Fremantle – February 25 & 26

Fremantle – February 25 & 26

We were in Fremantle (Freo, as the locals call it) overnight so we all assumed that we would have 2 days; one for Fremantle and one for Perth. It didn't actually work that way – we docked about 4:00 pm on the 25^th and left at 3:30 pm on the 26^th so it really was just a day. A lot of people got off immediately when they cleared the ship, but we decided to skip taking the train into Perth and explore Fremantle the next day.

We were up early Tuesday morning and off the ship about 9:15 – that's early for us [smile]. We took the trolly from the port to the city center. First stop was a haircut for Jim – he loved the real barber shop with old fashioned barber chairs. He said he couldn't remember the last time he had a barber cut his hair. Then we just headed off walking down one street and up the next. Great old buildings! They must have good preservation regulations. There was a huge Victorian painted lady style house I wanted to bring home... just my kind of house. We stopped at a little cafe in the Esplanade Park and had a coffee and then continued the wandering. I did get three small stuffed animals; koala, kangaroo and a wombat. They can live on the little table outside my office with the penguins from Antarctica; I figure those guys needed some new friends. We beat the mad rush back to the ship and even had time to get q quick bite of lunch before the buffet closed. Then we just sat out on the balcony until we had sailed out of port, then the sun started coming in our side of the ship... to bright and hot for me so I came in and doodled a bit.

I really enjoyed Fremantle, but I have to admit that I'm glad it is our last port in Australia. We are now headed to Bali and I'm looking forward to some more exotic ports.