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Published: November 18th 2007
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Day 217 (28.10.07)
After our eventful night we gave up on the idea of sleep for a bit and went to get some breakfast after which we decided to try and get an hour or so of shut eye before heading to Fremantle our next port of call. Here we would meet up with Ozzie from the Gibbon Experience, back home to earn some money for his next adventure.
Thankfully we were able to get a little kip but unfortunately we overslept and were late in arriving to meet up with Ozzie. However it turned out that he'd done the same and we arranged to meet up later in the day.
We checked into a hostel based in a converted fire station and with a much friendlier feel to it. Once settled we set out to explore the town. Fremantle is a pretty, seaside town with gorgeous buildings and packed pavement cafes and the perfect place to have a relaxed Sunday stroll - about all we could manage today. We visited the Round House, once used as a prison, and watched the time ball and canon go off at 1pm, apparently a tradition to help mariners set their
clocks.
We then walked over to the harbour area to drool over some yachts in the dock and to visit Little Creatures. This restaurant/brewery/bar is in a large warehouse on the dock, brews and serves its own award winning ales and we felt it was a must-visit! We joined loads of locals enjoying a beer in the sunshine, obviously a popular weekend haunt - we could see why!
Our walk around town finished with a visit to the Fremantle markets and we headed back to our hostel to relax for a bit before meeting Ozzie in the evening.
After a bit of a wait (Ozzie had not yet changed his watch for daylight saving, yes, when England goes back an hour, Australia goes forward) we went down to the quay for a Great British favourite - Fish and Chips. We had been told that Fremantle was one of the places to get it and we were not to be disappointed.
Heading into town for a couple of beers we tested some more of the local home made ale (seems like a local tradition) and had a great night catching up and chatting travelling stories.
After
a great evening and having not had proper sleep for around 48 hours we fell into bed and fell asleep as soon as our heads touched the pillow.
Day 218 (29.10.07)
Waking a bit later than expected we made a brunch of fried rice (our taste buds are still in Asia!) before taking a walk over to the local Maritime Museum and their 'flag ship' a huge Navy Submarine, HMAS Ovens. Booking on a slightly later tour we had a bit of time for a walk before meeting our guide, a lovely little fella who had served for over 30 years in the Navy of which it seemed his favourite time was with the Submariners.
It was fantastic going around the sub getting a real taste of what life is like on an operational vessel. This was made even more fascinating by the stories and information from the guide, an excellent and eyeopening tour.
After bashing our heads a couple of times (well Mark anyway) we left the museum to meet up with Ozzie again before he was due at work. Taking another walk through Freo' (check us out getting involved with the local lingo) we
ended up at Ozzies house for a quick drink and to pick up some camping gear he was lending us for our trip to Rottnest Island. After checking the tent we discovered that all of the pegs were missing and checking tent number two in the house, Ozzies brother's, we found that the peg disappearance was a family thing and that this one also had no pegs ... Ah. With this in mind we decided that Ozzie needed a prezzie of some new tent pegs and we would pick some up on the way into town. Problem solved.
Not only was Ozzie lending us his camping gear, but he had also mentioned he had an old mobile that he no longer needed that we could use. Thanks fella, you've been very kind. Packing that with the bags of camping kit we walked with Ozzie back into town. Leaving Ozzie to go to work, we went on a hunt for tent pegs and a new SIM card for the mobile. Successfully back in the land of communication and with the ability to anchor our tent we went to the local supermarket to pick up some bits for our ever growing
food bag.
Back to the hostel we were starving and went straight to the kitchen to cook dinner. An evening chatting and watching a bit of a table tennis tournament later, we packed everything for our forthcoming camping trip in the morning.
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