Fremantle, Western Australia, was the
ending port of the Top of Australia cruise and the starting port for this next
cruise along the southern Australia coast and the South Island of New Zealand. Today the ocean had a small ripple, the skies
were sunny, the temperature was 25 C and there was just a bit of wind.
Our ship excursion left Fremantle port,
passing the statue of C.Y. O’Connor, the man whose company removed the sandbar
at the ocean entrance to the Swan River.
We passed the old train station built in the late 1860s. The bus followed the waterside highway into
Perth. There were many sandy beaches and
a wide paved pathway from the Fremantle port into Perth’s suburbs. The water temperature is 21.5 C at this time
of year. Today, in Fremantle, was the day for an annual swim from the mainland
to an island that is limited to 2,500 swimmers and their support boats. The winning time is usually about 7.5 hours if
the weather is favourable.
Fremantle and Perth both started as free
colonies, not penal colonies. Perth is named after Perth, Scotland. In 1968
there was a damaging earthquake in the area. The drive to Perth took less than
an hour weaving through wealthy suburbs to get to Perth’s King’s Park. Most of
the houses were roofed with either red tiles or metal. Many of the properties
had planted Norfolk pines. Norfolk pines grow straight and tall and were used
to repair masts on the old sailing ships. King’s Park covers 1,008 acres along
the Swan River with over 50% of the land growing native Australian trees, bushland
and flowers. It is larger than New York
City’s Central Park. Also inside the park is the Western Australia Botanic
Garden and the State War Memorial commemorating the Western Australia
inhabitants who lost their lives in the two World Wars. From its location
overlooking the Swan River, there is a panoramic view of Perth and the Swan
River. There was also a café and a gift
shop containing many lovely good quality gift items. The next stop was at the new Elizabeth
Quay Barrack St Jetty at the Perth city center. Nearby was the Bell Tower
housing twelve 14th century bells, gifted to the city for Australia’s
bicentennial, which used to ring in London’s St. Martin in the Field church. Our
bus passengers and four other bus loads embarked on a 90 minute “Captain Cook” cruise
on the Swan River back to Fremantle. One of the beers available at the bar was
Matso’s Broome Brewery’s Mango Beer which was delicious.
The
Swan River is 4.5 km across at its widest point, between Perth and Fremantle
averaging about 2.5 km across, with an average depth of four to six meters.
James Sterling was the explorer who in 1827 found the Swan River. He founded
Perth in 1829 as a free colony, but in 1850 the Fremantle and Perth colony
realized that it needed workers for construction and requested criminals. In Fremantle, the criminals built their own
jail during the 1860s which was in use until the early 1990s. The prison was
built from local sandstone, contained three wells, one to supply water for the
prison, one for water to the ships and a well to supply water to the
townspeople. Perth is one of the world’s
windiest cities, with the wind getting stronger each day late in the
afternoon. As the boat moved toward Fremantle,
we passed King’s Park, clearly viewing the State War Memorial, Old Swan Brewery
buildings, now converted to residences, and more than half a dozen yacht clubs.
The most famous was the Royal Perth Yacht Club which was the home of the 1973
America’s Cup Yacht race winner, Australia II. There are also many multi-million dollar
mansions lining the river. One was last
sold for $57.5 million Australian which is close to the same value in Canadian
dollars. There were lots of pleasure
boats on the river with plenty of room on the river to maneuver. We had a clear view of the two Australian
Navy naval ships. The harbour opened in
1897 was dredged in 1987 to make it deeper to a depth of 16 meters.
Our bus was waiting for us at the Fremantle
river cruiser dock, about 600 meters from the ship. Fremantle has a well
preserved example of a 19th century port streetscape. The bus drove us around
the Fremantle historic harbour neighbourhood where we saw metal sculptures on
the beach, the Round House, the Maritime Museum, Fremantle Prison and the
Basilica of Fremantle. The Round House
is the oldest building in Fremantle built in 1837. The Fremantle Prison gallows
held its last hanging in 1962. We were
dropped off near the ship at a shopping area where we found a couple of bottles
of wine to take aboard the ship.
Back on the ship, the new passengers were
finding their way around the ship. There
are over 1,800 new passengers. About
1,200 people disembarked from the Top of Australia cruise. There was no welcome
Champagne
or complimentary lanyards offered today, as was the case when we boarded in
Sydney. We climbed up to the Windjammer
café on Deck 11 anticipating a nice soft ice cream, but again today the machine
was not operating. It was 27 C on the
ship, in Fremantle harbour, and the television reported that Perth’s
temperature was 36. We endured the 5
p.m. life boat drill which took about 30 minutes. We were assigned, at our request, a new table
for dinner. Bob and Maureen joined us at a table with cousins Cathy and Deb from Woodstock, Ontario and Ann
and Stan from New South Wales, Australia.
Again Ken and Jesse Boy were the serving staff. We ordered Smoked Fish Roulettes, Seafood
Soup and Spinach Salad as appetizers, then Mojo marinated grilled pork chops
with broccoli, parsnips and carrots and broiled Atlantic Cod with baked potato
and vegetables. There dessert was Carrot
Cake and Butter Almond ice cream.
After dinner there was no show so we walked
on Deck 5 a few circuits in order to get our daily step quota met.
Steps
12,178
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