Fremantle

FREMANTLE MUSEUMS 16^th -17^th April

We left the peacefulness of Kenny’s block and headed down the busy HWY that leads to Perth. Our first stop was Mandurah, a city built by and on the water. It was quite an eye opener driving in over bridges that overlook all these houses built on canals. As you drive down the main roads and look down the streets you see water! It is all reclaimed land that has been made into canals that feed off the inlet. Closer to the Marina it is like looking at a modern Venice with these three story apartments built on the water. We sat by the inlet in the main street and had our lunch as we watched the more wealthy people go about their busy day.



Living by the water!



Some of the canals at Mandurah

Instead of staying in Fremantle, where there is very limited C.P’s we stayed 10km’s south at Woodman Point. Fremantle is an old town with lots of history and old buildings. We decided to spend our time looking at the 2 Museums they have. The new Museum is all about the heritage of Fremantle and the achievements Australia has done at sea.  On display is the Australia II yacht, which won the America’s Cup in 1986.



The Australia II yacht




These sailors will never get sea sick!



It also has the yacht sailed by Jon Sanler who holds several world records, one of which is for circum-navigating the globe 3 times without using an engine. On this voyage he broke another record and it was for being out at sea for over 300 days without any other assistance, how lonely! We found his story and achievements very interesting.



This is Jon Sanler's yacht. It is on this extreme angle to show
one particular event that happened to him when a huge wave came up
behind him. I suppose you cant have it all easy when you are breaking  world records!

But, the best thing we loved about this museum was the tour you could do through a full sized submarine. The tour took and hour and you went right through the whole sub which inside has been left untouched. The sub was called “HMAS OVENS”,  it was built in 1969 and is 90 meters long. This submarine is a small one compared to the ones built today, and the technology very old and dated, but it is was still amazing to see. We were blown away by how much “stuff” you can fit inside one of these. When the sub was operational it would carry a crew of 63 men/ women and the two chefs were the only crew members who were allowed to shower every day because of hygiene, (no that wouldn’t be enough to make me want a job on it!).  You really want to get on well with your fellow crew members in this very close environment. To do the tour and get into the museum was only $35, an absolute bargain.




The Ovens Sub, 90 meters long.




Standing on top before we enter.




Enter down the ladder.




One of the sleeping quarters, this has 18 beds in this room.




Looking down the corridor.




The kitchen. 2 chefs, 64 meals cooked 3 times a day. There pantry was a step
into the hallway then down a  ladder  to the bottom level, would be a very fit chef.



The Engines. Two V16 Diesels. That is Tom down the other end, so it gives you a
good idea how narrow the walk ways are.

The other museum is called the Shipwreck Gallery because it concentrated on the old sailing ships back in the 1600’s. We came to this museum 12 years ago and were blown away by the reconstructed part of the ship called the Batavia and we wanted to show the boys this. This was a shipwreck back in the 1600’s that sank some way off the coast line out from where Geraldton is today. Upon discovering the wreck they not only found spices for trade but they also found it was carrying a sand stone archway that was to go on the Fortress of Batavia which is now known as Jakarta.  I think it is the fact that what you are looking at was not only built in the 1600’s but what you see looks so big in front of you then you see the picture that shows you what part of the ship you are looking at and then you get true sense of how enormous these ships must have been and all built out of timber and by hand!!!



The   ruins of The Batavia. You can see some people at the back left and that will give you and idea on how large this is.
Then you just have to imagine that this is not even a quarter of the ships hull!




This is looking down from above showing how the ship was put together. In the back ground you can see  some of the
replica of the Sandstone archway it was carrying, the original is in the Geraldton Museum.




We had a good day of exploring and learning.