Freeo

Now this is more like the Perth weather we expected, blue skies and sun, after breakfast John and Jen are taking us to Freemantle to explore the old centre. The drive takes us along the coast past lots of beautiful beach front houses and apartments, everyone seems to be out today, walking dogs, cycling and going to the beach. The road goes past the modern container port and out on the skyline we can see the container ships queuing up to enter the port and unload or load up. A cruise ship and Australian aircraft carrier are also docked at the quayside.

Our exploration starts at the Round House, this was built in the 1830’s and was Western Australia’s first jail, it is beautifully preserved and situated on a bluff overlooking the bay. They apparently fire the small cannon at 1 o’clock every day but we’re too early to witness this ceremony. Our exploration takes us past the Esplanade Park and the Esplanade Hotel with the Harbour Master bar on the ground floor. It’s a lovely old original building beautifully restored and updated. There’s a covered walkway, an old veranda above and a huge open area inside. After a coffee we continue to Freemantle market which is full of people all jostling to look at the craft and food stalls. It’s so busy today it’s hard to stop and look at things and there is so much to tempt me! Dave strangely seems anxious to reach the food stalls and after several circuits of the stalls we settle on a Turkish wrap which is freshly made and cooked in front of us. This together with a large container of fresh fruit will be a very nice lunch. It’s far too hot to eat inside but outside there’s a high table in the shade and next to us is a young man playing a saxophone, just so relaxing. Outside of the market there’s lots of live entertainment with the programme of acts chalked on the pavement. The current act is doing tricks with a diablo and juggling, he’s very amusing. The walk back takes us down the very busy High Street past lots of beautifully restored old buildings. We finish our day at the Western Australia Shipwreck Museum which has lots of artefacts from shipwrecks that have been discovered around the coast including the hull of a ship.

This evening John and Jen are arranging a family BBQ with Cameron and Briellen, it’s great to meet them both and realise that some one else have a son who is as obsessive about Arsenal as Dave and our boys. The evening is filled with good food, chat and drinks watching the wonderful sunset develop, deepen in colour and eventually fade into night.