It's a sailors life for me!

Today we are running away to the sea. We were going to run away to the circus but they said we were too freakish even for them - and we didn't have any juggling balls to entertain punters with. It turns out that the sea faring folk are less fussy, so it's off to sea we have decided to go. For lazy tourists, such as we, there is a lovely cruise boat that runs from Perth down to Freemantle which takes an hour or so and offers lovely views of the Perth suburbs from a new angle.

We boarded Captain Cook's vessel in the morning (having sworn that we weren't Pater Pan in disguise) and sailed (well, motored) sedately down the river with a traditional Aussie commentary to keep us entertained: "On the right bank is a brewery, on the left bank is a house and in the middle of the river is a bloody drunk trying to swim home." We settled back and watched the very expensive scenery passing by. Just in case you don't believe me, this is a picture of the most expensive house in Perth. It cost almost 12 six packs of Fosters - and that was back when Fosters was a real man's drink for real men. (Now it's classed as carbonated chemical rubbish and even tramps turn their noses up at it). This house has lots of rooms and cost a lot of money and is probably only lived in once a year for a couple of weeks. Must be nice to have that kind of money. So we floated past and went on our merry way leaving behind the rich and famous, enjoying the marina's and the cruisers all tied up and looking spick and span - apparently nearly everyone in Perth owns a boat which begs the question: why don't Jason and Dani have one?

We reached Freemantle after a nice cruise and disembarked on the quayside to begin our wandering of the town. Freemantle is lovely. Stuffed full of colonial buildings and packed with history. Alot of the town is pedestrianised and even the bits that aren't don't have many cars driving around so it's a real pleasure to stroll about and drink in the atmosphere. We looked at old buildings and then headed for the old prison partly to see what we could see but mainly to see if they were open for business and would trump up some charges against Inga (only joking!). The prison was originally a fort to protect the harbour and ships. Built by convicts and still standing, maybe house building companies should take note? and everyday there is a a time keeping ceremony. This is the same as the one that takes place at Greenwich everyday too; a canon is fired and a big ball is dropped to signify noon. All the ships in the harbour would set there onboard timepieces by the gun and ball before they set sail having dropped off their cargo of convicts (or citizens as they're called today). We made it just in time for the event which was explained by a nice man before he got someone to fire the gun. It was over pretty quickly but good fun to watch and hear about plus it ticked the History box for the holiday which is always a good thing. From here we meandered through the town and the markets, had some lunch in a street cafe and then headed for the shipwreck museum. And the day's surreal encounter. As we crossed the park we were confronted with a giant snail who was being taken for a walk. So Cool!

It rolled along without a sound with a rider on its back and a couple of escorts. God knows what it was all about but it was a sight to behold and put a smile of your face.

The shipwreck museum was interesting and had lots of treasure and sunken (now raised) ships on display plus alot of history about what had sunk where and why around the Western coast of Australia. And it had a dead body which is always good to get the interest of a child and make her explore in the hope of finding even more gruesome exhibits! Feeling that we had overdosed on history and culture we left the dark halls and ambled down to the station to catch the train back to Perth. I can't remember much about the train ride which just goes to show how bad my memory is, or that it was dull!