Australia seems to really enjoy the Easter holiday. It's not really a religious holiday here but rather a chance for families to get together and relax over a 4 day weekend.
On Friday, we headed down to the city of Fremantle for lunch. Fremantle is where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean. It was the first area settled by the British in Western Australia in 1829 and served as a military base and site where the British sent many convicts to live. Today it is a huge port where ships come from other countries with cars and sheep and other goods to sell. The locals refer to Fremantle as Freo. They shorten everything they possibly can!
Fremantle is a quirky town. I met this nice "man" on the walk from the car park.
This is one of the main strips in Fremantle. There are lots of restaurants here with both indoor and outdoor dining. It is sometimes called The Cappuccino Strip. A lot of Italians have immigrated to Fremantle and there are several excellent Italian restaurants here as well.
We chose a place called Soho for lunch.
A common drink here is a lemon-lime bitters. It is kind of like a lemonade and tea concoction. Quite yummy and refreshing.
A lot of quaint stores line the streets of Freo. I particularly enjoyed this little artist shop full of emu designs. They weren't open on Good Friday so I wasn't able to buy a t-shirt.
There are 5 universities within the Perth area. Notre Dame (pronounced like the cathedral in France and not the university in Indiana) is located in Freo. They wanted to establish a Catholic university in Western Australia and received a lot of help from the US university so they named the school in its honor.
Long ago, sailors would sail by Fremantle. It is a very long way away from other countries and they often had sailed through storms and rough seas and by the time they reached Freo, their ship masts would be damaged or broken. Lucky for them, they came ashore in Freo and found these lovely, tall, straight trees that made perfect ship masts. It's hard to see in a picture although you can kind of compare the tree to the street light, but these trees are crazy tall.
It's all about sailing and ships in Freo. Kinsey liked these anchors.
I thought these grass trees which are native to Australia were funny looking.
Looking out over the Indian Ocean.
We stopped at the oldest remaining building in Western Australia called the Round House. It was used as a gaol (jail) back in the early 1800s. It was closed for the holiday but we did get to see this cannon.
Not sure I would survive actually being shot out of a cannon!
Many families were at the beaches and there were several shark sightings throughout the day. Sharks are very common in the waters along the WA coast and helicopter patrols help keep people safe.
On Saturday morning, one of Kinsey's favorite indie bands was busking in Freo. Busking is performing along the streets or markets for cash. There are always lots of buskers in Fremantle. Mike Rosenberg sings in his band called Passenger (he opened for Ed Sheeran on his last tour so you may have heard of him). He was in Perth for a concert on Saturday night, but came out to busk at the Street Arts Festival in Freo. Kinsey, Cheryl, and I got front row spots. He's pretty popular and there were several hundred people listening to him within a few minutes.
It was very warm in the sun and as soon as Mike quit singing, he had to head to the shade. He's from Britain and not used to the intense Australian sun! No pictures because he was too hot and crowded but Kinsey got his autograph. He's in the background here wearing sunnies (sunglasses).
After that is was time to head home out of the sun for a rest!
Location:Fremantle, Western Australia
