Adios Fremantle City

My one-week seminar is finally over. I had no other choice but to say good bye to this little city of Western Australia. I have a learned a lot of things during the short but extensive seminar that I attended. Unfortunately, what remained on my mind are a few concepts and some of them are slipping away. This, I guess, is the normal course of things. You keep some but lose more of the things that you had learned.

What I will remember for a long time will be my adventures in Fremantle City. The tourist destinations in this is city are excellent, though not as ancient as the ones in the Philippines. My favorite tourist spot in this city is the Round House. Fremantle Prison might become my favorite if I got the chance to “do time” in it.

I took a last walk along the beach of Bathers Bay. The sun is setting and the view is good.
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Seems like the setting sun of Fremantle City is saying good bye to me as well.

Adios Fremantle City, I don't think that I will visit you again.

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My First Korean Dinner

It is the Korean's turn to treat us for dinner. Our Japanese friend is done in treating us in a restaurant offering Kangaroo meat while I am done treating them in Cicerello's for fish n chips. Our Korean friend discovered that I am yet to dine inside a Korean restaurant that's why he invited us to dine in Chogajip, which is a restaurant located along Essex Street.

I have no idea how the Korean food tastes like. Because of this, I told our Korean friend to choose the best Korean dish for me.
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I noticed that the interior of Chogajip is simple or, for a better term, minimalist. This is in contrast with Outback Jacks that has a large crocodile hanging from the ceiling.

The rice wine reached our table first. This made our Japanese friend very glad. He is such a lover of alcoholic drinks.
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The rice wine tastes good. It made me recall of the tuba, which I drank when I was in Davao.
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A feast of Korean dishes.

Our Korean friend ordered Jaeyuk Bulgogi for the both of us. The Japanese got the Bulgogi. Each of us got small servings of kimchi, tofu and another item that I can't recall.

Bulgogi is thinly sliced beef marinated with soy, grilled and served with vegetables. Jaeyuk Bulgogi, on the other hand, is thinly sliced pork  marinated with chili paste, grilled and served with vegetables.

I think that my Jaeyuk Bulgogi tasted good. The Japanese, hearing my praises, stretched out his hand and used his chopsticks to snatch a piece of meat from my Jaeyuk Bulgogi.

I don't know how to use chopsticks. Both the Japanese and Korean tried their best to teach me using chopsticks. I had no choice but to ask for spoon and fork so I could eat with ease.

I can say that Chogajip's Korean dishes taste good. The shop is being ran by a Korean cook. His daughters serves as the waiters. It made me feel that I am actually eating in Korea.

If you are in Fremantle City and looking for a Korean restaurant. I suggest that you go to Essex Street and try the Korean dishes of Chogajip.

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Locked Out of Fremantle Prison

Prison is not a place to be proud of. It is the place where criminals and people shunned by society are incarcerated. In my country, the word “prison” evoke thoughts related to Sigue-Sigue, Sputnik and Bahala na Gangs. Our prisons are cramped spaces where prisoners are worse than sardines inside a tin can. Of the many places that I visited, only Fremantle City is proud of its prison. Actually, the prison house is one of premier tourist attractions in Western Australia.

Prison and its prisoners are vital part of the history of Australia. Unsavory people in the British Islands are exiled to Australia. It is a good arrangement for the British government. They rid themselves of criminals and political enemies. They let the Australian colonial government handle the prisoners.

The Round House, which I talked about previously, is a gaol (jail) used to handle local prisoners of Fremantle. When prisoners from Britain start pouring to Australia, the leaders of Swan Colony realized that the Round House is too small. They built the Fremantle Prison to handle large number of incoming prisoners.
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Fremantle Prison

The prison was built in the 1850s by convicts and was used as a place for incarceration for almost 140 years. Now, it is the only World Heritage site in Western Australia.

I visited Fremantle Prison one afternoon after the seminar. The only place that I was allowed entry is the first gate. I did not get pass the second gate.
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Second gate of Fremantle Prison.

My timing is not right. I visited Fremantle Prison at the time when the day tours are over. The prison guards told me that the next tour is the Torchlight Tour, which starts at 7 PM.

Did I miss a lot when I failed to “do time” inside Fremantle Prison? Well, the Fremantle Prison website has the answer for that.

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Maritime Heritage of Fremantle City

My visit to the Round House showed me the importance of Fremantle City during the early years of Swan River Colony. The city served as Western Australia's major port and many vessels berthed at its bay before embarking on long voyages to Europe or other parts of the world. The importance of Fremantle City in navigation is evident because of the presence of the time ball, which is used to correct the time in navigator's chronometers.

Fremantle City has two museums dedicated to maritime history. One of the museums is the Western Australian Maritime Museum located on Victoria Quay along the Swan River. The famous display in this museum is the submarine ovens in Fremantle City's World War 2 slipway.

The maritime museum that I visited is the one located close to Esplanade Reserve. This museum is the Western Australian Museum's Shipwreck Galleries.
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I am yet to reach the museum building but I was already welcomed by an interesting museum piece, which is a big anchor.
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The first anchor that I saw is no match to another anchor located near the museum building. The anchor is much bigger than the first anchor and its wooden stock is taller than me. This anchor is the Eglinton Anchor.
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The Eglinton Anchor is anchor of the wooden barque Eglinton, which was wrecked in September 1852 while underway from London to Fremantle City. The current stock inserted in the Eglinton Anchor is just a reconstruction. The original wooden stock disintegrated under the sea.

I entered the Shipwreck Galleries but I failed to get some photos. Time constraint prevented me from exploring the inner parts of the museum. Too bad that I missed seeing the centerpiece of the Shipwreck Galleries, which is the wreck of the Dutch vessel Batavia.
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Reconstructed remains of Batavia.

The story Batavia is a story of wreck and mutiny and can be read here.

I just walked along the beach of Bathers Bay on my way back to Esplanade Reserve. The lunch break is too short that's why I have no chance to have an extensive tour inside the Shipwreck Galleries. I will take a look at Batavia if I ever get the chance to return to Fremantle City.

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Photo of the Batavia came from the website of Western Australian Museum.

The Best Vantage Point in Fremantle City

My “tourist's guide book” mentioned of  a gaol, or jail, that is the oldest surviving building in Fremantle City. The book also mentioned that this is the place where the time ball is dropped and a cannon fired at 1 PM every day.

I am curious about the time ball. What does it look like? What is purpose of dropping it every day? Why is there a cannon? I imagined that the time ball is a sort of cannonball dropped into the cannon and then fired at 1 PM.

I went to Fremantle City's oldest gaol to satisfy my curiosity. The gaol is located on Arthur Head near the beach of Bathers Bay. Australians named the gaol as Round House but actually it is in a shape of a regular dodecagon. It was built in 1831 and designed by Henry William Reveley, who is the Swan Colony's civil engineer during that time.
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(Photo by Gnanggara)

The Round House has eight cells, jailer's office and other rooms. The Round House is the earliest prison in Swan River Colony, which explains the presence of this device:
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The image above shows a pillory, which is used to publicly humiliate law offenders. Pillory has three holes for the head and two arms. Passers-by were encouraged to pelt those who were pilloried with stones, mud, garbage, etc.

Fremantle City's Round House has a wide courtyard that has a well in the middle.
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Visitors of Round House looking down the well.

Located beneath the Round House is a tunnel that gives visitors access to the beach.
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The tunnel was excavated on 1837 by the Fremantle Whaling Company. The tunnel made it easy for whalers to transport whale, oil and other merchandise from Bathers Bay to Fremantle.
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Tunnel to Bather's Bay

This is not just a simple tunnel because there are interesting things displayed in the cells that line up its walls. The best “display” can be seen once you reached the other opening of the tunnel. The best “display” is Bathers Bay.
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The beach is the best place to see the other side of Fremantle City's Round House.
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Did you notice the black ball hanging from the pole beside the flags? That ball is the so-called “time ball”. Before the advent of modern clocks, navigators has to make do with chronometers for determining their longitude during sea voyage. In early centuries, ships that will undertake long voyages gather at Bathers Bay to await the dropping of the time ball. Navigators will correct the time in their chronometers to 1 PM once they saw the time ball being dropped. The dropping of the time ball is accompanied by a shot from a cannon.
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Cannon of Fremantle City's Round House.

The use of time ball was superseded by radio signals in 1937. The dropping of time ball was re-activated by volunteers in 1998 for the sake Fremantle City's heritage.

The location of the cannon is the best place to view Bathers Bay.
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Best view of Bathers Bay from the Round House.

The view activated my imaginative mind. I imagined an armada of pirate ships making their way to the beach below the Round House. Then, I heard cannons firing, British soldiers (in their Victorian Era uniforms) frantically running to the gaol for cannonballs and their officers shouting orders.

Too bad that it is just an imagination. What I only saw from my vantage point is the calm sea.

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Visit Fremantle Round House website to see other photos of the historical gaol.

Australian Dinner at Cicerello's Landing

Seeing historical places is not the only good thing that I experienced during my short stay in Fremantle City. I also got the opportunity to meet different people from various countries. My two best buddies during my seminar in Fremantle City came from Japan and Korea.

The Korean told me that he went to a restaurant at Fremantle City wharf. He said that that restaurant has the best Fish n Chips in town. The Japanese heard this and insisted that we go to that restaurant and taste the fabled Fish n Chips.

Fish n Chips  (Fish and Chips) is made up of deep-fried battered fish and potato “chips”. It is a popular dish in Australia that's why I agreed to join my Japanese and Korean buddies. My Australian trip can be considered incomplete if I failed to taste Australia's fish n chips.

Our Korean buddy took us to Cicerello's Landing, which is located by the sea. Of course, we ordered Cicerello's traditional fish n chips. The waiter gave us two pieces of deep-fried fish fillet and chips. Each of us ordered a bottle of beer.
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Cicerello's fish n chips.

My Korean friend is right. Cicerello's fish n chips is indeed delicious. It is no wonder why visitors of Fremantle City eat at Cicerello's Landing. It is good to munch tasty fried fish and drink cold beer while having an interesting conversation. This is in spite of the fact that the three of us are having a hard time understanding each other because we are poor in speaking English.

The night is humid but there's little possibility of rain. We chose to dine at the tables on the landing by the sea.
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I have no photos of the outdoor tables of Cicerello's Landing. I found beautiful photographs of the place here and here. It is refreshing to dine  by the sea at Cicerello's Landing but be always on the look-out for birds, which are constantly plotting to steal the fish n chips.
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This bird is eyeing our fish n chips.

I discovered that Cicerello's Landing got its name because it is actually the landing for the prawn trawler Miss Cicerello.  Cicerello's is so popular to the point that the restaurant is featured on a postal stamp.

Cicerello's Landing is also popular for its aquarium that holds over 50 species of marine creatures caught in the waters of Fremantle City. Customers eating inside the Cicerello's Landing are surrounded with marine life. Even their toilets are “teeming” with sea creatures.
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Aquarium inside the toilet of Cicerello's Landing.

The three of us had a good time dining at Cicerello's Landing. I will definitely visit this restaurant again if I ever get the chance to return to Fremantle City.

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The Esplanade Reserve During Dusk

I mentioned in the previous post that one thing that I like with Framantle City is its large swaths of vegetation. Well, I happened to take a stroll on one of those swaths in the first day of my seminar in this city. I walked around Fremantle City's Esplanade Reserve as the sun went down.

The Esplanade Reserve is a large park located near the wharf of Fremantle City. It is located beside the railway and is just across the Esplanade Hotel. There is nothing much too see in this park but it is a good place to relax under the shade of trees.
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The Esplanade Hotel is one of the notable building in the vicinity of the Esplanade. This four star hotel was opened in1896.

The most noticeable feature in the Esplanade Reserve is its large Ferris wheel. Tourists will definitely like to take a shot of this Ferris wheel and use it as background for their souvenir photos.
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There are some monuments located inside the Esplanade Reserve, one of which is this monument:
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This monument was erected in memory of Panter Hardinc, Coldwyer and Maitland Brown who were killed by the “treacherous” Maoris. An interesting feature of this monument is a plaque placed beneath the original plaque. The additional plaque explains the side of the Maoris involved in the death of the three “whites”. It countered the original plaque by saying that the Maoris just defended their land and twenty of them died during the incident. I guess this is how the Fremantle City government balances the story surrounding the event commemorated by this monument.
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Another interesting monument that I saw is this:
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This is a monument dedicated to Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama. He discovered the maritime route from Europe to India. He has no connection with Fremantle City that's why I don't know why his monument is here.

Beyond the Esplanade, across the railway, is the Fremantle City wharf. I ate the delicious Fish n' Chips at a restaurant beside the wharf. I will talk about that restaurant in the next blog post.
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Fremantle City walkway over the sea.

I just waited for the sun to come down before I retired to my hotel located along High Street. My short walk around Esplanade Reserve is refreshing. Breathing the cool fresh air is the best way to start the evening.

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In the Little City of Fremantle

I can't help but compare Fremantle City with the cities found in the Pokemon world. Fremantle City, just like many Pokemon cities, has large swaths of vegetation. Fremantle City successfully balanced nature and man-made structures. What's missing, though, is the presence of Pokemons and that's a little bit disappointing.
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I went to Fremantle for a short seminar. Of course, I didn't pass the opportunity to know more about the place.

Fremantle City is in the state of Western Australia and is located at the mouth of Swan River. It is the first area along the Swan River occupied by British colonists led by Captain Charles Fremantle. It served as Western Australia's major port during the 19th Century to early 20th Century.

What I like in Fremantle City is that it has clean surroundings and fresh air. The heaps of trash that I'm accustomed to is absent. Trees abound, which makes the city pleasing to the eyes. Fremantle City has plenty of old buildings and the good thing is that they are well-preserved and well-maintained.
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Well-preserved 19th Century buildings along High Street as viewed from the Round House.

Night shopping is unknown in this part of the world. I discovered this the hard way when I looked for a plug adapter because the electric socket in Fremantle City is different from the electric sockets in Philippines. Therefore, I couldn't charge my cellular phone. Unfortunately, shops are close very early and only few are open beyond late afternoon. The only good news is that restaurants and food shops are all open until evening and many of them are packed with people.
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There are many places to see around Fremantle City and my handy “tourist's guide book” pointed me to many interesting places in the city and these are the Fremantle Prison, The Esplanade, The Shipwreck Galleries, the Round House and the city's historical wharf. I will talk about these places in next blog posts so please watch out for those.

There are other places in Fremantle City that are worth the visit. One of that place is the Fremantle Markets
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Fremantle Markets was opened on 1897 during the height of Western Australia gold rush. It has over 150 shops that sell vegetables, meats, fish, groceries and other items. Fremantle Markets is the best place to buy souvenirs. I bought the kangaroo stuffed toy for my niece as well as other pasalubong at this place.

Located in the middle of Fremantle City is the newly restored Fremantle Town Hall. The building is a good background for photos.
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Did you notice the “black bird” insignia located below the clock? That insignia represents the Black Swan, which is inhabits the length of Swan River. Black swans are quite important to Western Australians that's why they are well protected. They are even present in the flag and coat of arms of Western Australia.
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(Source: Wikipedia)

Fremantle City is well connected to other parts of Western Australia. Tourists can travel by bus to go to places around the city. The City of Perth can be reached by riding the train at Fremantle Railway Station, which is a fine example of Victorian railway architecture.
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My seminar in Fremantle City of Western Australia is too short. I did not got the chance to see the wonderful wildlife parks in the vicinity of Fremantle City. I even failed to see the sights in Perth nor visit Rottnest Island.

Well, at least I enjoyed my stay in the city and my tour somehow filled the cravings of the traveler/blogger in me.

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