We gained another 5 degrees in temperature today. I shouldn’t be surprised as we are heading back to the Equator.
I took the “Tale of Two Cities” tour, as Fremantle is the industrial port city that supports Perth. Fremantle is the ocean port. However, the harbor stretches into the land where Perth is on the far end. The harbor is not very deep, so only small passenger boats run in the interior.
After the Dutch was found nosing around, the Brits established Freemantle as a free colony in Western Australia, as opposed to penal (is there anywhere the UK didn’t ship prisoners to?). The sandy soil did not easily support agriculture, so many colonialist returned to the UK. That lead to a labor shortage, forcing the Freemantle leadership to actually request prisoners to be shipped to them.
Thus, the first permanent building in the colony was the prison, called the “Round House” due to it’s design. It housed the prisoners as they built their own full-time prison. To be honest, I call into question the need to penal labor when the first thing they build is the housing for them, but what do I know?
They have a small cannon facing the sea – actually the Indian Ocean – where it’s fired every afternoon.
Like in Esperance, many of the original buildings have been converted to art studios. Here a photography store offers a port hold as a frame. PS: “Freo” is Aussie shorthand for Fremantle.
Leaving the Round House we had to wait for a passing train (our guide said she’d never seen one here before). What attracted my attention was the track sprinkling system.
I was confused before finding this sign.
We then visited the Fremantle War Memorial for a quick photo stop.
The central memorial is surrounded by smaller, specific ones. There was a large torpedo nearby. Seems the US Navy based submarines here during WW2.
Our bus went north then east to get to central Perth. From the distance it looks like any city. We dashed thru downtown (interrupted briefly by a police escort of the Australian Women’s soccer team) and stopped across from Perth Stadium and the striking pedestrian bridge. The bridge crosses the Swan River, so the idea for the for the suspension arches to represent white and black swans.
PS: when the term “football” is used here it means Aussie rules, not soccer.
We returned downtown to Elizabeth Quay, and lovely garden spot supported water taxis across the harbor and small shops. Within is a unique looking bell tower. My picture does not do it justice, but bells sound quite nice.
We finished the day by visiting Kings Park, just south west of Perth. It gives a fantastic view of Perth and the harbor.
Elsewhere in the park there is (yet another) war memorial and flower garden.
We enjoyed a relaxing bus ride back to the ship. They navigated thru some of the nicer neighborhoods, which overlooked the harbor. There were an interesting mix between classic and modern architecture.