Around Fremantle
26th July, Fremantle, Australia
We did nothing at all yesterday. Well, that's what I meant to do - nothing. However, a lazy Sunday afternoon never seems to work out like that, as you tend to find lots of little jobs that you need to catch up on, and so it was that I spent the day doing washing, cleaning up the van (the first time Ethel has had a clean since making the huge journey across from Adelaide and around the south west) and other numerous odd jobs. By the end of my 'lazy day' I was knackered!
Today, though, we ventured out again and our first stop was just around the corner from the caravan park we'd been staying in. We called in to see a couple, Sharon and Dave. We'd never met them before, and I had only spoken to Dave for the first time last night, but we could be assured of a good welcome - Sharon is one of Ted's daughters (Ted as in 'Ted & Barbara' whom we stayed with in New Zealand and first met on a previous holiday in Turkey). "You must call in on Sharon and Dave when you get to Perth," Barbara had said, and so we did.
Very soon after entering the garden, where we made speedy aquaintances with the family dogs Mia and Colin, Sharon and Dave made us feel at home. We chatted over a cup of coffee and biscuits while the sun beat down on the back of our necks and baby Jess played with his toys in the garden. We stayed a couple of hours, exchanging stories (Ted's name was featured a few times!) before making our way into Fremantle's centre. Dave kindly escorted us in, leading us to a car park right next to the footy stadium, and gave us a brief orientation. Soon we went our separate ways, just doing a little bit of essential shopping and grabbing a late lunch. We only wanted a small snack, but the food was very filling - a club sandwich you could choke a donkey with, should one be in the vicinity, and an all-day breakfast that could take all day to polish off. This could be a problem, as Sharon and Dave had invited us back for dinner with them later in the evening! We walked some of it off around town, snapping a few pictures of Fremantle's attractive old buildings, and drove up to the Roundhouse, Freo's oldest building.
Fremantle Markets' building.
A boat's mast towers above the Roundhouse.
Dinner was, thankfully, a good few hours after our last meal and despite the efforts of Dave (head chef) in filling us up with some of the chunkiest, juiciest slices of roast beef, we did manage to clean our plates. A great meal was accompanied with some good TV: the final of Big Brother. Yeah, yeah ... I know it's not cool to admit liking these programmes, but we have kinda got into the Aussie show. It was won by a likeable man called Trevor who, after winning the $1 million Australian dollars, proposed to his girlfriend on live TV. What do you think her answer was?!
Jess chews on a teddy that we got for him in town, the smile belying the
pain his teething had been giving him for much of the day.
