048 - Fremantle & Perth (14/5/17)

Mothers Day greeted us and in true form, I was grossly under-prepared. Normally I can rely on some pipe cleaner structure from creche, some hand painted cards and $5 random gifts from Paddy’s Market at school to cover the requirements from the kids. But alas, none of that this time.

B’s present though? Choice of doing whatever she liked today! What a gift!!

We headed off to the Fremantle Markets which were open. I was a little speculative and expected something like the Vic Markets in Melbourne. Oh how wrong was I… A bustling hive of people, I’m not sure how they did it, but Freo Markets felt very much like a small town market with a diverse range of offerings of gifts, foods and nic-nacs.

I had worded the kids up to watch Mum’s actions and see if there was something that she liked, that we would sneak back and get it whilst she wasn’t looking. I had also worded B up to make it very known (i.e. exaggerated “oh how nice is this” style exclamations) so the kids could pick up on it. My plan worked a treat as B was treated to some very nice smelling soap and an aroma candle from Evie and James. Sam once again was his indecisive best but plenty of time up our sleeve.

The markets really impressed me, and it’s not normally my style.

Strike a pose....

With a little time left in the parking meter we did a lap of Freo main drag and noticed that the town was for more lively and upbeat than we’d previously seen. I’d account all the Mothers Day brunches and lunches to a fair bit of it, but overall, a great town.

Managed to catch this street performer who held most people's attention well. He was OK... but I set a pretty high bar for street performers based on others I've seen elsewhere around the world. The Kiwi accent lost him points... 

This is the second shop that we've seen James run. The other was in Magaret River and sold some very swanky shoes...

As we’d lined up our dinner plans in East Perth (more on that later), we’d decided to head into Kings Park for lunch and then onto the CBD and the Bell Tower for the afternoon’s entertainment.

Kings Park was heaving with Mothers Day BBQ’s and picnics, and even getting a park in such a large precinct proved difficult. Still, we managed to find a spot to have our very fancy Cheese and Bacon rolls from Woollies, and lazed in the sun whilst the kids played in the playground. Listening to the Freo/Tigers game on the radio, on the grass in the sun was pretty damn comfortable.

Before heading off, we stopped at the main lookout spot for a couple of pics of the CBD over the Swan River. An iconic shot I’d seen many times before, it didn’t disappoint. And will also hold a small little humorous anecdote also.

As we pulled into that carpark, it was the dying moments of the footy. For those not in the know, Freo won that game with a kick after the siren to David Mundy. We obviously had parked with it on the radio and windows down. After a couple of “ho ho’s” and “can you believe it” we got out of the car to notice two elderly gentlemen right near our car on a park bench. One bloke was smiling and the other was shaking his head… It turns out, that gentlemen, was a Tigers supporter and had been trying to avoid hearing scores and updates. And we had literally rocked up, and might as well have had the MCG scoreboard on the roof of our car… If his mate wasn’t laughing so much I would have felt really bad.

I know, you've probably seen it before, but really, it is rather spectacular don't you think?

On to the Bell Tower, I took the long way touring up and down the CBD streets such was my want. It was a throw back into a slightly familiar life where I frequented a ‘big smoke’ to commute. Perth is a clean and attractive city, but felt a little soulless on this day. Not surprising really, given it was a Sunday. And most people seemed to be at Kings Park or Fremantle Markets!

The Bell Tower is an impressive modern structure, not too unlike The Shard in London really. Lots of glass and visible structure, I do wonder how these buildings will be looked upon in centuries to come, if they are around. Think about all the historic buildings around the world…  they were all once ‘modern’ and we now look at them with a historic eye for style. Will the Bell Tower just be another style? Who knows, but it’s a pretty cool building nevertheless.

Nothing like some cranes to spoil a pretty good shot. Suppose I better get on with developing my photoshop skills?

We counted the 134 steps from the bottom to the top of the view platform, which slightly disappointingly is only 6 stories up the Tower. The Bell Tower houses quite the collection of bells, including the oldest one in existence in Australia. This bell, made around 1550, was actually rung to welcome Captain Cook back into England on his return from ‘founding’ Australia. Just think about that for a minute…

121... 122... 123...

This bell is 467 years old. These boys sometimes make me feel that old.

B getting in on the Panoramic shots... Nice

I don't know what was so funny, but I found this shot on B's camera when downloading them. This is the real James smile, not that rubbish fake one he puts on when we ask him to 'smile'.

The impressive bells in the bell tower. Some of these babies are a few centuries old and still in use. The big daddy in the middle of the shot weighs a tick over 1100kg... Boom!

Strike another pose...

Up on the observation deck, we found a musical set of bells which, for a gold coin donation, you could get to play a tune off a list of prescribed tunes on a PC. It was here Sam came to the fore and provided his Mum with a lovely tribute for Mothers Day, much to the confusion of others. Not wanting to play the cliché “Waltzing Matilda” or “Advance Australia Fair” or the like, I pointed him in the direction of the traditional songs section where we found the famous Welsh song “Men of Harlech”. Once B clued on what it was playing (a little obscure at the start) a huge smile came across her face. I think Sam nailed that present…

For those not in the know of Men of Harlech, I steer you towards the following clip from Zulu, the tale of the Battle of Rorke's Drift. Quite the film...

With the rain clouds starting to circle and wind picking up, we dashed for the car and headed for our dinner date. Prior to that however a quick stop at another supermarket to pick up some desserts and give Poss a quick Mothers Day call from her #3 son. It was nice also having the call on Bluetooth in the car, so the kids could also wish her a happy “Nanna Poss Day” too.

So from there, we headed out to meet up with an old High School friend Liz Vuletich (nee Morton) and have dinner with her, her hubby Paul and her lovely daughters Scarlett and Charli. I haven’t seen Liz since I left Alice Springs in January of 1997, so a tick over 20 years. But like true Alice friends, it was like it had only been a couple of months (well to me) and we managed to while away a few hours easily before bedtime routines for both sets of kids pulled the pin on an evening.

Whilst our kids watched Moana together happily, we enjoyed a lovely homecooked meal in a REAL house made in a REAL kitchen with REAL pasta and (hopefully) with REAL love! As much as I love our nomadic lifestyle, nothing beats a homecooked meal and this was one of the best.

Liz and Paul have a beautiful little crew, and threw much adversity and difficulty, have managed to fashion themselves a life they should be so very proud of. Of all the things that I was expecting to derive inspiration from whilst on this trip, the life of an old friend wasn’t something at the top of the list. I can only wish them all the best of luck with their upcoming endeavours and developments and hope that they work out as well as possible.

And as we dashed to the car to dodge an amazing downpour, I felt enriched for once again igniting old memories and friendships. My only disappointment was that we didn’t take a photo of us together to mark the moment. Oh well… another reason to come back I suppose!

Back at Woodman Point in Freo, the wind had really picked up and B and I decided to bring in the awning before the van decided to take off and land in Oz.

I rounded out the evening doing a couple of random laps of the caravan park, trying to get the steps on my FitBit up. I’ve got a little challenge going whilst on this adventure to see if I can get to 10,000 steps each day. Most days, even the big car days, have proven to be quite simple, and often achieve without trying. When we got back to the van tonight though, I was still in the high 8000s….

So, there I was, just a weird Victorian walking around the park in the dark, wind and (relative) cold, reading updates on his phone…

Mission accomplished though…