Skip to main content

Perth, Western Australia. Trip 2013 Highlights, Part 2: Fremantle

Fremantle: High Street view from the Round House.
Every trip to Perth, my partner, Enigma, and I try to plan at least a day in Fremantle together as our 'just us' part of the holiday. The port city is the one place we'd both choose to live if there was no other factors to consider about where we call home.

I personally like it for it's historic architecture and history but more so, it's proximity to great beaches and the fact it's still a working port. Container and holiday ships are always coming and going and serves as a constant reminder that there's a bigger world out there.

Not that I particularly want to explore that bigger world, it's more a metaphor for always thinking about the bigger picture. Looking beyond just your point of view. That kind of thing.

Anyhow, the purpose of this post is not to get all philosophical. This is all about how we spent our day in Fremantle.

Fremantle Tram Tours

Fremantle Tram.
Enigma had read about Fremantle's Tram Tours. The Trams themselves are replica 'Trams' that are more like a bus. They don't run on tram lines but they do follow the exact same circuit of six stops around Fremantle. The trams do eight circuits (during peak season) spread out over the course of a day meaning you can buy a ticket and then hop on and off different trams if you want to spend a little more time at a specific location.

Fremantle Gaol.
Now a Museum with Cafe.
Enigma and I chose to do the full circuit in one go. Other options include tours that also meet up with the ferry tour from Fremantle to Perth (and back) which will then meet up with the Bus Tour of Perth city. There's also a tram tour that includes lunch on the Ferry to Perth and back, meeting up with the tram again on the return and a Friday night Ghostly Tour. Prices vary depending on the tour.

The tram tour stops at six locations but as you go the drivers point out all the various historic sites and other points of interest, giving you a little bit of information about each.

War Memorial.
It's quite a nice tour but, to be honest, it does feel a little rushed with few opportunities to stop and take photos. Though if you planned your whole day around the tram tour and did hop on and off different trams you'd have plenty of time for photos and a good look around.

The Round House and Bather's Bay

After our Tram Tour Enigma and I headed up to the Round House which overlooks Bather's Bay (an ideal little beach to take small children or to just sit and relax).

The Round House (building on the right)
overlooking Bather's Bay on the left.
Old Whaling tunnel
running directly under
the Round House.
The Round House is Fremantle's first Gaol built on, what is mostly, a limestone rock hill.

The Gaol is now a museum that is worth exploring for the gold coin donation required to get in. However I usually visit this location because it has the best view looking over most of Fremantle on one side, then the best view looking out to sea on the other.

Many people have leaned along the rock wall, looking out over Bather's Beach, as the sun sets in the west over the years - including myself.

Fishing Boat Harbour Board Walk

The fishing boat harbour board walk is just over the other side of Bather's Bay and features many different restaurants and kiosks which overlooks where all the locals moor their boats.

Restaurants looking out towards Fishing Boat Harbour.
Enigma and I had intended to have fish and chips for dinner at Cicerello's, supposedly the best in the state, but it was too early so we settled for drinks and took the time to take a few more photos.

Bon Scott tribute Statue
at the Boat Habour.
Most notable to international visitors who may also be fans of the Australian band AC/DC is the statue of Bon Scott. The singer, as far as I know, is buried in Fremantle Cemetery, possibly in an unmarked grave now, as there used to be problems with fans stealing his headstone.

I'm sure the statue was built not only to pay tribute to Bon but to also take some of the focus away from his grave site. Since a photo with a statue of the legend is probably more desirable for all but the most hardcore of fans.

The statue is very life-like but at half scale (I'd say, at a guess). Which made me think he looked a bit Hobbit-sized in comparison to some of the other statues dedicated to fishermen, which are all life size. You'll definitely think "I thought Bon was taller?"

Market Street - Cafe Strip

After we'd explored the harbour we headed back to Market Street, otherwise known as Fremantle's Cafe Strip. Before looking for somewhere to have dinner, Enigma made a couple of stops to buy souvenirs for the grand kids and chocolate for us from Fremantle Chocolate.

The Cafe Strip its self features Alfresco Dining up and down both sides of the street from almost any culture you can imagine. Having been too early for fish and chips at the Harbour we looked for somewhere along the strip that could do a nice fish and chips.

Ali Baba and the
40 Dishes.
We settled upon a small Turkish cafe called Ali Baba and the 40 Dishes. Which, wisely offers a fairly standard fish and chips (I don't know, everyone just expects to be able to get fish and chips in a port city I guess so most places include it on the menu).

We weren't looking for anywhere too flashy but the strip has all levels of dining from small cafes and fast food to full table service and indoor dining. There's bound to be something to suit anyone.

Port Beach - North Fremantle

After dinner it was starting to get dark but there was just enough time for a trip into North Fremantle to show Enigma that Fremantle actually does have a proper beach in Port Beach.

Unfortunately it was too dark to get a good photo by this time but the image below gives you a reasonable view looking back towards the lights of central Fremantle and the port - where we'd spent our day.

Port Beach, looking back towards the lights of Fremantle Harbour.
Photo: Enigma.

TET Life Topics:

Comments

  1. Mum60May 30, 2013 6:26 PM

    Nice photos. The info about Fremantle is good, as I wouldn't know even though I live here! I'm going to send these two blogs to our Janet I think. I was supposed to be giving her an email about your trip with your tight itinary, but haven't managed it yet. Also the family photos to send, but only three with me on and not really all that good of me this time. Kathy took one of us all on her phone, which I was going to ask her to send to see if it was any beter?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated by an actual human (me, TET) and may not publish right away. I do read all comments and only reject those not directly related to the post or are spam/scams (I'm looking at you Illuminati recruiters... I mean scammers. Stop commenting on my Illuminati post!).

Buy Whimsical Cat Art Prints by TET (Redbubble Store)

Slide 1
Slide 2
Slide 3

Enjoy Your Favorite TET Art Up Close, Interactive, and so Relaxing!

Enjoy Your Favorite TET Art Up Close, Interactive, and so Relaxing!
Relax and Challenge Yourself with a Fun, Whimsical Cat Art Jigsaw - 30-1000 pieces. Click Image for More.

Popular posts from this blog

New Cat Art Collaboration: TET's Cats Paintings and OpenArt AI Model Workspace (Photobooth)

TET's Cats AI generated art trained on my own art style. Way back in the early 2000's I started painting stylized cat artworks to illustrate some cat themed poems I'd written, that I exhibited and sold online in an exhibition titled 'Sleeping Cats' in 2004. You can see all these early works in my Flickr Album . Many are also available to buy as prints in my RedBubble Store . Leading on from that I began selling my paintings on ebay where the cat themed works were almost guaranteed to sell over any other subject I painted. As a result I became some what known for my cat art to the point where people would commission me to create images of their own pet cats in my cartoony style. Flash forward a decade (almost two at this point) and I haven't painted any cat themed art in years. To be honest I haven't done any traditional painting at all in years. In the last couple of years AI image generators have really caught my attention. Specifically that they are able t...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

The Dukes of Hazard Movie - My Thoughts

The Dukes of Hazard is a movie that I wanted to see when it was released in 2005 but didn't because, well, I just didn't get around to it. Not only that but when I heard Johnny Knoxville and Jessica Simpson were in it my expectations were immediately lowered to "it's probably not going to be what I hoped it could be." Which is why I've never been pro-active about hiring the movie on DVD. Last night I saw it was being shown on free to air TV. I happened to have the time to watch, so I did. To sum up my experience... I didn't get fired up by the movie until I watched the 'bloopers' in the end credits. The Dukes of Hazard signature is the car. The General Lee flying through the air in some flat out impossible jumps. We know they're impossible jumps but they're just so cool you kind of want to believe the General Lee can do them. The point is, in the TV series, you never (or rarely) saw the General Lee not land safely and undamaged. Thus, seei...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Embarrassing Yourself with Doof Doof Music

Ever since Spinal Tap popularized the notion of turning an amp up to eleven audio systems have been rising to the challenge of louder, more awesome sound. In particular, car audio systems have embraced the notion of the bigger the noise the better the sound must surely be. What I'd like to know is, if these sound systems are so good, why do they make all music sound the same... Doof, Doof, Doof? You've all heard them. Pimped up cars, with audio systems seemingly worth more than gold, volume blasting way past eleven. Sound waves booming long before you make a positive visual on the car... Doof, Doof, Doof. It has to be the audio system right? Surely all these people can't be playing the same tune? Doof, Doof, Doof. Could it be that the more money spent on a car sound system the less musical range it will actually play? Maybe these people can't afford to buy music after purchasing the audio system so they all play the same demo track? Doof, doof, doof. In my own car I hav...
14 comments
Continue Reading »

Boom Crash Opera Born Classic But Not Again

Boom Crash Opera are an Australian Band that reached the peak of their popularity in the mid to late nineteen eighties. They are a band that I knew about at that time but was never really excited by until they released their ill fated double album Born and Born Again in 1995 (Album cover pictured). At the time of its release I was very much into emerging Australian musical acts and was also looking out for new sounds that were different and had kind of a futuristic/electronic sound. Artists that I was buying at the time included; Swoop , Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Its Self . As well as a really interesting release by David Bowie, the concept album, Outside . Born was a fairly radical departure for Boom Crash Opera (BCO). The first single, Gimme , was often compared to the sounds of Gary Glitter, particularly his single, Rock n Roll part 2 , because of the pounding drum loops. Watch the video below. My favorite single from the album is dissemble which probably went now...
16 comments
Continue Reading »

Review: ArtHelper - The All-In-One AI Writing + Marketing Assistant for Artists - 'ChatGPT for Artists'

ArtHelper prides itself on being all 'human-made' art. T he idea of an AI, trained specifically on art business marketing, that can not only offer advice on marketing your work, but also assist with creating all the content too, is certainly appealing. Especially to those of us who would rather spend more time creating our art than trying to sell it. ArtHelper does just that whilst attempting to be your 'home' on the internet. A destination for your profile and portfolio, a marketplace for your art, and a directory of artists as well, with one distinction - all the art must be human made. Which, for you AI artists, doesn't count the prompt for AI generated art - because the idea, according to ArtHelper's creators, isn't the art. Which is a fair point, in terms of promoting art 'made by a human', but can get kind of murky when you understand that not all AI art is generated from a single prompt... and 'found object art' isn't actually ...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Making the Ukulele Cool Again By Inventing One That Transforms Into a Guitar Mid-Performance

Mattias playing the Ukulele that turns into a guitar in ukulele mode. Y ouTuber,  Mattias Krantz , set out to solve one of the biggest problems with ukuleles, and that is, they are ukuleles. As he points out in his video they're one of the only instruments that people respect you less for the better you get at playing them. As someone who bought a ukulele because I wanted to learn an instrument, and I couldn't really afford a guitar (plus I found a ukulele that I think is pretty cool, but only in comparison to other ukuleles) you can imagine my interest would be really piqued by a ukulele that transforms into a guitar. Anyway, there is not much that needs to be said other than, a ukulele that transforms into a guitar isn't a thing you can just buy off the shelf, which is why Mattias set out to invent one. Nothing I say will be more interesting than just sitting back and watching his video below. It's a fascinating journey that I wanted to share and, maybe one day, eith...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »

Movie Review: Tomb Raider (2018) *Spoiler Free*

B ack in the 1990s I was a big fan of the Tomb Raider computer games. Aside from the obvious drawcard of the games female lead, Lara Croft, it was the only game back in the day that was a true 3D, third person shooter/adventure game. I wasn't a fan of first person shooters (though I played Dark Forces a lot at the time), I've always preferred computer games where you control a character on screen. Sadly I haven't kept up with the rebooted Tomb Raider games with more realistic graphics and game engine. While I did like Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider movies, she did make the character lean a little too much like a female James Bond, with her own tech guru who gave her wonderful toys. Recently I renewed my HBOMax subscription, and saw that the 2018 Tomb Raider movie, with Alicia Vikander in the title role, was soon to be leaving the platform, so I decided to watch it before it did. Obviously intended to reboot the franchise, in this film Lara goes on her first quest to dete...
Post a Comment
Continue Reading »