2021 - QLD-NT-WA-SA-VIC-NSW-QLD: Day 73: Fri 2 Jul - Broome, with an excursion to Cape Leveque and Cygnet Bay, 425 km

18-31 degC, a lovely cool morning and perfect sunny day

We were up early to be on the road about 7:30 am, heading North on the Dampier Peninsular. There were a number of places we wanted to visit, however, due to COVID restrictions and them being Aboriginal Communities, some were closed. Looking at the map a couple of weeks ago and all the dirt roads, we were originally going to book a tour. After arriving in Broome we learnt the main road was now all sealed and only the sections off to each location were still dirt. So, we did the self-drive thing. It was an easy 195 km from here to the Cape Leveque turn off on an excellent smooth, wide WA road, and even though the next 7 km was dirt, it was sandy (not dust) so very driveable. Needed a high-clearance 4WD as the 'middle' was very high. When we got to Cape Leveque, we found some 2WD sedans there who would have had to do some ploughing occasionally. We had a quick look around, walked to the Eastern Beach to see the lighthouse and beach. Lighthouse was enclosed by a 12ft fence, and the beach was closed due to crocodiles being seen there earlier, however there were lots of people heading to the beach with swimmers on and towels in hand intending on swimming. We haven't heard any news about croc attacks so they must be ok. What struck us the most were the colours of the sea, sand and rocks; absolutely beautiful. The light was also so clear and amazing. Just the sort of setting a good quality camera might do the place justice.

It was then onto Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, where we had booked a tour. We had seen a segment on Landline about the place, and thought that whilst we were in the region, we should take a look, Yes, we had to spend about 5 hours driving there and back, but it was all worth it. The tour was over an hour long and very informative. Two volunteers from the audience got to handle an oyster; one opening it up and the other 'birthing' the pearl. There is a whole lot of info we learned, but too much to put in here tonight. Nothing is wasted, when they are finished with seeding the oyster three times, the meat is sold to restaurants for fine dining, but not for Wendy though. We had made our lunch the night before, so sat under the trees at Cygnet Bay, ate our eggy sandwiches, and then moved on. There were some very nice pieces of jewellery, however, as we said last night, the pearl is not one of Wendy's favourite 'jewels'.

We were home about 3:45 pm, it didn't seem that far on the way home. After a cuppa, Greg went off to Cable Beach on his bike to check out the sunset, whilst Wendy prepped for dinner.