Willie Creek Pearl Farm - Broome

During our visit to Broome we were very keen to visit a pearl farm and learn a bit more about how these beautiful objects are created for market. We booked a tour at the Willie Creek Pearl Farm which is about 50 kilometres from Broome along a dirt road. The Broome Visitor Information Centre gave us great instructions on how to get there and we headed off early to arrive in plenty of time for our 10 am tour.

Our guide was Megan who was fun, friendly and full of information about the pearling industry. She really involved the children in the audience and they seemed to enjoy helping her during the demonstrations. Megan went through the pearl growing process and explained how the foreign objects are implanted into the Oyster in order to develop a pearl.  

We then had morning tea before boarding a boat to look around the Willie Creek waterway - showed us how to pull up the oysters and clean the shells. We saw a four metre crocodile in Willie Creek - apparently this crocodile is a resident of the area and is often seen lurking about.  

After the boat trip we then headed into the shop to learn about the different values of various pearls. Pearls need to be worn to keep their lustre - I will have to get mine out more often. They have a range of beautiful pearl jewellery for sale at the Willie Creek shop. You can also purchase a polished pearl shell - beautiful on their own. This was a really interesting morning and I am very pleased we joined the tour of Willie Creek Pearl Farm.