Freemantle

No visit to Perth is complete without a visit to the nearby Freemantle. By just looking at the map, it appears that Perth is a coastal city, but it is in fact Freemantle that is along the ocean. The original settlement of "Perth" is the Freemantle port.

I wasn't really too enthralled with the popular destination. My nautical interests are slim to none and Freemantle did little to pique these scant interests. To me, all these port cities seem the same. It was a beautiful town though, even with all the docks. Apparently the night life is better; too bad I won't take the time to see it.

I visited the old Freemantle prison, but I decided to pass on all the tours. Much like freight shipping, the penal system is not too interesting to me. There is a late night ghost tour which I hear is fantastic, but none of them fit my schedule. Tasmania is supposed to one that is even better though, so I'll do that one in May. One tour that looked fun took tourists underground into the work mines under the prison; it was unfortunately, out of my budget (even by normal people standards). I visited a free gaol museum that was neat. The historian there sent me to Tasmania for seven months because I was an accessory after the fact for petty theft. Sadly, I had already booked my tickets for a seven day trip to Tasmania in May. Jetstar's super save tickets don't allow cancellations, so I had to eat the costs.

Seven months later, I headed back to Perth to meet with Jess's cousin Troy. We each had a little Creatures Pale Ale, a western Australian microbrew. It was the best beer I had so far in Australia. Actually, earlier in day, before even trying the beer, I stumbled upon the brewery, no tours though. Troy was a cool guy; we just gabbed for a while. So far, I've really liked everyone in Jess's family. He will be doing almost the same tour I am, only his starts tomorrow. (This was written a week ago, my tour really does leave tomorrow as it being published). I guess I can get some warning if it is terrible.

Later, I checked out the WA gallery of art. Most of it was a mixture of traditional western and aboriginal art. I forget the name of the featured artist, but he used western art language to show the oppression of the indigenous Australians. The paintings were good, but I didn't 100 of them to get the point.

My day ended with a barbie with Erin's family. You all remember Erin Watt! Oh the fun times. Her family seemed like good people. My ramblings of how much I love Australia were mirrored by Erin's brother's ramblings about the states. He only just returned from a month in Chicago. I guess we are all attracted to the exotic. It is always neat to meet the family of our exchange students. Often, it is union that is quite special. It is as if EF has made our family a giant worldwide network of great friends.