Day 102. Fremantle - Recovering. 21/08/2015

Raining again this morning but cleared up a little later.  Spent the morning answering emails and texts.  After we had a bit of sunshine, the awnings and mats dried out so we took the opportunity to pack them away as we will not be requiring them for the rest of our journey home.

A restful afternoon to prepare us for a journey ahead that will be full on as we head closer to the border and the Nullabor.

We had our last evening in Fremantle at a micro brewery down at the Jetty called “Little Creatures” with Ellen and Doug, Rod and Jude, Don and Heather.

Early to bed as the rain started again!

Day 101. Fremantle, The Big 70. 20/08/2015

Started the big day with grey skies and heavy rain. This is becoming all too familiar. However, the morning started to fine up and by mid morning we were bathed in sunshine again. I began receiving texts, emails, phone calls and a mail delivery from all my wonderful family and friends and that occupied my time, and to my surprise I had a mid morning visit from Judy and Terry and Ellen and Doug to share morning tea with me for my birthday.  

I never left the van all day which is the first time since we left home in May. I had a lovely day answering the texts and emails and returning phone calls whilst John attended to some “secret business”.

Later in the afternoon I had some very special time Face-timing with the grandchildren which was wonderful. I was able to tell them how thrilled I was with their beautiful hand made cards and special gifts they had made for me.

We headed off into Fremantle about 6.30 p.m. to make our way to our chosen restaurant for my birthday dinner - La Sosta.  

We were fortunate enough to have been set up in a room apart from the main dining area so the 12 of us were virtually on our own. John made a very moving speech and read out the text messages that the kids had sent me. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place!  We all had tears and it got very emotional.  However, I managed to pull myself together enough to say a few words on my “Fortunate Life”.
John had organised a lovely birthday cake for me that we had as dessert to finish off a beautiful meal that had been enjoyed by everyone.

I am so blessed to have had my family and friends share the night with me and know also that the thoughts of all the family and special friends back home were with me as I celebrated this very important milestone.  

I will have lasting, beautiful memories of my special 70th Birthday spent in Fremantle.

Happy birthday Wendy.

Us.

Ellen and Doug.

Judy and Terry.

Jude and Rod.

Heather and Don.

Neil and Sue.

She still looks sweet 16.

Day 100. Fremantle - Visit to Mandurah. 19/08/2015

Rain overnight, and this morning we started off with some showers then it fined up as we were leaving to collect Judy and Terry. We had decided to take a road trip down to Mandurah, and although John and I had been there before thought it would be nice to see it again with Judy and Terry.  John decided to take the “scenic route” and not the freeway as it would be a more interesting drive. He did his usual trick of going in and out of spots that looked interesting and although he won’t admit it, got a little lost, but we ended up at Mandurah in the end.
We drove around the very lovely houses, apartments and holiday resorts that surround the waterways. Everywhere we looked there were boats of all shapes and sizes moored at the private jetties on the waterways. Judy commented that it was like Venice and Terry piped up with “but without the smell”. He was not impressed with Venice on his last visit! 
We saw Hall’s Cottage, a Heritage listed cottage dating back to 1833 and also a very impressive War Memorial in a lovely setting at the waters edge. 

After our tour of Mandurah, we found a little cafe to have some lunch just as the skies opened up and pelted down with rain. A little sunshine followed, but on our journey back to Fremantle (this time on the freeway) it rained again and continued for most of the drive.
We returned to The Esplanade Hotel for Terry to have a much needed rest and we settled ourselves in the lounge to meet up with Ellen, Sue and Neil for a coffee and some “cous' time”.  It was a lovely get together and we had plenty to talk about and shared some laughter.

We returned to camp after dropping Ellen back at the apartment where she and Doug are staying with a promise to meet again tomorrow. 

Happy Hour was short and sweet tonight as it was cold and raining quite heavily and our warm dry caravans were beckoning.

The waterways at Mandurah.

The properties were luxurious.

The Mandurah War Memorial

The 1833 historic Halls Stone Cottage

Sister Judy, Sister-in-law Ellen and Cousin Neil.

Back at camp for a freezing happy hour.

Day 99. Fremantle - The World Heritage Prison 18/08/2015

A lovely sunny morning, so after laundry duties were completed, we drove into town to collect Terry and Judy from their hotel. We then drove the short distance to the W.A. Maritime Museum and left them there to explore on their own as John and I had visited the wonderful Museum last year. We had decided to use the time to do a Fremantle Prison tour. We had been told many times that it is a must see.

The Fremantle Prison is Western Australia’s only World Heritage listed building. It is perched high up on a hill overlooking the township and with a view of the harbour. A very impressive building that has a very remarkable history.

The first of almost 10,000 convicts arrived in 1850 as a labour force to help construct infrastructure for the Swan River Colony. One of their initial projects was to build their own home - the Convict Establishment later named Fremantle Prison. The prison took 7 years to construct and it must have been a massive undertaking as it was all manual labour and the finished prison is a huge 4 stories high. Over the years there have been a few major modifications to the original 1850 structure but it is the only prison of its kind still standing in its original condition. At its peak the prison held 1,000 males and 100 women and even children were imprisoned. The cells were very spartan and very small but over the years with changes in Superintendents, the cells became a little larger and the beds changed from hammocks slung on a wall to a bed, then the furniture in the cell was improved considerably. Interestingly, the bucket that was for use of the prisoner was still in use right up to the time of decommission of the prison in 1991. Of course, electric lighting was introduced in later years. 

We also saw the kitchens, exercise yards, the whipping post, the Church of England Chapel, the solitary cells and the gallows. The first person to hang was in 1889 and the last was in 1964. Several of the cells had some amazing art work on the walls that the prisoners had been given permission to paint.

A very interesting and informative tour.

We collected Judy and Terry at the Maritime Museum and then went for a very pleasant drive along the wharf then further along the Swan River to East Fremantle where we saw many boats moored or stored in dry dock. There must be a great deal of money here in Fremantle and indeed in W.A. as it appears that everyone has a boat and a beautiful home (or two)!

After dropping Judy and Terry back at their hotel, John and I walked to the nearby “Jetty” to join the idle rich lunching waterside and enjoying the beautiful sunshine. We had a wonderful Fish and Chips meal at Cicerello’s before returning to camp to prepare the Rabbit that we have been carting around since John shot it at Alice Springs. Don shared the meal with John and I must say, despite my best efforts the rabbit was tough and no amount of cooking would have changed the situation. 

That’s it, I don’t ever have to cook rabbit again, yippee !

The world heritage Fremantle Prison.

Some history.

Wendy can't wait to go to prison.

One of the 4 story prison blocks.

The daily routine for inmates.

Their ablution can they emptied every day (our equivalent of the pota pottie).

The exercise yard for prisoners - note the male urinal.

The netting saved many attempted murders.

Some details on the small cells.

The gallows and noose.

Some prisoners were allowed to paint murals on their cell walls.

They were very good.

A very picturesque Swan River - the number of private cruisers moored at the various jetties was incredible. 

Day 98. Fremantle. 17/08/2015

A night of rain, quite heavy at times but this morning when we woke it had cleared and the day was looking promising.  After breakfast and some check up calls on Ellen and Doug, Jude and Terry, I decided to take the bus to Fremantle to spend some time with Jude and Terry as they were not up to doing a great deal today after a big day yesterday. I left John to organise himself for a few hours before his planned trip to go fishing with Don from the beach nearby. 

I caught the bus directly outside the caravan park and found myself in the town very quickly, and alighted just a short distance from the Esplanade Hotel. 

Terry is quite weak and cannot walk too far, so we just strolled very slowly to a nearby cafe for a late breakfast for them and just  coffee for me. We then hopped on the Fremantle Cat, a free bus that tours around the town for a spot of sightseeing. We returned to the hotel for a much needed rest for Terry whilst I organised a light lunch for us to have in the room. 

A quiet afternoon as both Terry and Judy need to regain their strength because we plan to visit the Maritime Museum tomorrow morning. It is such a huge effort for Terry to fly over to Fremantle so I feel very honoured that he would do that so he and Judy could be here to help me celebrate my 70th Birthday. Each day now is very precious so we must enjoy our time together and make it memorable.

Ellen and Doug collected me from the hotel and very kindly drove me back to the park. John’s and Don’s fishing expedition was unsuccessful so no fish to put in the freezer.  After dinner tonight I did prepare some meals to freeze for our trip home across the Nullarbor.

   

Day 97. Fremantle. 16/08/2015

Another lovely sunny morning greeted us and it was great to be able to put on shorts and know we wouldn't be cold!  Set the G.P.S to take us out to Perth Airport and we arrived in plenty of time considering we thought we were travelling on the longest route!  Being Sunday it was a good day for an airport pickup as there was not a great deal of traffic on the roads.
Very exciting to see Judy and Terry arrive and after quite a long wait at the baggage carousel we set off for our trip back to Fremantle and the Esplanade Hotel where they will be staying for the next few days.
After unpacking and settling in we all needed to eat so we walked up to Cappuccino Strip to the bakery for a light lunch. Fremantle is just teeming with people all enjoying the lovely weather and the surroundings. I don't think there would have been an empty table in any of the many restaurants, cafes and hotels in Freo. We returned to the hotel so that Terry could have a must needed rest as they had been on the go for a number of hours.
John and I had a coffee in the lounge of the hotel that was entertaining people with "football food and drink" as they watched the Derby and whilst I was in the bathroom John, true to his usual form, chatted up a very lovely young lady with a Freo scarf around her neck only to discover that she used to live in Winmalee Drive just around the corner from us in Glen Waverley.  It is said that we are all connected by 6 degrees of separation and it gets proven all the time!
We returned to camp and John had a rest listening to the Derby as there was no television reception and I turned over a few pages in the book I'm reading.
Early to bed tonight.

Terry and Judy at the Esplanade Hotel.

Day 96. Fremantle. 15/08/2015

Decided to have a rest day with just a couple of cleaning chores.  A very beautiful warm, sunny day in Fremantle for us to enjoy. Drove to a car wash that turned out to be a very disappointing cleaning job as the hose was leaking and John ended up saturated and he was not happy!  Spent the rest of the day at camp awaiting the arrival of Rod and Jude, Don and Heather from their trip down the coast.  We cooked a roast pork dinner for all of us and we caught up on what each of us had been doing for the past few days.
Ellen and Doug are at Margaret River where they have spent the previous night after touring some of the wineries in the area and will be back in Fremantle later tonight.
Television reception is practically non existent so there is some disappointment in the camp at not being able to view the football.
Our new site with plenty of sun is a bonus with no bird droppings on the verandah it will stay clean  and dry quickly if we get rain. There are plenty of beautiful parrots that come into the park from the bush scrub looking for food and they are quite friendly even wanting to pay a visit into the van.

These yellow banded parrots were so colourful.

Our site in the sun was worth the effort after our move.