Perth

While in Freemantle we rented a car and explored up and down the coast an hour or so from the city.  We found large residential apartment developments, and a very large marina and apartment development near Hilarys.  The city and its nearby towns are home to a much larger population than I realised.  Both there and in Freemantle we saw ferry services which run out to Rottnest Island, a tourist destination not far from the coast.

On Wednesday we moved into Perth, to a hotel close the middle of the city.  From there we were able to explore the city, the waterfront, and the botanic gardens on foot.

The city skyline from the waterfront.

The "Ascalon" sculpture near the cathedral.  Ascalon was the lance St George used to slay the dragon.

The "London Court" mock english arcade.

Lots of development along the waterfront.  Perth is on the Swan River.

A flash pedestrian bridge!

"First Contact".  The indigenous locals first thought sailing ships were giant white birds in boats.

The Swan Bell Tower, 80 metres high.

While we were there a new "Anzac Bell" was installed in the Swan Bell Tower, to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.  It was made locally and at 6.5 tonnes is the largest ever cast in the Southern hemisphere.  The bell tower is already home to the "Swan Bells", a set of 18 which came from England and some of which date from 1725.  The tower was originally built as a "milleneum" project and opened in 2000.

Some colour in the botanic gardens.

Wildflowers - these ones in the botanic gardens, so actually not so wild.

The giant Boab tree, brought here from the Kimberly, 3200 km away.

The giant Boab was transported here to the botanic gardens in Perth in 2008 after it was decided it was in the way of a bridge development in the Kimberly, 3,200 kilometres to the north.  The trip was a major exercise because of its size.  To us it looks fairly lifeless now, but perhaps it's just resting?

These weird plants looked like huge spiders!

Looking back at the city and the river from the gardens.

As you can see we did enjoy some nice weather during the week, and it was just a bit warmer than New Zealand so we found it very pleasant.  On the other hand it is a long way to go - we were on the move for 12 hours returning from Perth to Wellington (via Melbourne).  Also we did not adapt particularly well to the five hour time difference, which meant we woke in the early hours and wanted dinner in the middle of the afternoon!  It was great to get to know Perth a little, and to discover that like most things in Australia it is bigger than I expected at over 2 million people; but I would need a good reason to go a second time!  It is one of the most isolated big cities in the world.

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Freemantle

We stayed in Freemantle for the first part of our visit, then moved into the centre of Perth for the rest.  Freemantle is a small satellite city at the mouth of the Swan river and 19 km from the centre of Perth.  It is built up all the way so it is like an outer suburb, and has an important history as it is the main port for Perth.

We stayed in an interesting Airbnb place, nicely located close to the sea, in a converted warehouse.  The house is tall and narrow, spread over four floors with lots of stairs.

The main floor.  The ceilings were very high!

Looking down on it from the stairs.

There were decks on two levels.

The view from the street.

The apartment was very fully furnished, with the owners' belongings everywhere.

There was so much stuff in the apartment that we felt sure the owners must live there when they are no visitors.  We half-expected them to walk in at the end of the day once they finished work!  However they said they live "just around the corner", so that was a bit puzzling.

Freemantle is quite an historic town, established in 1829 by the British partly to claim the west of Australia before the French did!  The town later argued for convicts to be sent to Perth from Britain, to provide them with cheap labour to build the town and infrastructure.  Once a convict had completed his sentence he was released an became a free man, helping to grow the population and economy of Western Australia.  There was also a rush to Australia at the end of the 1800's when gold was discovered.

Close to our BnB was the "Roundhouse", the oldest intact building in WA having been built in 1830.  It is a small octagonal fort and was built as a prison.  Today it is run as a time station for the tourists, with the big black ball hanging from a pole, and a small cannon which is fired every day at 1 pm.  We have a similar station in Lyttleton, Christchurch, which was seriously damaged by the earthquakes.

The top deck on the apartment, with the Roundhouse and the sea beyond.

"Baby"

These two cats come with the apartment.  Blackie especially was very friendly, and also ate most of the food.

Sue at the Roundhouse on a sunnier day.

The one-o'clock-cannon at the Roundhouse.

Freemantle street art - a "numbat", I believe!

There were seemingly-random yellow patterns on the paths and buildings...

...but look what happens when you view the street from the Roundhouse!

The business end of a WW II submarine, showing the torpedoes.

There has been a lot of development along the waterfront, including many bronze figures like these.

..and this bronze beach lady.

Freemantle is a pleasant town, with a climate just a little warmer than Wellington (in our brief experience).  We found it difficult adjusting to the five-hour time difference from New Zealand however, and it is a long couple of flights from home!  We tried to stay near to NZ time, but that mean getting up at 4 am (no coffee shops open!) and trying to find dinner about 3 pm, which is too early for most dinner eateries.

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Freemantle Prison

Freemantle Prison served as a prison for 150 years, from convict days through until it closed in 1991.  Since then it has operated as a museum.  It was first built at the request of the early settlers, because they wanted a supply of convicts to help build the road and bridges needed to develop the settlement of Western Australia.  The first convicts to arrive had to build the actual prison!  Convicts shipped out from Britain were taken out each day to work on public works, before returning to prison each night. This continued until the early 1900's when it became a high security prison (for Australians), and prisoners subsequently spent all their time inside.

The main gates.  The prison is right in the town of Freemantle.

The standard cell, later doubled in size by the removal of walls.

They call that netting "suicide netting".

Sundays were spent mostly in the chapel.

These multi-person cells are a bit of a mystery.  There were only a few.

View from one of the exercise yards.  Prisoners spent 15 hours a day in their cells, and 9 hours here - rain or shine!

Isolation cells, with double doors to block out sound and light.

The prison was originally designed to house 1,000 prisoners.

The tour guides gave us a lot of detail about the fairly miserable life of a prisoner here.  Particularly unpleasant were the punishments for anyone who did not "toe the line".  Prisoners were flogged here until the 1940's, and we were shown the gallows room, where the last hanging occurred in 1964.

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HMAS Ovens

HMAS (Her Majesty's Australian Ship) "Ovens" is a World War II era submarine, now sitting beside the Maritime Museum in Freemantle, Perth.  You can buy a ticket and get a tour which takes you right through the submarine, in our case led by "John" who had served on this very submarine himself.  I found it fascinating to be in this submarine, because inside everything is still in place and you can see the complexity of the water, air, hydraulic, electronic and electrical systems up close.

Australia has no nuclear submarines.  These Oberon-class submarines have a huge battery (weighing over 200 tonnes) to power their electric motors.  There are then two 16-cyclinder diesel engines which can be run to recharge the batteries, as long as the submarine is on (or near to) the surface.

HMAS Ovens, sitting on blocks in Freemantle.

The motto "Silence is Golden" on the tower of the submarine.  Also the Jolly Roger flag.

 John explained that this submarine was designed to be as silent as possible, and to spend much of its time sitting on the bottom listening for ships.  Hence the motto "Silence is Golden".  He also told a story about the Jolly Roger pirate flag they fly, something to do with some navy person sneeringly calling them pirates long ago, leading to submarines adopting the Jolly Roger as a defiant riposte.

Sue going down the ladder through the forward hatch.  Designed at an angle so torpedoes can be loaded through it.

The front compartment, where the torpedoes are fired from.  Also some would sleep here!

The cooking facilities for feeding the crew of 70 or so!

Tiny bunks are squeezed in wherever space is available, including the corridor.

Sue beside the drivers seat, in the main command centre.

 John explained that when they are at sea the captain spends the entire voyage either in the command centre above, or his tiny adjacent cabin.  This is because if there is an emergency big doors are closed to divide the submarine into five compartments, and if he was caught in the wrong one he could no longer command the ship.

The big shiny pole in the photo is one of the periscopes, which can be raised to about 15 metres above the ship to allow them to look around while submerged.  There are about seven of these extending tubes, for such things as drawing in air, radio reception, or releasing the engines' exhausts.

Driving the submarine is a bit like flying an aeroplane because as well as left and right it also goes up and down.  The main at the controls has another beside him whose job it is to control the pumps and compressors which shift water in and out of ballast tanks.  This controls the submarine's attitude and rate of ascent or descent.  The controls look very complicated!

Some of the controls and displays in the command centre.

Anybody know what these do??

We emerged from the stern hatch onto the top deck at the end of the tour.

John was able to tell us a lot about life in the submarine.  When they did deep diving tests they had to insert special bars across the oval hatch openings to prevent them collapsing in under the enormous pressure.  The whole hull creaks and groans during these tests, and gets squeezed out of shape.  I'm glad I'm not a submariner.

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