Fremantle

25th-26th  September

After a couple of days in Perth we made our way to Fremantle and we both liked it instantly.  What a lovely atmosphere it has.  The old buildings are just beautiful and there's a bit of history here too.

The Round House is WA's oldest building and was used as a gaol before the arrival of convicts.  We were able to go into a couple of the old cells, barely big enough for 2 people but which at times held 6!  It's right near the signalling station, where a welcome flag is still raised for visiting ships.

Outside the Round House

Inside the Round House, with the signalling station outside

  

We spent ages in the Shipwreck Galleries museum, which contains heaps of relics from various WA shipwrecks.  The Geraldton Museum had a couple of canons from the "Batavia", along with bricks, coins and individual items but this gallery holds the pieced-together planks from the hull of the ship.  This was pretty exciting, having read the story of this shipwreck and mutiny.







The Maritime Museum was great too - we visited there the next day.  One of the main exhibits is the America's Cup-winning yacht from 1983, Australia II.

Again there was a lot of history displayed in here.

Cappuccino Strip in Fremantle

Greg James' sculpture studio was an interesting
visit, especially as we got chatting to him about
the techniques he uses.  It's quite a process!  He
does them in bronze.

We spent a couple of hours at the Fremantle Market yesterday,
which was fun.  It was a lovely warm day so we bought some
delicious food to eat out in the courtyard.

Just one of the many really good stalls - watermelon shoes, among others

After spending up at the market, Phil had to take
to busking!  (Okay, just kidding)

We feel like we did heaps in Fremantle, there's so much to see and do.  With rides on the CAT buses we got to see all over the town but mostly we walked.  And walked.  And walked.  Oh yeah, we did ride on the ferris wheel!  I've never been on one believe it or not, so we thought it was a good thing to do on my birthday.  We had great views over the harbour and it was fun.

Being my birthday we thought we'd better have "happy hour" and where better than in our faithful troopy.  Pink bubbly, nibbles, a candle, Phil's rendition of Happy Birthday ... great fun.

 And that brings us right up to date.  We ended up driving through to Mandurah last night and the weather's very wet and very windy.  So rather than keep heading towards Bunbury this morning, we're in the library where it's light, bright, quiet, full of books and free fast wifi.  We have to do our tax so will get onto it before hitting the road a bit later on.