Fremantle and Perth

Tuesday - 10/09/2013

Arrived at Freemantle Sailing Club had sundowners at the bar. The bar is only open between 1500 hours and 1900 hours during most week days, the staff are very friendly and bar prices are good. This club is a wealthy club and tends to look after visitors and members.

(Alana Rose alongside at the collector dock Fremantle Sailing Club)

 

Wednesday - 11/09/2013

Had a rest day doing the blog.

Thursday - 12/09.2013

Sandra Nancy's niece picked us up and we went out to her house had lunch then Sam her daughter took us out to Gosnells Railway Markets , these markets are situated in an old railway station and there are a couple of trains there and many other railway items. Then we went to  Jadran winery and Armadale shopping complex, we had dinner there and then Sandra drove us back to the boat.

Friday - 13/09/2013

Went to gaol today, the old Fremantle Gaol runs tours and they are quite interesting and well worth the visit. We had lunch at the cafe there, after lunch we went to Freemantle markets and then walked back to the marina via the water front. Our friend Reece and his daughter came to see us and brought us mail, it was good to catch up with him once again.

 (Fremantle Gaol)

(Tour tram) 

 

 (Main cell block)

 (After the last woman was hanged at this gaol it was said that her ghost looked over the grounds from the centre window pain )

 (The fact is it was afault in the glass that had not been noticed before)

(The place no one wants to hang around, the hangman's noose, the hangman was flown from interstate and was paid well, the noose you see has never been used, after each hanging the ropes were burned) 

 

Just outside the main gate of the Sailing Club and over the railway line is a bus stop, the Red Cat bus service stops here about every 20 minutes and does the circuit into Fremantle shopping centre and CBD district, these buses are free, you can hop on or off at any bus stop on the circuit.

Saturday - 14/09/2013

Laundry day heavy winds and rain. Had dinner at sailing club with Glen and Nigel, they had a smorgasbord  of different hot dishes and desert you could have as much as you wanted for $33 per person very nice with a selection of roast meats and of course we had a few red wines, there was a complementary glass of wine served with dinner.

Sunday - 15/09/2013

Sandra picked us up and took us to Swan Valley which is filled with wineries, restaurants and other nice places like the Koffee  Factory and Margaret River Chocolate Factory. After visiting those we went to Swanbrooke Cafe winery where we had lunch, then we went into Perth sightseeing and to the Kings Memorial Park. There was a celebration there for 50 years of 'Flower Power', remember the old flower power days, make love not war unfortunately at that period of time I was involved with the latter. The views from Kings Park is something to see and well worth the visit.

 (The Koffee Shop, where they have different flavoured coffees)

(Swanbrooke Winery and Café where we had lunch) 

 (After lunch Nancy and Sandra looking at the map to find our way)

 

(Perth and the Swan River from Kings Park)

(Kings Park war memorial)

(The inscription reads, "Let Silent Contemplation Be Your Offering, in the centre is the internal flame, it certainly made me take off my cap and stand in silence for a moment and give respect to the fallen)

(On a lighter note during September the parks offers the beauty of many wild flowers and these people are celebrating 50 years of Flower Power, doesn't that make me feel old)

 

Monday - 16/09/2013

Not a nice day rain high winds, Nancy did some laundry and I pulled the stove apart to try and clean the jets and filters. Other than that we did not do much.

Tuesday - 17/09/2013

Rain again, we went for a walk to buy some lunch and just get off the boat and stretch the legs, we found and IGA store a short walk from the marina, there are also a couple of coffee shops and art type places. Other than that we stayed on board until sundowners where we went to the bar and had drinks with Glen and Nigel.

Wednesday - 18/09/2013

Going back, Glen hired a car which we are all chipping in for to go north and see the places we bypassed and to see a bit of the land side of the coast. Our first stop on the way north was Hillary's Boat Harbour which is quite impressive. This area is on the outskirts of Perth and has many very nice and probably very expensive homes. We did not look at the whole marina complex area but we did visit the Aquarium that is there and well worth the visit. They exhibit many sea life that is unique to Western Australia and once more they are very proud of it. We had a bite to eat at the cafe there before heading off.

 (Hillary Marina and Aquarium, some of the things I like to see behind glass)

(Sea Snake) 

 (Dragon Fish)

 (Jelly fish)

Our next stop was Two Rocks, I must say that these places are really going ahead with new house estates being built, maybe I add WA with NT and say that they do not realise that Australia went through an economic downturn. It is probably due to the mining and gas field boom, god help us if that crashes. These houses are not small what they are building and as we travelled the coast it was evident that these places are going ahead even though they were out of commuter distance with the city.

(Two Rocks Harbour) 

 (The reason for its name)

 

Two Rocks as far as us yachties we would have a problem getting a berth there it is very much fisherman oriented and they do not think much of us on the yachts so I have been told. If you needed to anchor it would have to be outside the harbour and conditions would have to be good and they are not at this present time.

Our next stop was Lancelin, the hope of the Pirates Football Team. This place is anchorage only and there are a number of fishing boats on moorings, although the reef was giving protection in the conditions we were experiencing it would not be that comfortable but tolerable.

 (Lancelin, not a great place to anchor unless total calm)

 (You can see the reef structure out to see which extends  through to Geraldton)

 

We then headed for Cervantes  via the Pinnacles, I was a little insulted when we got to the rangers paying station to enter, it was a cost of $11 per car or $5 per car for seniors, the lady just said $5 please without asking.

What a well worth visit they say we should have stayed for the sunset but we were unable to as we had to get to our accommodation. It is worth seeing and you could spend many hours with a camera here.

(The Pinacles,  there is this section of land that these limestone structures protrude out of the sand)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to Cervantes and got our unit which was great, three bedroom with lounge, kitchen, bathroom, separate toilet and laundry for $160 per night shared with four of us was cheap.

Cervantes has an anchorage and what we saw although the conditions had calmed somewhat was good, leads to guide you in and shoals to protect the anchorage. If you visit the best meals in the place is at the bowling club and they have  a liquor shop called 'Linda's Licka store' , Linda the licensee has with her husband a sheep farm and conducts a bulk meat business, her husband named the bottle shop business. I would say the following question has been asked many times and our friend Glen asked it as we entered, "are you Linda the Licka"? and Linda answered straight away "no my husbands the licka".  Sorry I only tell it the way it was. We have to be a little broad minded.

We had a very nice dinner at the bowling club and then headed back to our accommodation where we had a couple of wines before retiring.

Thursday - 19/09/2013

We asked Glen last night what time he wanted to get up and moving he said 0600 hours, not a problem for us as we are often up then or before, the boys were a little slower but we got underway early and headed north. Jurien Bay was the first stop, and again although far from the city it is a go ahead place with large new homes being built. This place has a sizeable marina and boat yard, no anchorage in the harbour but could anchor outside the wall with some protection. But it must be considered the weather conditions, looking at getting in and out of the anchorage with the waves. With the conditions we had I feel we made the better decision of going straight from Geraldton and to the Perth/Fremantle area. This area is the third windiest place in the world and the typical give-away with this is the wind generators at Cervantes.

 (Jurien Bay Marina, the area looks quite up market with some beautiful homes near by.)

 (A little boat with lots of comfort)

 

From here we went to Port Denison, nice shallow harbour and the fact is you are not allowed to anchor in the harbour, the anchorage area is taken up by moorings and they look private. If you wish to stop here you have to anchor outside and under good conditions that is not a problem or you have to pay for a dock and I believe it is around the $90 mark. The place is very nice and the neighbouring Dongara is quaint with its older buildings and the main street with Moreton Bay Fig trees.

(We called into a little place Leeman and spotted these Australian Shelduck  and the Grey Teal below on the way) 

 

(Port Denison, good size harbour, shallow in places, the area where once you could anchor is now filled with private moorings, you can anchor outside in the right conditions or pay a fair amount for a timber pole berth). 

 (A sea eagle keeping an eye on us)

 

 (Main street Dongara, next to Port Denison, incredible fig trees cover the street)

 (The Seasons Tree Café where we had morning tea)

 (The big lobster outside Dongara)

 

 

This was our turning point to head back to Freo, (Fremantle) as it is known. We took the inland road back and it is quite unreal the difference other than the sand hills tend to go a long way inland, you see a sheep farm then in the middle is a sand dune. On the whole journey we noticed the different vegetation, the pretty wild flowers along with bushes and tea trees. It was well worth taking the journey.

 

 

 (Some of the wild flowers along the roads)

(The Windmill Roadhouse, unique shelving, the back end of a 1960 Holden station wagon) 

(The windmills and a couple of emus below) 

 

 

Friday - 20/09/2013

Whilst we had the car we did the fuel runs and shopping, we had to do two fuel runs to top up the tanks and have the fuel reserve in the containers as we had used a fair amount of fuel getting here from Geraldton.

Glen and Nigel went to dinner at the club we had declined as we have to watch our budget a little and I figured we would be going out to lunches and dinners a few more times before leaving here catching up with family and friends. We had dinner on board and started to watch a movie, we were three parts through the movie when we had a visit from Glen and Nigel, they had a good night and I think they had a few drinks, well they had a few more by the time they had left.

Earlier today we had a racing yacht raft up alongside, why they could not go to the dock like the other beats me, it was only for the night they were here for a race tomorrow. They had gone ashore to the theatre and did not get back until late so after the boys left we continued to watch the movie as we knew if we went to bed they would wake us when they got home just by walking across our deck to get to their boat.

Saturday - 21/09/2013

We have noticed that our VHF radio is not getting good reception of late when we have tried to communicate with other boats or bases we have to be closer to them than we used to. Glen and Nigel came over to assist us going up the mast. I got everything ready and by the time I got to the bosun's chair Glen was in it ready to be hoisted up the mast so we sent him up.  Did some tidying up ready for visitors this afternoon, some of the WA Shag Islet Cruising Club members were coming to have drinks and nibbles

Sunday- 22/09/2013

Today it was rain again not a great day with strong winds, we had drinks with the boys before dinner not much else achieved today.

Monday to Wednesday.

The days were cold and windy and we spent the days carrying out engine maintenance and cleaning.

Thursday - 26/09/2013

The day looked a little better so we walked into Fremantle to visit the Maritime Museums, there are two to visit one is shipwrecks and the other is about boats and yachts and ships including the RAN submarine' Ovens'. They are well worth a visit and to look at all you will spend a full day at least.

(The Shipwreck Galleries Museum) 

(The part of the Batavia Hull, apparently there was a deal made that Geraldton could have the stone pillar gateway and Perth got this, the museum has made a replica out of timber of the gateway) 

 

(I will not rewrite the information about the wrecks it is all in the Geraldton article)

 

 

 

 (The charts before Captain Cook filled the gaps)

 

(Leeuwin, launched in 1986, teaches people how to sail on sea adventures)

 

Then in the next Maritime Museum we have vessels related to Perth.





 

(Parry Endeavour, Jon Sanders triple circumnavigation single handed)

 

 

 (What was it 2003, Australia II took the America's Cup and Bob Hawke said anyone who sacked an Aussie for having a day off is a bum)

 (Was it the Ben Lexon keel that made the difference or just the crew and having an edge?)

(Perth's First Lady she was delivered in 1903 and was the first Pilot Boat and was taken out of service in 1957)

 

 

 

The evening was spent at Jim Putt's house, Jim had invited us for dinner along with a few of his friends. Jim is one of the instigators of the Fremantle Sailing Club Cruising Guide and I have given some input for the new edition that is due next year. When we arrived Jim said to his friends "We have a new anchorage for the book, Seahorse Bay in the Kimberley". This is what we gave him along with updates on other information which was given to us by Ron and Barbara in Darwin, in fact the bay is unnamed Ron and Barbara named it Seahorse Bay. We had a good night in good company.

Friday - 27/09/2013

My good mate Bill Dickerlee came to visit and have lunch with us today, Bill and I joined the navy at the same time and I have not seen him since around 1998, where we went to the Vung Tau Ferry (HMAS Sydney), reunion dinner night in Hobart Tasmania. HMAS Sydney was dubbed the Vung Tau Ferry as we took the Army to there in the Vietnam War, we served on that ship together. When you meet up good friends like Bill it as though it was only yesterday when we had seen each other the conversation just continues as good friends, that is what good friends are all about.

After lunch we went back on board Bill had a look around the boat and we sat down and had a few beers and chatted a little later Bill contacted his partner Gail and she came over to meet us and she also gave Nancy a haircut. It was good to catch up with them.

Saturday- 28/09/2013

Today is a big day for Freo, (Fremantle), their football team the 'Dockers' is playing Hawthorn in the finals in Melbourne, they have cut off the main street in Freo and put a enormous screen up for people to go down and watch, the pubs are opening bars at 0700 hours and the match does not start until 1230 hours.

(The crowds arrive)

(The hotel is packed at 0930 hours)

(And the colours for the Dockers are)

(A good queue for a pub at 0900 hours)

 

At around 0900 hours we walked down town to see what it was like, there were people everywhere dressed in the colours of their team, there were queues everywhere to get into the pubs and some of the pubs were already packed. After looking at the place we headed for Franks Gourmet Meats  in Wray Street, this is a butchers shop to be seen, they have every type of meat you could think of and if you want steak they have a large round cutting board  where they cut the amount of steaks that you want to the thickness you want. One other thing that impressed me is that when you have all you want they add the items up with pencil on the wrapping paper not on an adding machine, what an incredible shop, we then had lunch at a cafe then returned to the marina and watched the footy match at the Sailing Club. The Dockers lost the final but did not disgrace themselves, I think they were overwhelmed by playing in the MCG and 100,000 spectators with most of them backing their opposition.

.

Sunday - 30/09/2013

 It's not a nice day with rain and cold, we did go for a walk to the shops under brolly and helped tie up 'Starship' a mono that we had spoken with on the radio in Carnarvon. We stayed on board getting last minute things done before leaving tomorrow.

Monday - 01/10/2013

I went to the favourite butchers shop to get a few last items before sailing whilst Nancy did some laundry and got all our clothes and bedding washed.

My niece Lisa and her three rather grown up children came down to visit us and spent a short time together, we then headed to the supermarket to get some final shopping done and on our return we set off for Garden Island to anchor there for the night.

 

(Steven, Brad, Lisa and Rachel)

 Chers.