I am very glad to know that in 2016, Fremantle has been picked as number 7 on Lonely Planet "The Best in Travel Top 10 Cities". Say yaaaay for Freo!! I never heard of Fremantle until I was on the airplane. The man, who sat next to me, kept talking about this town nonstop. It could be because I am a tourist and he was born in Fremantle. He said "Oh! you can't miss Fremantle prison and Bon Scott statue. At that time I was like who the heck is Bon Scott. I will tell you the answer later who he is. Anyway, Fremantle didn't sound interesting at first, however, I decided to go on account of Lonely Planet. Jaysus, Fremantle is much more than I thought. This town is an architectural time capsule, for example, Fremantle Town Hall opened in 1887 so, basically, it is more than 100 years old! Plus this antique town hall still holds its original grandeur making it one of Perth's most prestigious examples of classical 19th century architecture. You see? Don't underestimate Fremantle like I did. Even railway station here is cooler than any stations in WA.
Every single step I walked, I felt like I was in 80s. The scenery reminds me of a film called "Wild Wild West". If everyone had dressed like that film, I probably would have believed I went back in time.Have you ever heard of didgeridoos? It is known as Aboriginal instrument. The researchers found that didgeridoos could be the world's oldest musical instrument, over 40,000 years old! Luckily, I had a chance to learn to play didgeridoos at a shop called Didgeridoo Breath. This place they teach you how to play for free. In the shop I saw so many didgeridoos. They made in many location like Orange NSW, Rockhampton QLD, Perth WA and the weirdest location, the US. To start the lesson, we had to pick any didgeridoos in the shop. That's right, any. I picked the one made in Sydney because I wanna go there. I don't know ho to explain how to play but basically, you gonna spit a lot. To get better explanation I put the link of the shop right here for you guy.
The girl in the photo. It was her first time playing didgeridoo. She completely rock it even the guy who taught us made the "wow" face at her. I spent good amount of time in Didgeridoo Breath, then I moved on to The Roundhouse. It built to hold any person convicted of a crime in the settlement till 1886. The design of this place is twelve-sided building with a jailer's residence, all of which opened onto a central courtyard. Outside, you can see the Fishing Boat Harbour and Indian Ocean. Underneath the Roundhouse, there is a whale tunnel that built by the Fremantle Whaling Company in 1837 to allow the company easily access between Fremantle town and Bathers Beach. The day I visited the Roundhouse, there were a lot of pupils there because of a school trip. They remind me of myself when I went to a school trip with my primary school. I really miss those moment.
Whenever you guy are hungry, I would like to recommend a place called Pasta Addiction. I am not a big fan of pasta but this place is an exception. I ordered Fettuccine Carbonara on a small plate, trust me it fulfil my belly. I really love the texture of the sauce and their crispy bacon. I wish they open another branch in Bangkok so I eat there whenever I want.
The highlight of this town is Fremantle Prison. I was very excited to get in because it gonna be my first prison tour ever. At first I wanted to go to night tour but I changed my mind. To get in everyone has to buy a tour. I bought "Doing Time tour" since it is the cheapest one. Inside the jail, It was pretty stuffy but I was fine with that. The jail built by convicts in 1850 and finished in 1859. After that convicts from England started to deport to Australia. In 1868, England ceased to send the convicts to Fremantle due to the cost of penal servitude was higher than transportation. There are many room and many cells inside. The size of each room are tiny. I can say they are tinier than hostels in Hong Kong.
There is one room that I didn't expect to see in there is a church. Every Sunday, the priest and some of the convicts pray to the god and of course, ask for forgiveness. The atmosphere inside was getting worse because the guide brought us to the lightest penalty to the strongest penalty like decapitate room. I will talk about decapitate room in a minute but first let's move on to the single cell jail. This building doesn't has good noise reflex, a lot of echo, since the building will echo the convicts sound when they shout, scream or made loud noise, so it will hurt their ears. Each rooms construct with double thick wooden doors with tiny space. At night, in winter, single cell jail will be so cold. I am very sure it's like that because I went there on day time and I still saw goosebumps on a Irish girl's arms. The last thing I saw on this tour is decapitate room. Believe it or not, it is the stuffiest room of the entire trip. I didn't wanna find the answer why it's like that, in fact, I didn't wanna be in that room at all. The guide explained how many people got hang in this room. I couldn't catch the words 'cause I was too afraid I gonna saw spirits. Luckily, I didn't. If you wanna see the photo of decapitate room, please google it. I was too chicken to do that. I saw some people took photos in that room, regardless.
After the prison, I wanted to see something entertaining for my eyes a bit, hence the best destination was Fishing Boat Harbour. AC/DC fan shouldn't miss this place in any reason. You know why? because the lead singer of AC/DC, Bon Scott, is from Fremantle! plus his statue located at the harbour! Now, If you don't know what is AC/DC, I can tell you that it is one of Australia's most successful and internationally known rock and roll bands. My host brothers in Colorado are a fan of AC/DC. Every time we went out to Walmart or any places, they always listen to AD/DC songs. One of their fav song is Back in Black. The funny thing is they can't do high voice like Bon but they gonna sing no matter what. Anyway, thousands of AC/DC fans visit Fremantle each year to visit his grave at Fremantle Cemetery's memorial gardens and have their photo taken with bronze statue of Bon.
Along the harbour, there are many nice restaurants such as Cicerello's, Sweetlips Fish & Chips, Bather Beach House etc. After the good meal, don't forget to visit Fremantle Markets. Established in 1897, this place offering local products like honey, coffee, bread and chocolate plus much more. Before I left this town, I accidentally found Monument Hill Memorial Reserve. It dedicated to the 59,330 Australians killed or missing in action in WWI. Various individuals commemorated include U.S. submariners killed in WWII, Royal Navy service men and women, the Netherlands service men and women and the men of the British East Indies Fleets in WWI.
All of above, Fremantle is not just 3 in 1 but it's many in 1. Fremantle is the must to see in WA. I'm not surprise why Lonely Planet vote for Fremantle as number 7 in Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2016 Top 10 Cities. In my opinion, I can vote as number 1.
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