From Jurien Bay we drove down to Perth and were lucky enough to stay with my cousin and her husband for a week. For the first time in months we actually slept in a bedroom whilst our caravan was able to be conveniently parked in a space in a cul-de-sac. On our previous visits to Perth we had never ventured down to Fremantle, Perth’s historic port town. After a rainy day or two, sunshine beckoned to us to leave the house so we drove down to the edge of the city of Fremantle and parked. The centre of Fremantle is easy to walk around and we loved the old buildings – the grand mansions, churches, pubs and the town hall in which the tourist information centre was housed. We grabbed a walking map and set off. Here’s a few photos of some of these historic and well maintained buildings.

This old pub is now a backpackers.There were quite a few cafes.This bookshop had a novel (pun intended) way of selling books that had previously not sold. Each book had a few hints as to the content on the brown paper wrapping.As we made our way along High Street, leading to the Fremantle gaol, we noticed some indiscriminate yellow paint sections on some of the buildings.It wasn’t until we reached the end of the street and saw this information board that we solved the mystery.They were part of an art installation by a Swiss artist, Felice Varini. Not sure if it is still there.From this vantage point it was a short walk to the Round House – Fremantle Gaol, the oldest public building in Western Australia. It was built in 1831 soon after British free settlers established what was then named the Swan River Colony.

Along the foreshore trail we came upon this quirky sculptureand not long after, this one of the original singer of world renowned band ACDC, Bon Scott, much to our delight.Along the waterfront near to a number of seafood cafes were these aptly located sculptures too.

By this time we were hungry and thirsty so decided to take a late lunch of fish and chips and salad at Cicerello’s, right on the wharf.Initially we thought of eating out on their balcony but several groups of hungry seagulls put us off. It can be annoying fighting to eat your own food. Inside we admired the fish in the tanks while we waited for our food to arrive.The fish was delicious but once finished we left as it was quite busy and noisy. As we made our way back to the car we passed a number of other lovely, well preserved old buildings.

There was a real old world atmosphere to Fremantle, its old buildings reminding us quite a bit of buildings of a similar bygone era in Melbourne. You can do a bus tour of Fremantle but we really recommend taking a self guided walk like we did.