Fremantle 1 – Fish and chip heaven and the Twilight Zone

Duckstein; Art gallery or brewery?

On the way to Fremantle we stopped at the Duckstein Brewery for lunch. It’s based on the Swan River, though the picture here is of the adjacent lake and not the river, which is not really a river anyway but an almost permanent salt-water estuary. The food was typically Germanic, I have a goulash variant and Fo had a sauerkraut dish.  Oddly out of place though this was, it was the building and its beautiful location which were far more noteworthy. Anyway, you judge for yourself.

Freo bathing beach for those unafraid of sharks.

On arrival in Fremantle our first order of business was to return our hire car to Perth. A thirty minute drive through rush hour traffic brought us back to the suburb of Bayswater, from which we planned to get a train back to Fremantle. The guys at the hire car company directed us to Meltham Station “just around the corner” which turned out to be over a kilometre distant. The walk did nothing to improve Fo's humour which soured further when we got to the station to find a single ticket machine that only took cash in the form of coin, despite claiming to accept debit cards. Inevitably we didn't have sufficient coin so contacted the helpline for advice, which went something like this, "Eh, yeah, no... Some machines only take coin. Does anybody on the platform have any change"? Lots of head shaking ensued. "Eh, yeah, no, look.. .. you could get on and pay at the other end, but if you get stopped by an inspector you'll have to pay a fine." Lots of head scratching ensued and then, as if to wash his hands of these troublesome POMS, "Eh, yeah, no... you'll have to get some change from a nearby shop."

Much like TransPerth helpline operators it seems.

We hung up and trudged back out of the station, missing our train in the process, to find ourselves in a commercial graveyard; every single shop had gone out of business and was boarded up. Feeling as though we have stumbled into an episode of The Twilight Zone, we eventually found a functioning dental prosthetic company (yes, still firmly in the Twilight Zone). A kindly receptionist provided 5 dollar coins in exchange for a note enabling us to catch the next train and finally leave the surreal suburb of Meltham. Come on TransPerth, you’re better than this.

The Round House

Fremantle (Freo) is a place I have wanted to visit ever since watching Quigley Down Under, an underrated western set in Western Australia starring an underrated Tom Selleck. It also stars Alan Rickman as the baddie who reprieves the characterisation that helped him steal Robin Hood Prince of Thieves from under Kevin Costner’s nose. Anyway, back to Freo. It’s a town with a big port on the entrance to the Swan River (estuary), Perth itself is on the same inlet, some 16kms inland to the North West. The Round House is the oldest public building in the State of Western Australia. Opened in January 1831, just 18 months after settlement, it was built to hold any person convicted of a crime in the settlement and was used until 1886.

 

Our new base was a self-contained apartment in a house on South Terrace, a 15 minute amble from the centre of town. If we didn’t fancy walking, a free bus service stops right outside the front door.

We had 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a lounge/kitchen/diner. Cafes, bars and restaurants abound nearby including one section of South Terrace lovingly called the Cappuccino Strip. Oz is mad about coffee and the Strip is the place to be seen when you're in Freo. There are dozens of establishments all trying to create a unique way to pull in coffee punters. It's competitive for sure but still manages to be laid back, firmly rooted in 60s hippie culture and, despite this, somewhere that I could happily spend more than the week allocated.

 

Fish and chip heaven.

Freo's other great attraction is fish and the best place for this is the Fremantle Fishing Harbour. Robert and Ken, our new friends from Scarborough, joined us for a fish and chip lunch at Kailis's, a fabulous place on the boardwalk overlooking the working harbour. The chips were crisp, the fish perfectly cooked, the wine well chilled, the sky was blue and the company was great; if heaven doesn't look something like this I want to know why. After lunch we had ice cream at Cicerello's, another Freo tradition, before waddling back to base for a snooze. Many more days like this and I will not want to go home.

Should I have another piece of carrot cake?

The following day we spent the morning stocking the fridge., dull I know but necessary. We found a great deli/grocer just around the corner, adjacent to a gourmet meat supplier where emu and roo sausages could be had. It was an Aladdin’s cave of meaty delights not unlike the kind of place you’d find in a souk in Morocco, and the smell was amazing – though probably not so if you’re a vegetarian. Our spreading tummies are clear evidence that we have both found it hard to limit our food intake while travelling in Oz. Our stay in Freo promises to be equally challenging.



Latte with cake? What a ridiculous idea.

In the afternoon we hopped on board the free bus to explore the town centre. Some hours later we found ourselves drinking coffee and eating cakes at Gino's, one of the Strip's best coffee houses. I maintained that my fruit tart was superior in every way to Fo's carrot cake. She disagreed vociferously and, moreover, pointed out that her latte was a more appropriate accompaniment to cake than my double espresso. I suspect our conversation was no more meaningful than any other on the Strip during the course of that warm, sunny afternoon.