Fremantle and Leighton beach

Tuesday 19^th October

The transport system in Perth is excellent. We bought two all-day tickets (can be used on trains, buses and ferries) and made our way to Fremantle.

This is a busy place with lots of restaurants, pubs, shops and historic buildings.

Ignoring the shops we had lunch in one of the oldest establishments, (left) and no it’s not beer – mainly because it wasn’t licensed.

Like the restaurant, many of the buildings have wonderful facades. They looked like photographs we've seen of streets in New Orleans. It is easy to imagine what Fremantle must have looked like in the 19th century.

The area around Arthur Head has a lovely bay which used to be the original port.

Marg couldn’t resist a paddle.

The Signal Station on a hill alongside the bay still fires a cannon blast at 1 p.m. as it used to do to alert seamen to the correct time. Beneath this is the whalers’ tunnel – used in the past to move goods from the port to the town.

We had intended to break our journey back to Perth at Cottesloe Beach, but postcards and adverts we’d seen made it look quite busy. We stopped off instead at North Fremantle and walked down to Leighton Beach. Good choice! It was practically deserted. Great waves and a great afternoon.

We have a very long day out tomorrow and then a flight to Uluru next day, so no blog for a couple of days.