Fremantle

  A slow start to the morning. The combination of a squally night, no pressing need to get up and a list of jobs to do swimming in my head made a lie in seem like a mighty fine idea. Good news to start with though. Nothing is getting wet at the moment so nothing needed to be dried. The tube of magic goo did the trick apparently, although we still have the other tarp over the top. The amount of wind we have had though I would have expected to be wet, so fingers crossed on that one. I also claimed my Father’s day breakfast today, since we had time, and a willing helper, now becoming quite expert for pancakes, and bacon etc.

The kids were then quite happy to sit in front of the box in the rec room while I patched airbeds and glued shoes and waited for the inevitable phone calls about the car. The less said about that the better. It was then lunchtime, before heading off on the bus into Fremantle.

Fremantle has an old and solid charm. It was obviously constructed solidly for a big expected future. There are many old and solid masonry buildings standing in a proud high street. The mercantile businesses related to shipping are now gone, replaced largely by boutique shopping, including some very dangerous wood galleries. We haven’t yet made it into Jarrah and Marri country, but we have reached the retail side. It is going to be very dangerous for the next couple of weeks. Other unexpected shops included a kimono and other Japanese items outlet, and another selling LPs and 78s. Either the big chains were absent, or I tuned them out, so it had a very pleasant feel.

At the end of the High Street is a limestone headland which separated, rather annoyingly, the town from the original harbour, so the first tunnel in WA was dug through it. Also there is Bather’s Beach, and one hardy soul was doing just that, in the cold and wind and rain. It was an old whaling station, apparently never hugely successful, but I’m not sure why. The rain chased us away.

The next stop was a rather fascinating museum of steam engines. The best part about this was it was run by enthusiasts, and most of the engines were running, albeit on compressed air rather than steam. Most of the engines had some relationship to shipping, many having been salvaged from ships in the area. The restorations were immaculate, and in many cases included clear panels so you could see the moving parts working. There were even some lovingly created scale models.

The main target in the area was the maritime museum. Shut on Wednesdays. Grrr. A look through the door showed what I suspect is Australia II standing proud in the middle, so we may go again tomorrow.

After a little more local exploration around the wharves we decided on a turn on the local free circuit bus. That took us to the Fremantle Art Centre. Built in an old asylum, it has been refitted to house galleries and visual arts working and meeting places. A rather grand old building, makes going mad look like a good option!

From there I had to collect the car, and the others went off to the Military museum, only to find it was closed by then as well, so it was back into town for them.

The exciting part of the day for me was to meet up with Shaun, my Best Man, now living over here. He has two children, Sophie, 6 and Xander, 4 that I hadn’t met. We had fish and chips at one of the iconic establishments down by the water. An hour and a half was nowhere near enough time, but it was great to catch up even for that time.

The rain squalls are still coming over. The annoying thing is that they are followed by a starry sky, only to pour again sometime later. That is apparently not unusual, and it has been a particularly dry winter for them, so the rain is really welcome to most. It shouldn’t slow us down tomorrow.