Fremantle

Oct. 5th: Kevin and I traveled by train (subway) from downtown Perth to Fremantle, which is a beautiful suburb of Perth located right on the ocean. We had heard such good things about Fremantle that we just had to check it out! After walking around the little town for a bit, we had a nice pizza dinner at a restaurant and then did some grocery shopping. After heading back to our hostel, we happily discovered that every evening, the hostel shows a movie on a big screen set up in the lounge area. That night we watched “Pearl Harbor”.

The next day was our only day to explore Fremantle, so we were sure to get up nice and early. We walked around, saw a bit of the university, and headed over to the Shipwreck Museum. Here, of course, we read about many of the shipwrecks that have happened off the southwest coast of Australia. And there have been plenty! We also saw some artifacts recovered from these wrecks.

After a lunch of fish and chips, we headed to the Round House. This is an old stone building that used to be used as a jail back in the day. Also, many years ago, they used to fire off a cannon at the same time every day. This was used to let passing ships know the time so they could set their clocks to local time. This was important as many of the ships came from far away, like North America and Europe. So, because of tradition, they still fire off the cannon to this day! Only they don’t use gun powder anymore!

In the afternoon, we went to the Maritime Museum. This museum was very cool, as it talked of the maritime history of Australia, which is quite vast. There are many boats to view in the museum and plenty to read. We were also able to take a tour of a real submarine! This sub hasn’t been used since the 70s, I think, but it was very cool! Not every day you get a chance to board a sub.

That night, the movie at the hostel was “Matchstick Men”, which Kev and I both really enjoyed! We enjoyed our time in Fremantle, and looking back, I wish we could have spent more time there. We got a good night’s sleep that night because the next day, we headed south!

Hillary (and Kevin)

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Part of trip: Australia 2009

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