Wotae: 06.11.2016
On Thursday morning it was time to leave the hostel and go to Fremantle. It's very quick and cheap to get there by train. In Fremantle, it was immediately a bit cooler, as it is right by the water. First, I checked into the hostel to get rid of my heavy bag. The hostel is definitely bigger than the one in Perth and there are many backpackers who have been there for a long time. This is usually a disadvantage for newcomers like me because everyone there knows each other and it is not easy to make connections. To my surprise, there was not a single German in the hostel, which is very unusual because Germans usually hang out everywhere.
On Facebook, there are groups specifically for backpackers to exchange information, sell cars, or other things. I took a look there and searched for someone who also wants to go up the West Coast and has a car. I found exactly the right person. Dominik, also 22 from Germany. We met in Kings Park in Perth and talked about our plans. Since we got along well and have pretty much the same plans, we decided to start the road trip together on Monday. Unfortunately, I still have to wait for my bank card because I won't go back to Perth after the road trip.
In Fremantle, I just looked around the city a bit. The weather wasn't great either, you could be lucky if it was 20 degrees and not windy. But on Saturday, I visited the sights. The Fremantle Markets are very nice. Many small stalls with food, souvenirs, and jewelry. There was also a free museum about shipwrecks. It's not really interesting for me, but it was free and outside very windy and cool, so I thought why not. After that, I went to the famous Fremantle Prison. The British used to accommodate prisoners there. But the first prisoners had to build the prison themselves. However, the stones in Fremantle were not very stable and the prison collapsed. So extra stones had to be brought from England. The prison was in operation from 1855 to 1991. It was last a maximum-security prison. At first, only men were accommodated there, later also women in a separate building. In the church, women were allowed to sit on a balcony. For the men, Sunday was always a very special day, finally seeing women.
There were also a few prison cells from different years that you could look at. At the beginning, everyone had only a hammock in their cell, later there were normal beds. For aggressive inmates, there was a special cell where all objects were nailed down so that they could not throw them around.
There were also many children on the tour, and the tour guide always interacted well with them and made many jokes. So a very interesting tour and I recommend it to everyone.
On Sunday, it was time to do laundry because I have to leave the hostel again on Monday. So I hung up the laundry in the whole room. Luckily, there are only 2 other girls in my 8-person room who are out all day anyway. Since my bank card still hadn't arrived on Saturday, I had to hope for Monday. The bank card is sent to my old hostel in Perth. Since my travel mate Dominik is already in Perth, I also have to go to Perth tomorrow.
In Fremantle, I strolled through the small shops a bit and packed my bag in the evening.