Doing Time!

In keeping with the Australian penchant for abbreviating names and adding an 'o' at the end, our final destination, Fremantle is more commonly referred to as 'Freo'. Fremantle or 'Freo' is a port city on the southern side of the Swan River and has a more working class and hippie reputation when compared to its neighbour across the river, Perth. It is also considered to have the finest collection of heritage buildings of any Australian city.

Our first job on arrival, having dropped off our bags in our studio, was to return our car to the hire company. We had ended up completing a 1700 mile road trip and avoided any mishaps with kangaroos, emus or any of the other driving hazards. During our trip we'd also avoided contact with snakes or venomous spiders - although I noticed a flattened dead spider on the passenger seat as we returned the car. It appeared Mrs B. has squashed it...and suffered no obvious ill effects....unlike the spider. This left me pondering what was more dangerous, spiders or Mrs B....

The following morning we headed for Freo's number one visitor attraction: prison!

Fremantle prison was built in 1850 as a convict jail and used continuously to incarcerate convicts and then prisoners until as recently as 1991. It has had a chequered history with escapes and riots and a reputation for some quite appalling conditions. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage building and a visitor attraction.

The Gatehouse, Fremantle Prison

We booked ourselves into the 'Doing Time' tour and at the appointed time met our guide, Justin, who led us into the reception area. I was then 'volunteered' to stand on a line in front of the rest of the group whilst Justin explained that prisoners would have been required to strip naked before undergoing an intimate examination. Fortunately the tour didn't aim to precisely replicate the experience of prisoners...and I kept my clothes on.

Me...looking slightly nervous

The tour took us through various parts of the prison and our guide explained how it had been built and evolved over the years. The conditions experienced by prisoners up until it closed were horrendous. The treatment by guards and diet (no fresh fruit or vegetables) created an incendiary environment not helped by the fact that temperatures in the cells could reach 50°C in the summer months.

The inside of a cell decorated by a prisoner.

A full scale riot occurred in 1988 largely as a consequence of these conditions. Incredibly over the years there were a lot of escapes. One of the more infamous escapees was a bank robber called Brenden Abbott who escaped in 1989 and then went on the run for 5 ½ years. One of our tour group said her husband who worked in a bank had met him. He'd pointed a gun at her husband's head during a bank robbery!

The most harrowing parts of the prison were the solitary confinement block, (prisoners were confined in these cells for 23 hours a day and some had no light at all), the whipping post and most harrowing the execution shed. Australia ceased capital punishment in 1967. The last prisoner was hanged here in 1964.

None of the above sounds like an enjoyable experience but surprisingly our tour was informative, educational and our guide was full of stories that were funny as well as sad. We were allowed to leave and were therefore free to explore more of Freo. 

Walking took us through Freo's shopping areas which were mainly heritage buildings, some well preserved, others showing the passage of time, and along 'cappuccino strip' - where finding somewhere to sit and have a coffee isn't very challenging!

Cappuccino Strip, Fremantle

An excellent little street cafe called 'Legally Brewed' provided lunch - a tasty and quite messy pulled beef burrito.

After lunch we found ourselves on the seafront and a brewery. Little Creatures is a large craft ale brewer who have re-purposed an old dockside warehouse as a brewery. This was an excellent use of an old warehouse and I sampled their pale ale before we carried on walking. Down on the seafront we came across a bronze statue of Bon Scott the late lead singer of AC/DC who had lived in Freo. This prompted a memory of seeing him and the band live in the 1970's at a small gig in Coventry. Along the seafront and around the fishing boat harbour there were other statues and pieces of public art.

Mrs B. striding purposefully towards the bar...

Statue of Bon Scott

Our walking brought us to the Roundhouse, the oldest building in Fremantle, and, by coincidence, also used as a prison!

After a full day of walking and now quite tired we called time on our explorations and took home some deli food to restore energy levels. We'd got one more full day to continue to get to know Freo and my research had revealed there were other craft breweries to visit. 

We woke early the next morning and walked to the centre from our studio to visit another of Freo's attractions its weekend market. Part fruit and vegetable, part food sellers and stalls and parts crafts and souvenirs the market was a vibrant and bustling place. The market buildings were over 100 years old - another part of Freo's heritage. 

Fremantle market

After browsing the stalls we settled for another coffee just off cappuccino strip and read through the local papers before wandering through the streets and soaking in the architecture.

Coffee time

At lunchtime we returned to the market yard, used a table to have a picnic and then waited for a koala. Mrs B. had been keen to see a koala even though their natural habitat is not central Fremantle or even West Australia. A local wildlife park brought in a few animals to the markets and as a result, and in return for a donation, Mrs B got to stroke a koala - to her delight and the koalas supreme disinterest - it seemed more engaged with munching eucalyptus leaves.

After Mrs B. was dragged away from the koala we walked a mile or so to an art gallery that was located in an old lunatic asylum. There wasn't to much to see but an exhibition of work inspired by Gallipoli created by an Australian artist Lev Vykopal was both interesting and moving. 

After some culture I decided we needed to visit another brewery so more walking found us at the Monk Brewery in the heart of Freo where we shared a tasting tray of their 8 different (and excellent) beers ranging from light wheat beer to dark porters. 

Me..doing an Eric Morecambe impression

We then returned to the Little Creatures brewery for more beer which in my case went extremely well with a harissa lamb and feta topped wood fired pizza. The day had flown by and we reluctantly walked back to our temporary home for our last night on Australian territory. Some careful packing was needed to protect some wine bottles that had made my backpack somewhat heavier than when we started. A bright and sunny morning greeted us next day as we made our way from Fremantle towards Perth airport for the long flight home. There was time to stop for a coffee in Perth and take in the tranquility of a park with one last sight of parrots in the trees before we heaved our packs onto our backs for one last time.

And so ended our travels through South West Australia. A land of contrast and great natural beauty. Like many countries Australia has undercurrents of tension and societal issues that a visitor only senses rather than fully understands. The treatment of the aboriginal communities by white settlers from the time of their arrival up until the recent past was appalling and many aborigines have never recovered from the scars inflicted. An undercurrent of racism persists in society even now as does a disregard for the environment as mining conglomerates are permitted to extract natural resources in a largely unfettered way. The people we met on our travels were unfailingly helpful, friendly and good company and proud of their country, its landscape and heritage. All in all it was a trip with experiences that will live long in the memory.

Wagin: A Dog's Tale

We had decided to make a break in our journey to Fremantle (as the total trip was about 500 miles) and booked accommodation for one night just outside a small country town called Wagin.

The journey to our overnight stop involved 300 miles of driving through parts of WA that are off the tourist trail. Farming dominates this part of the state and the landscape isn't dramatic but small country towns offer a glimpse of rural life. The area is called the eastern wheat belt and we passed vast fields that indicated harvests had already taken place ahead of autumn. Between larges swathes of wheat fields were equally large expanses of native bush.

One of the features of driving in Australia are the arrow straight roads. Often the road would stretch off as far as the horizon without even the hint of a bend.

The road goes ever on and on...

Our inland journey also took us through a dry and arid landscape of salt lakes and nearby towns taking their names. Lake Grace and Lake King appear as large areas of water on the map but in reality are largely dry. Salt and mineral deposits sparkled in the sunlight.

Lake Grace

After a long day of sharing the driving we arrived in Wagin, a small town and a centre of sheep farming - in fact it holds the largest annual sheep show in the southern hemisphere and celebrates this fact with a statue of a giant merino ram.

What a big boy!

We stopped in a 130 year old farmhouse about 5 miles out of town. Tanya, our host welcomed us, showed us our room and we made a cup of tea. Her dog, Digga a friendly and good natured 4 year old Red Kelpie was also welcoming and keen to make a fuss of us. Parrots flew around in the eucalyptus trees and we sat drinking tea soaking in the peace and quiet.

After this we returned to town to explore. Wagin isn't very big so it didn't take long to see a few old buildings (I liked their library) look into dining options (few) and have a pint in the local bar/hotel.We settled on buying a pizza and a bottle of wine from the 'bottleo' and taking it back to the farmhouse.

We then spent an evening chatting with Tanya and chilling out and entertaining Digga with play fights and fuss. I confess I drank at most of the bottle of wine (Mrs B. helped me a little)......

Digga

This wine was appropriately named!

.....so the next morning my head was a little sensitive...but a coffee revived me and we continued our journey towards the coast and our last port of call: Fremantle.

Life's A Beach....

Esperance is a small town on the coast of South West Australia, and it took a six hour drive, along largely empty roads, with very few towns or settlements, to reach this small seaside community and port.

The town was named after one of the French ships L'Esperance, (translated to English it means 'hope'), which took shelter from a storm in the large bay that the town sits on, facing the Southern Ocean. We arrived on a lovely sunny afternoon but as it had taken us until mid afternoon to reach Esperance we contented ourselves with a walk along the seafront and having a look around the town. Its a good place to whale watch at certain times of the year and this is celebrated in the form of a sculpture on the seafront.

We arrived on 25th April - Anzac Day. In Australia (and New Zealand) this is an important day, akin to Remembrance Sunday in the UK. This year was particularly significant as it was the centenary of Gallipoli where so many Anzacs lost their lives in World War 1. We missed the Anzac day events in Esperance

The Anzac Memorial in Esperance

but it seemed that commemorations were taking place in the smallest of towns and settlements. On the way we stopped in a tiny place called Borden (population 164) just to stretch our legs and there had been a parade with scouts and girl guides and there was a barbecue taking place in the centre of this tiny community - and everyone seemed to have turned out.

Apart from whale watching Esperance is mainly known for its stunning beaches that lie to both the east and west of the town. The town had a sleepy atmosphere and a sense of humour as shown with a billboard advert on the side of the town museum.

In 1979 Skylab crashed near Esperance - so the town council fined NASA $400 for littering!

The next morning we went to explore some of the beaches but first strolled around the Sunday craft market set in the centre of town. Despite being early it was surprisingly busy. 

Our first stop on a day of beach combing and was Wylie Beach just a few miles from town. It was the most stunning location. The beach was hidden behind high dunes so to reach it we had to climb up and over these. It was worth the effort as the waters were turquoise blue, the sand was white and it looked like a scene from a travel agents brochure.

First view of Wylie Beach

4WD driving is very popular in West Australia and a necessity too in parts of the state as many roads are gravel and impossible to drive on in ordinary cars but many people choose to drive along beaches for fun.

Not a 'Top Gear' episode!

As we walked onto the beach we saw a 4 wheel drive vehicle close to the top of a granite outcrop!

Only having a two legged method of propulsion we climbed this outcrop for ourselves to take in the views from above.

More stunning Beaches followed throughout the day: West, Observatory and Twilight Beaches were all stunningly beautiful.  

Twilight Beach

The next day we travelled further afield. About 30 miles from Esperance lies Cape Le Grand National Park, 78,000 acres of natural wilderness with bushland, granite peaks and more white sandy beaches. Our drive took us to the whitest of them all at Lucky Bay. This has been voted the whitest beach in Australia. It also has kangaroos who visit the beach to eat seaweed. It lived up to expectations. Not only was there a kangaroo or two on the beach when we arrived but the sand texture was so fine and white and the sea so blue it was like stepping into a postcard.

A kangaroo at Lucky Bay

Lucky Bay

I walked the full length of Lucky Bay to a lookout point and then returned to Mrs B. who was chatting to the owner of the one and only coffee kiosk in the whole national park, a lovely lady called Robyne.

Even more beaches followed including Thistle Cove and Hellfire Bay. After lunch for some variety I suggested we climb Frenchman Peak. This is a granite hill, only 262 meters high but it promised commanding views of the national park. 

After a picnic we started the climb which involved some steep bits of ascent and an occasional bit of scrambling but nothing too demanding. The beautifully textured granite rock made it easy to grip and avoid slipping. Mrs B. made it to the top...where we admired the views of the coastline, the rugged granite outcrops and miles of bush that provided habitat for kangaroos, birds and reptiles. 

Frenchman Peak

The route to the top...

Mrs B on top of Frenchman Peak

Panoramic views from Frenchman Peak.

A visit to a final beach concluded our time in Cape Le Grand National Park but before we returned to Esperance we passed through a sudden light shower that produced an unexpected rainbow to end a memorable day.

We had now travelled 500 miles from Perth. A long return journey would be required to catch a plane. Fortunately this was quite a few days away thus providing more opportunities for some different sights and experiences in an ever changing landscape.

Call my bluff...

Mount Barker, a small country town, was to be our base for a couple of nights. Located in farming country and with a few wineries its main attraction was its close proximity to the Stirling Range National Park, which was to be the focus of our visit to this area.

Robyn and Vince welcomed us to our accommodation a small chalet in the grounds of their B&B. They also offered 'glamping' in Mongolian yurts. We were not the only temporary guests. Robyn and Vince care for orphaned kangaroos prior to releasing them back into the wild. At the time of our stay they were caring for Angel, Ruby (the baby), Jumper and Chocolate. Within half an hour of our arrival Mrs B. was cuddling Ruby and helping to feed the two boys with milk from a bottle. 

As well as the kangaroos there were chickens, a dog and two merino sheep...so quite a menagerie. Kookaburras nested in the trees.

Despite being tempted to spend the next day in the company of the 'roos we planned to spend our time exploring and this meant opening the gate in the morning without letting them all escape. Fortuitously Angel hopped into our chalet and investigated our kitchen and bedroom which gave me time to open the gate and drive the car outside without releasing the menagerie.

A Kangaroo in the kitchen!

Mrs B. and Angel looking out of our bedroom window

Much of our journey so far had taken us through coastal or forest landscapes but from Mount Barker we were able to see mountains for the first time. The Stirling Range has several summits over 1000 meters in height and I hoped to climb the highest, Bluff Knoll at 1099 meters. It was about an hours drive to the Stirling Range National Park and Bluff Knoll came into sight as we got closer. Driving in Australia has a few hazards. Native wildlife is prone to jump out in front of cars much as pheasants do in England. The problem however in Australia is that its not pheasants that you have to look out for but kangaroos and emus! Warning signs remind you of the hazards.

As we started to approach Bluff Knoll on the access road a small kangaroo shot out in front of us. Fortunately I wasn't driving too fast and had time to brake and take evasive action.

Bluff Knoll is a craqgy mountain, often covered in cloud (and very occasionally snow) and from the car park it looked a steep climb. After days of hot sunshine we'd entered a period of cooler weather and the mountain was covered in mist - living up to its reputation. Local aboriginal people believe this mist to be a spirit named Noatch and the mountain is associated with death in aboriginal story telling. I had conveniently neglected to share this information with Mrs B!

First view of Bluff Knoll, the top shrouded in mist.

We started the climb and soon began a steep ascent. The path was rocky but well marked passing initially through native bush before climbing steadily to offer views of the other peaks of the Stirling Range. Mrs B got to just over halfway up and we agreed I'd carry on to the summit as this wasn't the type of walking she was used to....

Approaching half way....

After another 45 minutes or so I arrived at the summit, a small area of boulders and low growing lichen covered plants at the edge of a precipice. Fortunately the cloud cover had lifted and the views of the other peaks and the plains stretching out to the coast were impressive. 

Altogether it took me about 3 hours and 25 minutes to get up to the top and return to the car park - where, to my relief, Mrs B was waiting for me as it was a long walk back to anywhere! We returned to Nomads to spend a bit more time with the kangaroos before planning a route for the next leg of our journey.

In the morning it was time to say our goodbyes once more (and check Mrs B.'s rucksack to make sure she hadn't smuggled a kangaroo into it). We made a stop for coffee at the Mount Barker Country Bakery before leaving and bought two of their waygu beef pies for later consumption...they had won an award for the best gourmet pie in Australia in 2014. 

A 300 mile journey lay ahead of us to the town of Esperance on the Southern Coast so with our caffeine levels topped up and the petrol in the car replenished we set off on a long, long drive.