Kimberley Trip, Day 19: Perth and Fremantle

Monday, June 10, 2024

Kenna and I slept in a bit today, then set out into downtown Perth. We grabbed breakfast at one of the many coffee shops. Perth seems to be quite a coffee city, but there are no Starbucks here.

We walked to Elizabeth Quay and the Barrack Street jetty, from which many tour boats originate. We picked up some information on Rottnest Island tours and were surprised when Lee and Colleen, two of our fellow passengers on the Orion, also showed up. We may see them again.

From there, we walked to Kings Park and its botanical garden. We made some wrong turns but eventually found it and discovered it is up quite a hill from downtown and has a great view. The botanical garden is nicely labeled and includes specific sections for areas like the Kimberley. From a distance, we saw Lee and Colleen here too. We could have spent a lot more time here, but we wanted to make it out to Fremantle, so we caught a bus to the train station and a train to Fremantle.

One of our first goals in Fremantle (“Freo” to the locals) was to visit the Indian Ocean for the first time. We went out to a nearby beach and touched the water, which, of course, felt like…water. Soon after that, we ran into a couple of other fellow passengers from the Orion, who had just returned from the Maritime Museum. They told us it was excellent, so we headed over there.

After a quick late lunch in their snack bar, we toured the exhibits. One memorable exhibit for me was Australia II, the Australian winner of the America’s Cup sailing race in 1983. It was a big deal at the time and continues to be a source of pride for Australians.

Fremantle hadn’t initially seemed much like other beach towns (Santa Cruz, Brighton UK, etc.) I have visited. But as we headed more into the city center, we began to see the makings of a beach town: some brewpubs, a game arcade, souvenir shops, etc. It was still somewhat more restrained than many.

Exhausted from several miles of walking, we returned to the train station and rode back to Perth, where we had more walking to do to get to the hotel. We opted to have dinner in the hotel’s pub, which was mediocre and surprisingly closed at 8 p.m. — earlier than most any pub I have seen.

This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Indonesia and Australia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.