Filling In The Days In Fremantle

There are so many ways to fill in time and enjoy the sights in beautiful Fremantle, just 25 minutes from the city of Perth. I managed to entertain myself on the streets of Freo for an entire week, while Luke worked to pay for all my purchases! Okay, not exactly true... I found tons of things to do for free, don't worry Luke!

1. Hit the Esplanade

First stop for any Fremantle first-timer should be the wharf or Esplanade. There are tons of fish and chip shops right on the water, that all claim to sell "The Best Fish and Chips in Western Australia!" Why not sample them all and let your taste buds be the real judge? Then check out the cool brass statues on the water and walk to the nearby swimming beach.

2. Head Along To The Markets

There are more markets in Freo, then AFL fans in Perth. Okay, that would be impossible because AFL is like a religion over here. But you know what I mean! The weekend markets are on each...ah... weekend? Duh! Funny thing is, they actually run from Friday to Sunday at the old council building in the main street and have everything from fresh fruit and veges (get there late Sunday arvo where everything gets reduced to next to nothing), clothes, art, craft and food. The Art Markets are held every Thursday right near the info centre and actually were a little disappointing with not a lot of stores set up the day I chekced them out and you can find the eMarkets down at the old wool sheds near the train station every Saturday and Sunday - these are more like permanent Sydney-style Paddies Markets i.e there's a lot of junk like stuffed kangaroos and fake 'Crocs' for sale.

3. Sample An Ale At A Brewery

We managed to drag ourselves along to two local drinking spots that each had their own micro-brewery out back. Little Creatures is a Fremantle institution and a must for any visitor, regardless if you like beer or not. Ooooo but you really must sample the beer. It's really, really good. Sail and Anchor is another place we sipped a coldie at. Nice drop and a great place to people watch from the pub balcony but we almost had to put our drinks on layby with two beers setting us back $17.50.

4. Check Out The Local Boutiques

There are so many cool little shops to discover. In these cool shops, the shop assistants are cool. The things they sell are cool. The background music heard playing is cool. In fact, the only thing not so cool in these shops was Luke and I, both starting to resemble disheveled travellers in great need of a hair cut, sporting funny looking short and thong tans.

5. Admire The Locals In Their Native Environment

I don't know if it was a special weekend where a whole bunch of strange characters came out to play on the cappuccino strip of Fremantle, but in the space of two days we saw a Mohawk wearing, bagpipe tooting punk doing pelvic thrusts in the middle of a circle of quite a few people, all holding cameras to capture the moment....

...and a drunken Fremantie (I've coined this term to describe a person who resides in Fremantle permanently) who thought it would be hilarious to take off his shirt and pants, give himself a front wedgie and dance around in his undies in front of his drunk mates on the main street while we all watched on from the Mexican restaurant across the road (it was about 7:45pm at the time - click on the image to enlarge and laugh like we did). I've practiced a bit of self-censorship here and chose NOT to include the next pic which was taken about 5 seconds later, when this intoxicated fellow took his risky behaviour one step further and ripped off his undies as well. Yes, a dancing naked drunk man. And all his friends could do to save any last sceric of this guy's dignity was to take photos of him on their phones. Coming soon to Facebook, no doubt. The police arrived in record time.

So as you can see, Fremantle has something for the entire family to enjoy! Who knew?!

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette