Fremantle

Hello,

I am currently quite annoyed, as I started this with the intention of getting some more photos up. Sadly, the computer doesn't seem to recognise the existence of my camera, and I've given up. Update- sorted it.

But anyhow.Today was the day of my trip to Fremantle, Perth's neighbour 'city', although it's a bit too small to count as a city in my opinion. The first part of the day was spent tramping up and down an industrialised area of North Fremantle trying to locate a particular road, being the meeting place for a future dive trip I have planned. Unless you have a fetish for Maersk Sealand cargo containers, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this as a way to spend your holiday, and I got tired and went back to catch a bus into actual interesting Fremantle. I just decided I would get a cab when the time came.

So by 1pm I was finally ready to be a proper tourist again with a trip to the market, where there were many things for sale that would have made perfect gifts. But I didn't fancy carrying them around the whole trip, so figured I would wait awhile. Although those didgeridoos were awfully tempting...

Next up, a trip to the 'Round house', the first permanent building in the Swan River Settlement (later to become Fremantle and Perth) and used as a jail. Make of that what you will. It was a perfectly nice little fort-like structure overlooking the beach.

I then ambled over to the Maritime Museum, which also has a tour around a submarine HMAS Ovens. I only had a short time to look around, basically an hour each, as all the above had actually chewed through a lot of the day. The submarine was so cramped. I think I am happy on my above water ships, thank you. Going through the process of escaping throught the hatch in case of the hull being breached was quite terrifying. Imagine having to stand in a hatch as the sea flooded in, then shooting up to the surface like a rocket, and I would imagine popping a lung on the way up.

The Maritime Museum had, well, a load of ships in it. Seems I can't get away from the things! I was looking over the fishing section, and the Aborigines had rather a sly way of catching fish, by putting traps in the water that flooded over at high tide, then at low tide the fish all got caught in so they could be caught eaasily. How lazy! And looking over the section about Australians fishing in international waters I had a horrible feeling of familiarity as I saw models of some Antarctic fish. Good ol' Champsocephalus gunnari and Dissostichus elegenoides, you follow me wherever I go. Bah.

Well better sign off now. I need my dinner

Steven

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