045 - Fremantle (11/5/17)

It was a day out in Freo today as the weather forecast was for “screamingly awesome good weather”.

We found a park in the city, and as per usual with most towns, made our way to the information desk. I must admit, this is one resource I’ve previously under-utilised. Pretty much every time we’ve gone to one, we’ve found a little gem, or at least had our plans for the day confirmed as good ideas.

Also, they generally have very useful maps that have attractions and handy things like toilets and picnic benches on them. I’d be interested to see what the one for Melbourne is like, as it’s never occurred to me to check it out.

The day pretty much consisted of strolling the beautiful streets of Fremantle admiring period streetscapes, enjoying the attractions and seeing what was around the corner.

It was like a Bendigo/Ballarat on steriods. Brilliant facades and buildings.

In a gratuitous display of laziness (and a thinly veiled plot to try and catch up on posts) I’ll let the photos do most of the story telling this time around, but highlights were:

Whalers Tunnel – A tunnel under the Round House to allow the whalers of yesteryear to drag caught whales under the coastal hill rather than over it to be processed.

Round House – The oldest building in Western Australia, ironically a prison. Was run by volunteers today that allowed the kids to play in the stocks, ring the prison bell and even offered to lock them up so B and I could have a day to ourselves… Sounded like a pretty sweet deal to me.

I need a set of these in the van...

Fremantle Waterfront -  Beautiful done precinct housing various resteraunts, the Bon Scott statue, the Little Creatures Brewery and a skate park. I reckon we could have spent a few days down here rather than the paltry few hours we gave it.

The steely determination of James... Like MJ, tongue out

Took quite a few of Sam getting some "rad air". This was the pic of the bunch.

Evie, trying her best to get air. She's quite good on the scooter, but it really is like a baby giraffe on a scooter... 

Mucking around with filters on the (old) phone. Didn't mind how this one turned out.

The Great One. The One. The Only.

Bon.

The WA Museum Shipwreck Galleries – This was one for Sam after we saw the story of the Batavia covered by the family touring around the country in the Big Lap DVD. It came recommended also and didn’t disappoint. A fascinating place that details the history of shipwrecks that litter the WA coast over the years, including artifacts and the processes involved in salvaging and documenting the wrecks. But the crowning jewel however is that it hosts the remainder of the Batavia, a ship that was sunk off the WA in the 1500s. In the biggest temperature and humidty controlled room I’ve ever seen, you can see the remaining part of the wreck, and read about the incredibly brutal and horrific tale of its crew of mutineers. I could detail in this blog, but I’d probably get the stats and facts wrong, so better to read about it here if you are inclined…. At any rate, a fascinating place we could have spent much much longer at.

Even the building is impressive....

Self closing doors to ensure constant temperature and preserve the wreck as much as possible.

It might look like a big bit of driftwood, but to think that this was once part of a splendid Tall Ship, sunk on a reef up the coast, left on the bottom of the ocean for centuries, and then recovered and painstakingly restored, is quite remarkable. The WA Museum presents the story amazingly well.

No pictures exist of Batavia, unsurprisingly given it was the best part of 500 years ago, but this is a small model of what they believe the ship looked like.

A bit of the story...

One of the cannons recovered from the Batavia wreck. It was found with it's protective cap on, and as such still loaded. It's firing paraphenalia can be seen in the glass box behind Moo.