At this stage we were still waiting on word of when our replacement shock absorber would arrive in Broome - the company in Sydney confirmed it had been shipped, but we not be able to get through to the suspension specialist in Broome who we were hoping would be able to do the installation despite MANY attempts. So we decided to drop in to follow up in-person, which is definitely harder to dodge!! Rodd (Rod?) was a colourful character - he happily informed us he never answers his phone, and that all the locals know that. But he said that he would be able to fit us in and get Frankie sorted as soon as the part arrived. He also told us we'd be fine to drive up to the Dampier Peninsula on the 3 shock absorbers currently still working. Which was good, because we were due to head north in two days, and it didn't look like the part was likely to arrive until late the following week 😩.
Feeling slightly less stressed, we were ready for a camel ride along Cable Beach. Sadly there were only 4 spots left, so we flipped a coin and Bob got to stay on solid ground, while the kids and I mounted our new friends. The big two got their own camel and Josie and I rode together. I did have a small concern given an incident the week before where a camel went rogue and bucked off an older couple, who had ended up in hospital. I came up with a plan as to what I would do if something like that happened to us (throw my leg over and out of the saddle, grab Josie and jump and roll, commando style, natch) before we headed off, but thankfully I never had to put it to the test😝.
The following morning we went to the markets where we found our crepe making friends again, who let us know that the rodeo was coming to town on Thursday and Friday. As some of you know, I have long loved a rodeo thanks to my obsession with cowboy romance novels, so this definitely got me thinking about rearranging the itinerary so we could check it out. Then I got a call about a tour we had booked for Wednesday to one off the islands of the Dampier Peninsula. Unfortunately the weather wasn't looking so great so they were asking if we could swap to Friday. I was keen to keep our options open for the rodeo so we agreed that instead we'd move our booking to Monday. So I decided to rearrange our plans and head further north for the first few days so we'd be closer to the tour, then back down to the middle of the peninsula for a few days to be closer to Broome to get to the mechanic and the rodeo. So, after another visit to the markets on Sunday morning to get delicious mango smoothies we set off for Lomadina, a campground in an Aboriginal community near the top of the Peninsula that was once a Catholic mission, arriving before sunset for once!
The next morning we drove across the peninsula to Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, where our tour was due to depart at 12 pm. But first off we were booked into for a pearl appreciation course, which was particularly entertaining given my long standing lack of appreciation for pearls. Despite this historical aversion, it was a really interesting tour with an amazing tour guide in Terry, a Bardi man who grew up on the farm. He told us about the history of the area, the history of cultivated pearl farming, and the history of this particular farm.
Terry explained that south sea pearls were naturally occurring in the area, but that traditional owners placed no value on the pearls themselves - it was the pearl shells that had huge cultural significance. They would actually throw the pearls themselves into the ocean!
Post colonisation, a pearling industry developed in the area to collect both the pearls themselves, but also the mother of pearl shells that was used for buttons prior
to the mass production of plastic buttons. In fact, the collapse of the pearl shell button market undermined the pearl trade overall, and it was pretty quiet for a few decades, until the cultivate pearl trade arrived in the area. Terry explained that the process of cultivating pearls was discovered in Japan at the end of the 1800's, and that the process was a tightly guarded secret.
Terry told us that Dean Brown settled in the Cygnet Bay in the 1940s to try his hand at pearling but the collapse of the market put paid to that. Then in the 1970's Dean's son Lyndon started working on discovering a process to cultivate pearls himself, succeeding and establishing the current day Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm in the 1960's, the first farm in the world established without Japanese involvement. The Browns worked closely with local Bardi and Jawi community, including three men who, alongside Lydon, were at one point in time were the only non-Japanese technicians with the ability to grow pearls in the world.
Growing up on the farm, Terry was best friends with Lyndon's son James (Brown, hungh!), who is now the current manager of the farm. In 2009 the family opened up the farm to tourism and now host a mixture of tours on the pearling industry, the local environment as well as traditional Bardi and Jawi culture. Terry went on to explain the process the farm uses to cultivate the pearls, which is a really interesting mixture of marine biology, science and farming.
After the tour we went back to reception to wait for our next tour, but unfortunately we were told that the weather wasn't looking great. We agreed to wait to see if it calmed down enough for a 1 pm departure, and in the meantime have a chat to Rosanna, the tour guide. But it was still looking pretty dire an hour later. I was super bummed at the thought of missing the tour, as I had really been looking forward to it since I booked it earlier in the year, and after talking to Rosana I was even more excited. However, I couldn't figure out how to fit in getting the car fixed on Thursday, getting to see the rodeo and coming all the way back out to the tip of the peninsula for the tour on Friday. I was feeling very verklepmt, but Bob made the executive call to just say yes and we'll work out the details as they come. So that's what we did.
We headed back to Lombadina and headed for the beach for a swim and to watch the sunset (although Toby stayed at the camp). It was our first attempt at soft sand 4 wheel driving, and it made me VERY nervous, but we survived without getting bogged.... this time!
The next morning we drove down to Beagle Bay to check out famous mother Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the altar of which is decorated with gorgeous shells. The church was built entirely by hand by the local community and the French Trappist monks who founded the Catholic mission, and as noted in a sign outside, it is still a vibrant living parish. The we returned to Lombadina and visited the arts and craft centre. I'd dropped in the day before and asked Aunty Caroline Sibosado behind the counter about the some prints hanging on the wall that were contemporary forms of traditional art created on mother of pearl shell, known as riji. She said she'd have to check in with the artist so I said I'd come back the next day.
Now the artist himself, Aunty Caroline's son Darrell, was there to talk to us about the process for making the prints as well as the story behind the print we were hoping to purchase. A Goolarrgon Bard man, Darrell explained it was actually one of three pieces that tell the story of a creation spirit / cultural hero Galaloong, who travelled the land of the Dampier Peninsula naming places and teaching culture and law to the people. The pieces were made during a visit at COFA in Sydney, where he translated traditional artistic style to machine cut steel plates and then created a small number of prints using traditional ochres. Darrell even took us into a back room to show us the plates that he used to create the prints, as well as other art pieces he was working on including a LED light installation which was super cool.
As we chatted to Aunty Caroline and Darrell we learnt just how talent the family was. Not only was Darrell an amazing visual artist, he was also an accomplished dancer, having collaborated with Bangarra dance company in Sydney. In addition, Darrell's brother Gary was also a renowned artist who created a gorgeous shell based collage that was displayed on the wall, which was also printed on a t-shirt I had bought for Josie the day earlier. I felt very fortunate to be able to be taking home something from such a talented family 😳.
After a successful art purchase, we visited the lovely rustic Christ the King Church, a nearly 100 year old bush-timber building made of local mangrove and bloodwood timber.
We hit the road and made our way to Pender Bay Escape, which had been recommended by a few people we'd spoken to in the last week. It was a bit more off road-y than we'd expected, but it definitely felt worth it once we arrived.
Unfortunately when we woke up the big winds that led to our boat tour being postponed had arrived and were whipping up a whole lot of sand and dirt. It was making things pretty miserable, and the thought of food prep in amongst it all was pretty unappealing. After some deliberation we decided to head back to Broome a night early, which also meant we wouldn't be up against the clock to get Frankie to the mechanic to finally get her 4th shock absorber installed. So we hit the dirt road to the highway and then back down south to the big smoke.
We woke up on Thursday morning still awaiting confirmation that the shock absorber had arrived, so we did some last minute shopping and sight seeing to distract us from the nerves.
Thankfully we got a call from Rod/Rodd the mechanic just before our appointment at 1:30 to say the part had arrived 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳. The relief was intense!! An hour later we once again had 4 working shock absorbers and felt much better prepared to continue on our adventures.
To celebrate I visited Nagula Jarndu Women's Arts and Resources Centre and made some very nice purchases 😝. I highly recommend checking out their website - I can't put a hyperlink here but its definitely worth the google. And then it was time for the rodeo!!
The next morning we got back on the road north to head back up to the top of the Dampier Peninsula to finally get to experience our tour of Sunday Island. More about that in my next post!