Freo cameo

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The flight and arrival into Perth was non eventful…exactly as you would anticipate with both Emirates flights under the command of South African pilots,one of whom gave his captain’s message in Afrikaans(still steeped in SAA tradition?).Apart from the odd masks adorning the faces of orientals in Dubai,it was clear from our first step onto Australian soil that they are not taking any chances with swine flu.Infra-red,flu seeking cameras homed in on all passengers entering the arrivals hall.Luckily Sue wasn’t having one of those troublesome “fifty something” hot flushes otherwise the Aussie swine flu SWAT team would have swung into high alert mode.The Aussies are paranoid about keeping all things “foreign” from entering their country so one’s baggage gets as much,if not more,scrutiny on arrival than pre loading onto an aircraft.Apart from filling in a card asking you all the right questions about carrying food,plants,insects,animals etc., the bags all go through their final scanning purge.Australia is blessed with an abundance of their own stash of many of the things they want to keep out and our bags went through still tightly packed in SA’s own unique anti theft stretch film.Fremantle(better known as Freo)is a fascinating, smallish harbor town stuck onto the southern rump of Perth.If you were to remove cars and all things modern you could easily be looking down on Freo as it was in the late 1800’s.There is a strong colonial feel to the place with many buildings the original,first generation article.For example,the Freemasons Hotel built in 1854 is still in immaculate condition and for good measure has a rectangular parapet on the top floor from whence one surmises the revelers would have gathered to fight off any menace threatening happy hour.Durban must have looked the same in the mid 20th century and I guess our propensity to knock down and rebuild is the reason why we haven’t preserved our colonial architecture.In Freo’s case,being located so far from mainstream Australia on the east coast probably meant that the knock down and redevelop mentality didn’t get any traction due to lack of funding.Just too damn far from anywhere!There are many historical buildings beautifully preserved and this seems to shape the mood of Freo which is seriously laid back and apart from the busy stores,no one seems to be rushing around in “Hey,I’ve got a job” mode.Trend spotting in Freo threw up a few surprises……firstly,if there were ever a “Teletubbies” reality show globally to locate the country with the most fatties,Australia,judging by what’s going on in Freo,will move swiftly through the early “rounds”.Time magazine a few years back reported on Australia’s growing obesity problem…well,they were spot on and few in Freo read the article.Public transport is a delight with a very good “hop on,hop off” bus system which is free.Bus spotting is most times fascinating and we did have a “dinkum fella” hop on,face the passengers and gurgle forth some strange Aboriginese story.Mild alarm developed in the bus with anxious glances towards the exit doors but our man either lost his way on the story or went walk about in his mind as he abruptly stopped and calm returned.

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Comments

[Sally Tucker]

Hello from Durbs
Hi keep those blogs coming thro', look forward to some pics soon all well here - love to Sue