After the disappointment of yesterday, we arrived at Fremantle on schedule. The pilot came aboard just before 5:00 and we continued our journey into the port itself, eventually tying up around an hour later. During breakfast the announcement was made that clearance had been given so we went back to the cabin to gather our things and made our way off. Due to timings and the length of the visit, we decided to stay in Fremantle today and give Perth a miss. The weather forecast wasn’t great so we made sure that we had waterproofs in the bag as well as umbrellas.
Even here the wind was really strong as you can see from the flag.
We were off the ship by 8:30 with no specific plans other than to walk and explore. After grabbing a map of local attractions from the information desk in the cruise terminal, we set off towards the town centre and Fremantle Prison which was just a flying visit. All the guided tours and in particular the underground tunnel tour just didn’t work with our departure time so after a quick look at the free stuff we moved on.
There are plenty of old buildings in Fremantle and it was amazing to wander around noting all the dates, many of which were pre 1900 and built during the gold boom period.
Our exploring took us up and down many of the streets and the most notable being High Street which leads to the Round House. This building is Fremantle’s oldest public building and was originally opened in 1831 as a gaol.
For some unknown reason, Fremantle Market which again dates back to the Gold Boom are only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday so all we could do is view the outside. One of our highlights was the WA Shipwrecks Museum which was a fascinating experience. It contains lots of relics from ships that were wrecked along Western Australia’s coast. There is even a section of the hull of the Batavia which was a Dutch vessel that sunk in 1629 and there are loads of artifacts on display from the wreck in its own area in the museum.
I think we probably covered just about all the streets in the CBD before heading back to the ship. En route we stopped at the WA Maritime Museum which was vaguely of interest, it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the Shipwrecks Museum. I thought it was more of a display rather than a museum as such. Fremantle must have some amazing artifacts from it’s boom years but they weren’t here.
Back onboard for 3:00 and a quick bite to eat before retiring to the cabin and sit out on the balcony which was bathed in sunshine. So much for the weather forecast!!!
Sailaway was delayed by 30 minutes and we eventually set off for Exmouth before which will be after another sea day.
Fitbit Steps 23,466