Day 10 - Fantastic Fremantle

I must have missed the deck pounder or they were (hopefully) packing to get off today.

A leisurely breakfast before ambling straight off and we joined the queue for the free shuttle to the town hall.  Not a long walk anyway, but we thought we’d take it anyway.  They had just two trolleys doing the run and each had a capacity of just 21 people, but the wait wasn’t long.

We piled off at the town hall and strolled down to ‘Bodkin’s Bootery’ on High St.  The owner has an impressive classic car collection including one like mine – and also one like Dad had in the early 1950’s.  He wasn’t there but would be in at 2pm, so we went back to the town hall and opted for the paid tram tour of Fremantle on another trolley.

This cost us $24 each – about the same as the usual HoHo bus, but in this instance, a much shorter run, but compensated by an excellent driver/guide, Philip, who is one of those people who are just perfect for the job of dealing with tourists and with a great sense of humour.

His commentary was always informative and very, very entertaining.  Unlike the usual HoHo, he didn’t just stop, let passengers off then leave them until the next trolley came along.  He let us off and gave us a few minutes to take photographs of the Fremantle Prison (which seemed to be a very popular tourist spot as they run tours through it), plus the war memorial that looks out over towards the harbour.  At several stops, he waited for a few minutes including one down by the ferry terminal , to catch people coming in from Perth.  (www.fremantletrams.com)

Everything was very leisurely and the bright sunshine and warmth was very welcome, after a week of cool days. Once off the trolley we were ready for a coffee and a bite to eat and found the Coffee Club.  We joined another ship’s couple we’d never met before, Colin and Shirley and therefore another hour or so chatting!  The food was very nice and then we headed back to Bodkins Bootery where I had a chat with Rob.

Now I know my brothers will probably be reading this and they will remember that dad’s old car, a 1934 Singer coupe, languished, untouched, in our garage from about 1953 to 1964, as dad couldn’t keep up with its appetite for half shafts.  According to Rob, the last time we met, he reckoned there were only about 12 left in the world.  This time, he seemed to think that they only built 13 – which I find hard to believe, as it would mean that Dad’s was the only one scrapped.  Anyway, Rob is thinking of selling his.  Dad’s went for a fiver in 1964 - say $10.  Rob is looking for $40,000 for his…

We wandered around Fremantle for a little longer, then headed back to the ship, where 300 passengers were joining, most probably from Australia, though we did bump into a group of rather lost looking Japanese wandering around on deck 11.

We were on early enough for afternoon trivia, and joined two of our morning regulars, Bert and Lorraine, and we came second. One of the three questions we got wrong was ‘what is the final event of the decathalon?’ We just put running – which the other team marked as correct, but the correct answer was 1500m, so we deducted the point. Honest aren’t we?  Like me, Bert is ex prison service, but he is Australian.

We had a great day in Fremantle and we made the right decision to stay locally instead of going into Perth.  

At sailaway, I got the shoulder tap from Lou and Doreen who are cruise regulars but no sign yet of Alex and Teri, who we have  cruised with before.

After dinner, our entertainment was Aussie comedian Steve Allison.  Another observational comedian with a good act.  Paula is still laughing at his mozzie joke, but I won’t spoil things by repeating it here. For his first show, probably 8.5 out of 10.  It is tougher for comedians especially if they are just joke tellers, as the internet means that good jokes get circulated worldwide very quickly.

We now have  a run of 7 days at sea, so goodness knows what this blog will consist of, but it is getting warmer so no doubt all the extra outdoor seating and extra loungers will remove some of the pressure on indoor seating.  We gather that the weather back in NZ hasn’t been too good, just as it begins to warm up in the UK.