Fremantle - Market, prison, cannon, shipwrecks, beer and art

Howdy partners,

It is Friday and this means it is my first day off for the week. HURRAY!

The evening before Cécile went to a get-together of French mothers from around Perth. A friend of hers needed a babysitter for this evening, so I stayed there for four hours while the kids were sleeping as the father was away for work. The money I got for the babysitting suited me very well for my daytrip to Fremantle, the harbor city of Perth. In the morning Cécile dropped me off at the Canning Bridge Station where I took a bus to Fremantle. It took about 35 minutes to get there. I arrived at 9am and went into the city center, past this Town Hall and into the Visitor Information Center.

 

I got a map and some more information of what is worth visiting and then I headed for the Fremantle Market which is only open from Friday to Sunday. It is a nice but small market. Not comparable with theQueen Victoria Market in Melbourne.

 

At 9:45am I walked the 5 minutes to the Fremantle Prison and took part in the 10am ‘Doing Time’ tour. The guide spoke very fast as if he learned all the information word by word but in the 1 hour and 15 minute he gave us a very detailed description of the life in this prison and it was sometimes disgusting, stunning, shocking and depressing to see and hear how prison life has been just 23 years ago (the prison closed in 1991 after 136 years of use). It is the only built World Heritage listed site in Western Australia (WA).

 

Quite a few funny stories as well. For example in the prison church (Church of England) you can have your wedding if you want… and actually they have about 6 weddings per year. Who wants to get married in a former prison church? Apparently ex-prisoners…

 

We went through the kitchen, some of the yards and the cells, we had a look at the artwork and the separation cells until we arrived in the execution room where 44 executions have taken place.

 

  

After the tour I was very glad to be outside the prison again and wandered into the Prison gallery. This is full of beautiful art pieces created by prisoners.

 

At 11:45am I went back to the market for lunch and chose some seafood paella. There were also some animals of a Wildlife Zoo for the kids to touch.

 

At 12:30pm I headed to the roundhouse the former prison of Fremantle for Australian prisoners and behind it is the cannon which gets fired every day (except Good Friday and Christmas Day) at 1pm. Today two Melbourne girls were allowed to trigger to cannon. Very loud. This reminded me of the cannon firing in Edinburgh. Apparently this practice is common around the world especially in ports.

 

Then I went through a tunnel under the roundhouse to the very small and unspectacular Bather’s Beach.

 

Nearby is the oldest building of Fremantle which now houses the Shipwreck Gallery. It is about shipwrecks on the Western Australia Coast and especially about the Batavia and some Dutch shipwrecks. The museum is very proud about its work and there is quite a bit to see.

 

It was 2pm when I decided I deserve a beer! I went to the Fishing Boat Harbour and into the local Microbrewery of Little Creatures and ordered a Pale Ale and sat outside.

 

My opinion: not again, way to bitter for me. At 3pm I set off with the FREE blue CAT bus to the Fremantle Art Center but unfortunately most galleries were closed as the next exhibition (‘Chicks on Speed’) was about to be opened the next day. 

So not much to see there and I went back into the city where I explored a few more other streets like the Cappuccino Strip. Named due to all the cafes and Italian shops dotted there. And so at 5pm I was very tired, my feet quite worn off but happy to have fulfilled my ambitious plan for the day I headed back to Manning. Sébastien said I shouldn’t have done all in one day, so I could go back and see more things but why go back to the same place again and again when there are many other places to see? Because my next stop is already planned: Rockingham and Penguin Island!

Yours Fremantle-speed-sightseeing Stefanie