Freo

Fremantle, Western Australia, or, as the locals like to call it, 'Freo', is adjacent to the perhaps better-known city name of Perth. Fremantle harbour is the port for Perth and is located where the Swan River meets the Indian Ocean. It was first settled in 1829 while Perth proper, which is located much further inland up the Swan River, didn't gain city status until 1856.

We'd initially hoped to spend quite some time at Fremantle in Gjoa, but, Gjoa is still further up the coast at Carnarvon for the moment. So, when we had a day left after selling our van before flying out, we decided to play tourist for the day and pay Freo a visit.

It was a lovely place in which to while away a few hours. The business district is very welcoming with many excellent coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores and bakeries housed in pretty historic buildings.

After a fine breakfast, we headed down to the waterfront. There are a couple of distinct areas. The historic waterfront is known as 'the bathing beach'. This is where the settlers were first landed in Fremantle and initially settled.

A little further along is a newly refurbished fishing harbour area with restaurants, amusements and street art installations.

We enjoyed visiting both the WA Museum Shipwreck Galleries and the Maritime Museum.

Viewing what's left of the shipwrecked Batavia and its cargo was stunning, learning about the horrible mutiny and horrific massacre associated with the wreck no less so. The stone arch in the photo below was part of the cargo destined for the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and was to be a welcome arch for the city of Batavia (Jakarta). There were many other fascinating relics on display.

The Maritime Museum was no less interesting. We were intrigued by the sailboat, 'Parry Endeavour' displayed there.

We've only recently learned of Jon Sanders, a true Australian (and world) sailing legend. He has just returned from his tenth circumnavigation of the world and we missed meeting him by only a few days when he arrived in Carnarvon shortly after we left. Parry Endeavour was the boat in which he completed his single-handed, non-stop, triple circumnavigation. The Guinness World Book of Records cites this as "the longest distance sailed non-stop by any vessel" (71,023 nautical miles). He spent 657 days, 21 hours and 18 minutes continuously at sea, completing three non-stop solo circumnavigations. I cannot imagine this length of time spent at sea, it's almost two years! The boat did have its fibreglass strengthened before departure and some keel adjustments made, but, for all intents and purposes, it looked just like an 'ordinary' fibreglass boat, nothing special. A closeup revealed the incredible wear and tear and also some pulpit damage.

Jon has a blog where he states his motto is: "Why be ordinary when I can be original!" His last entry talks about (bold emphasis is mine) his arrival into Carnarvon, where Gjoa is now. He also describes the coastline around Shark Bay and the local wind conditions, all very true as we've experienced recently!

"Shark Bay is situated on the mid-west coast of Australia. Windy! Trust me, it is windy. Especially in spring and summer (near enough – blows south to north). 

You don’t need a compass along that coast; for starters, trees grow bent, surprisingly, south to north. 

No person in his right mind should be sailing a yacht the other way (spring and summer), north to south. We do; although not anymore for this black duck – I hope. There are daily strong wind warnings against the Leeuwin Current, with the added sea confusion caused by the dangerous Zuytdorp Cliffs."