Fremantle

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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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Photos

Train
The train/subway from Perth to Fremantle.

Hostel
The common room in the hostel. Movies were projected on the wall on the right.

Pizza
Hill and I enjoying a nice night out and a pizza dinner!

Shipwreck Gallery
The outside of the Maritime Museum - Shipwreck Galleries.

Shipwreck Gallery - 2
Part of an old shipwreck. The arch in the background was actually cargo for this sunken ship!

Town
A town map to help you get an idea of where we were.

Town - 2
Fremantle felt a lot like a shipping town with its older architecture.

Round House
It's not exactly round. More like an octagon.

Round House - 2
Each these rooms were basically jail cells.

Round House - 3
Instead of actually shooting a canon ball, they put a firecracker type explosive in the canon and set it off at the appropriate time.

Maritime Museum
Definitely a nice modern museum.

Submarine
Actually going through a submarine was an awesome experience!

Submarine - 2
A few details on this impressive submarine.

Submarine - 3
View of the top of the sub.

Submarine - 4
Not much room to roll around in bed. Not to mention you're strapped in too.

Submarine - 5
This tiny kitchen and its cook needed to feed the entire crew of the sub! That was as much as 60 men!

Submarine - 6
Plenty of dials and gauges to keep a constant eye on.

Submarine - 7
Only the most state-of-the-art equipment around here.

Submarine - 8
The torpedo, a submarine's primary weapon.

Maritime Museum - 2
There were a lot of huge racing ships to check out in the museum.

Maritime Museum - 3
Me checking out the overhead view of the submarine outside.

Maritime Museum - 4
Not your grandfather's missile.

Town - 3
Since Fremantle is at the mouth of the river that leads to Perth, it's one of the biggest ports on the west coast.