk on the beach, other times we would play games with the French, or play the ukelele, learn French, it was so much fun and slowly we started becoming a family.

On the first two days we were there we had the pleasure of spending time with Steve, the owner, who is so passionate about indigenous people, animals, pearls, to summarise, just life, so spending time with him was always special. He would take us on a journey to another place, through his knowledge and history or personal anecdotes, we could sit there listening to him for hours. He showed the kids how to cut fish bait and put in on hooks and took us as a family on his boat where we had one of the most memorable experiences of our lives.

As we were on the boat two whales came to check us out, a mother and a calf started circling the boat, inquisitive. Its hard to describe the moment but they were so close that it felt like you could jump off the boat and touch them.

Unfortunately Steve had to leave the farm on a trip not long after and only came back the day before we left and let me tell you, I have never seen the kids so excited to see someone again, someone who they only spent such small time with, they really missed him. He just has such a beautiful nature and kindness that is enchanting. At the same time, I connected with Erin really well, it was easy to, we just seem to be on the same page and just like Steve, very caring.

You could not help fall in love with this place, its beauty and serenity, walking on a beach that has no footprints, not seeing anyone apart from your “family” for days, I felt so happy, energetic, confident and optimistic and I think its the fact that you are in an environment that facilitates that, how can you not feel this way?

During the two weeks we did also have the privilege of taking part in the 100 years celebration of the Catholic Church at Beagle Bay. There is so much history in that church and actually it is important to note that Steve from the Pearl farm helped rebuild it after it was damaged during a cyclone. That visit was unique in so many ways:

Firstly, it was so interesting to see indigenous beliefs and traditions and the Catholic Mass come together in this epic100-year celebration.

We were invited to participate in an ancient custom among indigenous people whereby native plants are burnt to produce smoke to ward off bad spirits, acknowledge ancestors and pay respect to country. The smoke is believed to have healing and cleansing properties. Even though we did not understand the language spoken, we felt privileged to take part in this smoking ceremony. Secondly, the church is so beautiful, the alter is made out of shells, I have never seen anything like this in my life!

Finally, listening to indigenous story telling and watching the local dances was just incredible, we could not have picked a better day to be there.

On the weekend we took time off to go to Cape Leveque, this is one of the places you hear about that you must do as you go around Australia, so we drove there, right to the tip of the Dampier peninsula. We spent some time on the beach and the kids absolutely loved it as it had crushing waves to swim and surf but also on the other side of the beach where amazing red rock formations which gave its unique appearance. The icing on the cake were whales on the distance, although it was a really nice place we were so glad once again to be staying at Beagle Bay because everything is expensive at Cape Leveque, we would have definitely not stayed as long and not discovered as much if we wouldn’t have arranged the accommodation at the Pearl Farm.

Like everything in life, good things do come to an end and it was time to go, we didn’t really want to and even considered picking mum up and coming back up to the farm but Carlos and I came to the realisation that it was time to move on. We had made such good friends and enjoyed a paradise with pristine environment and warm atmosphere that it was very difficult to leave, the kids were gutted, they loved spending time with the young travellers and Erin and Steve, we were sad and continue to miss them.

However, exciting times ahead for the Pearl Farm, they are changing their focus to tourism including accommodation and boat tours. The government is currently working on the road so as soon as it is done the amount of traffic flowing to Cape Leveque, past the pearl farm turn-off will increase and no doubt double. Erin and Steve kindly invited us to return and even suggested sending the boys over when they are a bit older to do some work there. This is one of our most favourite and memorable places from our trip and remember when I said taking the Gibb was meant to be? well this is why, if we wouldn’t have been at the right place at the right time, we would not had met the backpackers who told us about the farm, you see, some things are meant to be.

The Pearl farm has now a very special place in our hearts and we just hope to keep in touch and be back again, we cannot speak highly enough of Steve and Erin as they welcomed us and treated us like family.

Back in Broome we were so excited, so much so that we got mums arrival time wrong and it was her phone call that alerted us she was already at the airport waiting to get picked up!

It was not hard to spot her, the only person in the airport wearing a black jumper and black jacket on a sunny 40 degree day. It was so great to see her, we could not have been happier at that particular moment, we missed her so much and now we were finally together again. We took her to the van to unpack, she had brought so many things! I guess when you have been living in a caravan for months you learn to live a very simple, minimalist life, its a different life, for example, we don't use as many clothes as we wear our clothes for 3-4 days, not our undies of course, although Carlos argues that you can wear your undies 4 times….I will let you figure that one out. Another example is that you don’t really brush your hair, just tie it up or wear a band and lets be honest, you learn to sleep on a very hard mattress. It was quite funny early on the month how mum wanted to wash her clothes regularly and wear them only once, I joked with her telling her that she was costing me a lot of money, also, lets not forget our simple lunches, during our travel, the majority of days we are quite content with just crackers, cheese and tuna, well, I felt bad for mum as that did not seem satisfying enough for her so I tried to make elaborate lunches while she was with us. Mum was so not used to the heat that within the first few days her lips started blistering really bad because of the sun and very quickly her skin became dry and scaly, welcome to the bush I said to her, I nickname mum “flor” meaning flower, as she was very delicate still in so many ways, not used to the roughness of the outback.

Having mum was bliss, very quickly we started an exercise routine in the morning, this was great as I really wanted to continue the routine I had started in Beagle Bay and mum has always been someone that never said no to exercise. We walked to the beach a couple of times which was 7 kms, we started doing sit ups and it was because of mum that I actually started a daily cleaning routine for my face.

We explored Broome, amazing beach sunsets, beach culture but I also went on a special date to watch a movie at the worlds oldest running outdoor cinema. Built in 1913 we watched the movie "Gurrumul" and loved it.

Did I mentioned I introduced mum to op-shopping? absolutely loved having her with us...