Friday 30th September
Today we drove down to Fremantle looking around the town and port and also visited the Fremantle Maritime Museum. One of the museum’s exhibits is an Australian Navy Submarine, which was based at Freemantle, and in service up until about 15 years ago.
The submarine has been pulled up onto dry dock, and the museum conduct tours through it. It was quite fascinating seeing just how cramped everything was for the crew living aboard it.
They also had Australia 2 on display, which was the first Australian yacht to win the America's Cup. There was also a huge shed full of steam engines, most of which were operating. We all thoroughly enjoyed this visit.
After the museum visit we drove into Freemantle Central and had a drink in the Sail and Anchor Hotel which was one of Philip’s favourite watering holes when he was living here. It‘s still rocking.
We then had a look through the nearby Freemantle Markets before calling it a day and heading back to camp.
Saturday 1st October
Spent the day at camp and then went out for dinner at the local Pub, a really old building with lots of atmosphere and lovely meals.
Sunday 2nd October.
We had been in contact with Bruce and Marilyn Linehan, who are friends of Phil and Jayne’s; from the Aero Club in New Plymouth, and who we had met in NZ. Marilyn used to teach at Waitara High School and we were keen to catch up with them. They moved to Perth about 18 months ago.
We arranged to meet them at a bar at Hillarys Boat Harbour, which is a northern suburb of Perth, and is where the Western Australian Aquarium is situated. We had been told the Aquarium was well worth a visit and arranged to meet Bruce and Marilyn after we had visited the aquarium.
On the way to the Aquarium we drove along the Hillarys Beach Front, ogling all the flash houses built on the water front. Most of them well above the million dollar mark I would think.
The aquarium was brilliant with lots of displays and a long walk through a glass tunnel with huge sharks and the world’s largest stingray swimming over the top.
After the aquarium we met up with Bruce and Marilyn for a drink at a waterfront bar before following them back to their place for drinks and catch up, and a lovely BarBQ tea.
Monday 3rd October
Today we headed to one of Perth’s southern suburbs to visit the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) Museum at Bull Creek.
One of the main planes they had on display was a WW2 Catalina, and beside the plane was a video show.
We couldn’t believe our eyes when we stopped to watch the video and found the presenter was none other than Brett Emeny, our neighbour from Norfolk Road, who has the helicopters. The video was all about New Zealand’s Catalina Flying Boat, and Brett is their Chief Pilot.
There was also another video for sale about the Vampire Jet, and this was also presented by Brett, as it featured the Vampire he owns, which is the same one Dad had a ride in for his 80th birthday. We didn’t watch this video but read all about it on the video case.
Besides lots of other planes, one of the other more noticeable planes on display was a WW2 Lancaster Bomber.
There were also interactive displays which Cameron thoroughly enjoyed.
Tomorrow we will continue our trip and head about 200 km south along the coast to the town of Bunbury where we expect to spend a couple of days.
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