Visit to Fremantle
Hey all, so I just sen Nat off and now I have time to write about our brilliant excursion to Fremantle, which is a coastal town to the North West (barely) of Perth. Its pretty accessible by train though, so we took a train there and back, and was surprised by the abundance of seats (which do not exist anymore in Singapore beyond Pasir Ris Station and other end line stations). But yeah it was very efficient and got us to Fremantle pretty quickly. More about the train system when I have the time I guess, to fully write about it because its quite interesting how they do things here, when it comes to public transport.
This is Nat at a sign in Fremantle, which stated where the different places were, it wasn't really hard to find many places there, cos there were many signs like these around.
But as we were heading to the prison, we stumbled upon a timezone. Instinctively headed in, and saw a DDR machine, for those who don't know Nat is an expert when it comes to DDR, cos she practiced a lot in secondary school days, so to our surprise the DDR machine was open, cos someone had put in credits and was no longer there. So like a duck to water, she took to it.
This is her in action. As you can see her feet are too fast for the shutter speed on my lousy cam. Haha!
On the way to the prison, I saw the Fremantle Oval, where they play Aussie Rules Football in Fremantle. So headed there to take a pic of the field, which isn't astroturf btw.
The entrance of Fremantle Prison.
A common view in Fremantle prison, the long corridors, with thick doors to the right and left.
And of course there was more than one floor, the netting between the floors was to prevent any suicide cases of ppl jumpin off from the top floor down.
The inside of one of the cells, with a simple study table and chair, and a bed. Prisoners spend about half the day here, the other half working outside.
The toilets are in the exercise yard where the prisoners eat. This pic is about less than 10m where the rest eat. If you want to shit in your cell, there is a bucket which you use, and then empty in a drain near to this toilet.
According to a guide, in the past there used to be a superstition that when an owl flies in, it will indicate if an inmate will be hung or spared (by getting an appeal or reprieve) according to which exercise yard it flew into. And lo and behold she said she had not seen an owl for 3 years, until a few weeks ago, when this owl appeared. As she was telling us about this, the wind picked up tremendously and I was quite scared.
One of the favourite pasttimes of the prisoners while they were outside was basketball, here you see a make shift hoop. There were lines drawn on the floor and all.
This was the anglican church inside the prison. Even here, the prisoners who were violent or at risk (child killers/ex policeman) were seperated cos there were cages behind for them to attend the service in.
No. 6 was ironic, because the very person who painted this, was released from prison and later arrested for murder.
One of the oldest things in the prison is this classic piano, which was brought from England.
The inside of one of the inmate's cell. This particular inmate was rather talented so he was allowed to paint on his walls.
Another painting by an inmate.
A msg written by an inmate here. I have no idea though whether he died in prison, or eventually met his family though, but it goes to show that everybody is human and love is what makes us human.
I love this line, cos its so apt for someone in prison, this was found in another cell. Its like he is trying to remind himself that since he is now in prison (which is obvs not something he planned) he has to try and live life as it was now, and not keep thinking about what was to come. Because if he did, he wouldnt see whats in front of him. Something for all of us.
The triangle, a placed where unruly inmates were tied to and then later whipped.
The inside of a cell of solitary confinement, you stayed 23 hours inside and 1 hour outside, an inmate was rumoured to be in there for 2 years.
The guide told us that this cell was special because if you were in this cell, you only needed to stay for two hours. When asked why, she said its cos you were going to be hung if you were in this cell.
The gallows, 44 people were hung altogether in this room, I did not stay long. None of us did really.
Another look at the gallow, basically that hole is a floor that can be collapsed upon turning the lever which is near the fence.
This is the inside of the catholic church, which was near the women's prison.
Aboriginal art, inside one of the inmate's cells.
This is the inside of the escape proof cell which the famed escape-prone prisoner Moondyne Joe was put in. The walls a redouble thick and so are the doors. The bumps in the wall are old marks of where nails were once stuck to, so the walls were actually covered with deadly sharp nails so that he could not escape. Btw, he did escape, but during worktime in the yard, when he quarried stones, and was secretly digging a hole through the outside wall.
You would be a fool to climb up these stairs, cos if you did, you were about 10m from freedom, seperated by a wall, so they were really careful whom they allowed up here.
Prison, is a place of despair, but also a place where people find many things in themselves, which give them hope. Rainbow over the fremantle prison, two vastly different symbols which somehow appeared together before we left the prison that day.
Thereafter we popped by to the Fremantle chocolate factory and this is a picture on the inside of it, with the chocolate flowing freely. I felt so tempted to just stick my finger in and taste it. But if I did I would prob be made to pay for contaminating litres of chocolate man.
This is the outside of the factory with rows and rows of chocolate to buy. It was also at quite a good price as well.
We managed to pop by the maritime museum as well, and here is Nat taking a picture beside a submarine propellor, she is happy that she is taller than it!
This is the submarine that the propellor belongs to.
Just a view of the coast of Fremantle, sorry its quite blur cos the wind was absolutely gusting over there.
Overall it was a superb trip plus the seafood there was to die for, definitely way better than East Coast and Fish and Co, and it was really worth it. I was so full from eating i literally fell asleep while waiting for the food to be digested. But yeah, I hope to go there soon. There are actually night ghost tours at Fremantle, so I hope to go there.
Thats all for now guys, hope you enjoyed the pics.
Missing all,
Az
Trip to the Perth Zoo
Hey all, sorry was busy but I really have to share the pics I took at the zoo. I have about a hundred pics but I thought these would, it was a wonderfully-paced day with lots of time to really look at the animals and their behaviours. plus they had special time to walk into the enclosures itself, so it was a really good time. Alright enough talk, here are some of the pictures.
The ever adorable penguin, always a crowd favourite!
This was a sun bear! A cute baby one in the enclosure they just started.
They had a really big enclosure for the elephants (duh right).
The ever majestic tiger, I took like 20 over shots before I decided on showing you guys this one. He's looking straight at me!
This was Nat's whole purpose in coming. To see the Koala bears! But they ran away once the trainer came cos according to her it was weighing day and they hate to be weighed. And also, an interesting thing to note is that they sleep 20 hours a day and they barely drink cos they get 90% of the moisture from the eucalyptus leaves they eat.
Haha, the rhino lazing around. It was damn huge I tell you, and their skin is super thick as well.
The giraffes!
The Galapagos turtle trying to move or already moving? I dunno man, I kept saying that it probably takes forever to move. This one was about 1.2m in length.
And the tarantula spider! Saw this in the nocturnal section, where we saw a bat eating a mouse! upside down some more.
Alright then thats all for now, will put up pictures of the trip to UWA as soon as I can, plan to head to Fremantle prison tomorrow so that will be an interesting journey! Oh yes forgot to tell you that the zookeepers there are really nice, and they are really well educated with their info about animals and such. Not that I expected anything less.
Btw, one last picture!
Nat finally managed to find her relative in Perth after much searching!
Missing all,
Az
Start of Something New
Well I dunno how time seems to pass to fast over here, but anyways I want to talk about my trip to the women’s cup match on Sunday. Basically I looked up on Friday and realised there were about 6-7 cup matches happening around WA, so I decided to choose the closest one to just take a look at how things are, really. Anyways, as always I checked the map and decided that it “looked” near enough to walk, I reckoned (based on my previous night’s walk) that it would probably take me about half an hour to walk at a fast pace.
How wrong I was, in the end it took me a 1hr 10 min walk. And those people who know me well enough know that I don’t actually walk very leisurely. So yeah, it was a tough walk, and I was asking myself if it would be worth it, cos it was just a match. But I guess the significance of beginning my soccer journey here in Oz just got the better of me so I decided to trudge on.
When I arrived, it was really a great sight. For one, the grass was brilliant, flat grass. Hmmm, if I can describe it its not the sort of grass u find in Singapore, more like carpet/Bermuda grass which doesn’t grow very long and usually grows very neatly.
So anyways when I reached there I saw three beautiful pitches and people playing on each of them. Its probably something like the Padang in Singapore? Yup so I settled down to watch the match between Leeming Strikers and Wembley Downs SC. One thing I noticed immediately was how the Leeming Strikers had like mums playing for them. They looked about 30 plus, maybe 40 even but they were really really good, and they didn’t play like older people, they sprinted just as much and put in just as much effort as the younger ppl around them did.
The pace of the match was also very intense, and the technique involved was a different level altogether than Singapore. Plenty more passing and running off the ball. More importantly they looked like they were playing soccer, and not just trying to. I was very impressed with the match overall, and I felt that my day was worth it.
When I reached home I decided to check where those teams were in the table. Imagine when I realised that the teams were from Division 3 (LSFC) and Division 4 (WDSC) respectively. Imagine how the teams in division 1 play! They have 9 divisions here in WA alone so it was really good to know that so many teams are playing here in WA. Its really different here in terms of the priority and support that they give to sport. Soccer is still growing but everywhere you go you see ads about soccer, aussie rules, rugby league and even the netball league over here.
Well long story short, here are a few pics that I took of the field and of what was happening on it. I used my phone so u can barely see anything much really. But look at the grass, its brilliant really.
Oh and also a few pictures, of the things I took on the way there.
Pictures of the Match, sorry bout the quality but I was using my camera phone.
This is the type of grass that grows on their public field, as you can see its really short and neat.
This was a mini hill that I saw along one of the streets I walked on on the way home. Basically its a small mini hill with trees growing on it, if you can see. But I wasn't allowed beyond the fence.
Always a good sign.
Missing all,
Az
The Long Walk Home
Yesterday I did something stupid, but necessary. At first sight it wasn't really something stupid, but in retrosopect it wasn't actually something very smart also. Well, basically I was supposed to go for some dance concert with my aunty.I din realli want to go but at the same time I wasn't having any plans too, so I just agreed. The plan was to drive the car to the place, drive the family back, and then have the car on my own today (sunday) and return it tomorrow (Monday). Well one thing I didn't know was that the car had not been driven for a month. And being winter and all, oviously the engine was frozen, so we had to jump start the car. After doing so, we were on our way out, but because the engine was just too cold and had not run a long time, the battery died again, a mere 5 min through our trip. Thank God though I didnt drive it out very far, so we had to get out. And push the car. It was me, my aunty, and her two daughters, both aged 14 and 7. What the, Obviously I had to do most of the pushing, and managed to get it to the side of the road.
Then the real adventure began. Obviously Oz being what it was, there wasn't any bus for me to take back home. Somehow they contrive to not run so often on days and nights when we need it the most. In Singapore for example, the buses run late on Sats, cos people go out late at night. Anyways, I din wanna inconvenience my aunty, and cos I was not too close to her (plus the fact that her house was damn cold) I told her that I would make my way home.
So I actually walked home, and it took me bout 50 minutes altogether. It was rather scary cos the streets were dead, it was seriously like walking around 1-2am in Singapore. Completely quiet. I have walked plenty of times so late at night in Singapore, but somehow being in a foreign country I wasn't realli very comfortorble. I kept looking back and checking to see if there was anybody behind me. In fact even stopped a bit at the start to separate my notes, cos I kept thinking if I was robbed how I could not give them everything I had. Ever the pessimist and the pragmatist. But anyways, long story short, it was a long quiet walk and I kept asking myself why I din just stay? But somehow I told myself and managed to convince myself to just stay cool and keep walking in the well-lit areas. The wind was crazy though, really cut to the bone, but I had my sweater on though. And I kept looking at the clock and tried to convince myself it was really early still (which it was, I got home at 920pm), but the environment around me really convinced me otherwise.
But yeah when I got home I decided that I will have to blog about it. Walking in Aussie on a sat night really no very good idea. But it was necessary cos there was no other way home except to take a cab which was 30 over bux for a 15-20 min ride. Def not worth it. But yes, I gotta be smarter next time, and not walk home at 8 plus at night! Haha, hardly a line you will hear me say in Singapore.
Anyways here are some photos for all. Yes somehow in all that paranoia I stopped to take pics!
Deserted streets at 830pm. This was one of the long stretches of streets that I was walking on.
Another deserted road, though nearer to my place.
This is the road just outside my place, which is called Herdmans Parade, again this was about 9pm. Not a car or a soul.
And of cos I gotta end with my dark driveway home! Haha, to climax the whole trip.
Oh well, looking at these pictures, I am grateful I got home in one piece. Lesson learnt, gotta plan your trip here in Aussie, if not...... take a long walk home!
Missing all,
Az
This is Nat at a sign in Fremantle, which stated where the different places were, it wasn't really hard to find many places there, cos there were many signs like these around.
But as we were heading to the prison, we stumbled upon a timezone. Instinctively headed in, and saw a DDR machine, for those who don't know Nat is an expert when it comes to DDR, cos she practiced a lot in secondary school days, so to our surprise the DDR machine was open, cos someone had put in credits and was no longer there. So like a duck to water, she took to it.
This is her in action. As you can see her feet are too fast for the shutter speed on my lousy cam. Haha!
On the way to the prison, I saw the Fremantle Oval, where they play Aussie Rules Football in Fremantle. So headed there to take a pic of the field, which isn't astroturf btw.
The entrance of Fremantle Prison.
A common view in Fremantle prison, the long corridors, with thick doors to the right and left.
And of course there was more than one floor, the netting between the floors was to prevent any suicide cases of ppl jumpin off from the top floor down.
The inside of one of the cells, with a simple study table and chair, and a bed. Prisoners spend about half the day here, the other half working outside.
The toilets are in the exercise yard where the prisoners eat. This pic is about less than 10m where the rest eat. If you want to shit in your cell, there is a bucket which you use, and then empty in a drain near to this toilet.
According to a guide, in the past there used to be a superstition that when an owl flies in, it will indicate if an inmate will be hung or spared (by getting an appeal or reprieve) according to which exercise yard it flew into. And lo and behold she said she had not seen an owl for 3 years, until a few weeks ago, when this owl appeared. As she was telling us about this, the wind picked up tremendously and I was quite scared.
One of the favourite pasttimes of the prisoners while they were outside was basketball, here you see a make shift hoop. There were lines drawn on the floor and all.
This was the anglican church inside the prison. Even here, the prisoners who were violent or at risk (child killers/ex policeman) were seperated cos there were cages behind for them to attend the service in.
No. 6 was ironic, because the very person who painted this, was released from prison and later arrested for murder.
One of the oldest things in the prison is this classic piano, which was brought from England.
The inside of one of the inmate's cell. This particular inmate was rather talented so he was allowed to paint on his walls.
Another painting by an inmate.
A msg written by an inmate here. I have no idea though whether he died in prison, or eventually met his family though, but it goes to show that everybody is human and love is what makes us human.
I love this line, cos its so apt for someone in prison, this was found in another cell. Its like he is trying to remind himself that since he is now in prison (which is obvs not something he planned) he has to try and live life as it was now, and not keep thinking about what was to come. Because if he did, he wouldnt see whats in front of him. Something for all of us.
The triangle, a placed where unruly inmates were tied to and then later whipped.
The inside of a cell of solitary confinement, you stayed 23 hours inside and 1 hour outside, an inmate was rumoured to be in there for 2 years.
The guide told us that this cell was special because if you were in this cell, you only needed to stay for two hours. When asked why, she said its cos you were going to be hung if you were in this cell.
The gallows, 44 people were hung altogether in this room, I did not stay long. None of us did really.
Another look at the gallow, basically that hole is a floor that can be collapsed upon turning the lever which is near the fence.
This is the inside of the catholic church, which was near the women's prison.
Aboriginal art, inside one of the inmate's cells.
This is the inside of the escape proof cell which the famed escape-prone prisoner Moondyne Joe was put in. The walls a redouble thick and so are the doors. The bumps in the wall are old marks of where nails were once stuck to, so the walls were actually covered with deadly sharp nails so that he could not escape. Btw, he did escape, but during worktime in the yard, when he quarried stones, and was secretly digging a hole through the outside wall.
You would be a fool to climb up these stairs, cos if you did, you were about 10m from freedom, seperated by a wall, so they were really careful whom they allowed up here.
Prison, is a place of despair, but also a place where people find many things in themselves, which give them hope. Rainbow over the fremantle prison, two vastly different symbols which somehow appeared together before we left the prison that day.
Thereafter we popped by to the Fremantle chocolate factory and this is a picture on the inside of it, with the chocolate flowing freely. I felt so tempted to just stick my finger in and taste it. But if I did I would prob be made to pay for contaminating litres of chocolate man.
This is the outside of the factory with rows and rows of chocolate to buy. It was also at quite a good price as well.
We managed to pop by the maritime museum as well, and here is Nat taking a picture beside a submarine propellor, she is happy that she is taller than it!
This is the submarine that the propellor belongs to.
Just a view of the coast of Fremantle, sorry its quite blur cos the wind was absolutely gusting over there.
