Fremantle

This morning we woke up naturally at 7 because we had gone to bed so early the night before, so we went for a run along the seawall. It was pretty quiet out, but we still passed a decent amount of people and were able to watch the kite boarders and surfers out on the ocean. Luckily, it wasn’t too hilly of a run either, at least compared to my runs in Sydney.

We spent the majority of the day in Fremantle, which is a town down the coast from our hostel, about ten minutes by train. It wasn’t very busy when we got there, but the town definitely picked up speed around lunch. We made a visit to the Roundhouse, which is the oldest building in Western Australia. It’s where “sick” prisoners were kept when Perth housed convicts from Britain. The building is built right on the coast, but since there aren’t any windows inside, the prisoners didn’t exactly get to enjoy the view.

On the way to the Roundhouse

The Roudhouse

To continue our tour of Fremantle’s convict history, we paid a visit to the prison, which was operational from the early 1800s to 1991. We took a guided tour through the cell houses, church, administration offices, and outdoor yards. The treatment of the prisoners really was quite terrible. All of the buildings on the premises and the wall surrounding the prison were built by the original prisoners. Even after everything was built, the prisoners went to work every day to earn their keep and the ability to buy small trinkets from the prison store, such as tobacco, canned goods, or (if they saved up enough) a secondhand color television with terrible reception. The only changes the prison went through over the years were slight, including addition of electricity to the cells (for use between April and November) in the late 1900s. Each cell, by the prison’s closure, had two occupants, but still only one tin for water and one for a toilet. Apparently, prisoners would sometimes confuse the buckets before electricity was installed.

It sounds like the prison was finally closed down because in 1988, the prisoners decided to call attention to themselves. They managed to overpower two guards and unlock all of the cell mates in a division before piling up their mattresses and blankets in the doorway. Since they had two guards as hostages, they decided to demand payment of Hungry Jacks (which is like burger king) for all of the inmates. Surprisingly, they were given their demands and the prisoners released the guards. However, they then decided to set the mattress pile on fire and burnt a hole into the roof of the prison. The fire trucks were called but they couldn’t get them through the gates of the prison as the gates had been built only to accommodate horse and buggies. Some of the prisoners were injured in the fire but no one died. Those who were injured managed to sure the state of Western Australia and won compensation money, contributing to the demise of Fremantle prison for a more modern facility in a neighboring town.

Inside the cells

The Fremantle Prison

The guillotine

The whole tour was rather interesting. It was my mom’s first time visiting a gaol. I seem to manage a visit to them every time I travel, somehow. They are quite fascinating to hear stories about though.

We stopped at Dome for lunch, which appears to be a sort of chain restaurant around here. You order at the counter and they bring your food out to you. I thought the chicken foccaccia we ordered were really good. The iced chocolates they served looked decadent too, but I didn’t get one because the sun was blistering hot (and blinding), which tends to make me stay away from dairy.

Before catching the train into Perth, we stopped at the Fremantle and E-Shed Markets to have a look around. I had found a book written by a local Western Australia in the secondhand bookstore earlier, so I just picked up some postcards of the area to round out my souvenirs for the trip.

In Perth’s central business district, we wandered around a little. It was like a ghost town on a Sunday, but we managed to find Kings Park (which is like Central Park, but a little outside of the city). We were pretty tired from walking all day, so we didn’t make it all the way to the botanical gardens, but we did find a nice outlook over the city and the inlet that Perth surrounds.

On our way back to the train station, we stopped in a couple of smaller parks and by the Bell Tower. It’s probably the weirdest bell tower that I’ve ever seen—a straight blue glass point that shoots up into the sky. Apparently, they play bells there. I really liked the way it was built in the middle of a little fountain though with a boardwalk leading up to it. The chain-link fence surrounding the boardwalk was stuck with locks that looked similar to the locks of love I saw in Italy. Some of them were shaped like bells and others were just basic combination locks, but most of them had writing on them. I’ve always thought it was a really cute idea, but I particularly liked the location of these locks because it seemed so random.

The Bell Tower

Chains outside the Bell Tower

Random Kangaroo Statues

View of Perth

We caught the train back home shortly after dark, exhausted once again. I have no idea how I’m going to manage adjusting to the time zone in New Zealand.

Fiji Facts

This morning we had peanut butter sandwiches! I was so excited. I’ve been eating so much bread the last few days too because I feel like it’s been lacking since we’ve been here. It doesn’t hurt that Sanjita’s rolls are amazing and she’s been serving them at every meal since she found out we like them so much.

Our bus was over an hour late this morning to take us to a museum in town. I thought it was ridiculous, but everyone said it was running on “Fijian time,” which sounds like the biggest crock ever. When we finally got to the museum, we realized it was ridiculously small. It took us like ten minutes to wander through and the rest of our time was spent in the small gift shop. I bought a souvenir bottle opener, which I realize I probably should have brought with me because even things like wine coolers in other countries aren’t twist-offs.

View outside the history museum

A traditional boat in the history museum

After the history museum, we went to the other side of town to visit the prison. Apparently, Fijian prisoners who have served most of their sentence are encouraged to develop a talent while in jail. They are put in a separate area with house-like structures where they are able to roam free. They said not many try to escape, which sounds bizarre to me. There wasn’t even a barbed-wire fence keeping them in the area, just the open road. But that’s beside the point, these men are encouraged to try artistic pursuits. And they’re amazing! There was a bunch of beautiful paintings and mosaics in the small art gallery attached to the prison. We were encouraged to purchase something (the money goes to the families of the prisoners), but there was no way I would be able to get any of the mosaics I liked home. They were super heavy.

On the way back to campus, we stopped at the town theater so that a couple of our group members could purchase tickets to the late showing (8:30 is their latest!) of the new Batman or Superman, whichever, movie. Someone told me it isn’t even out in the states yet. Tickets were only $5 Fijian though, so that’s a really good deal.

The town cinema

View of Suva

Freighters on the coast

We had lunch on campus, nothing notable, after returning and were left to our own devices for the afternoon to “study” for our exam tomorrow. I wandered around campus with two girls for a little while before we went to McDonald’s to use the internet. Even though we were promised internet access on campus, we haven’t been able to get the wifi to work, so McDonald’s (which has no plugs) was our last resort. Anyways, not much studying got done. I went for a run up a pretty big hill after my laptop died. I only ran for 24 minutes, but I was impressed with myself because it’s much hillier and muggier here than I’m used to.

Litter Please :)

Dinner was more rolls :) and lamb stew with some kind of baked potato concoction. It was alright. We spent the rest of our night trying to figure out who the random people were that kept wandering in and out of our host families house. It’s possibly the equivalent of Thursday poker night, with kava? We’re not quite clear. There was a man from New Zealand here though that tried to bring up some uncomfortable controversial subjects with us though.

I bought a notebook today so I could record some of the random Fijian things that I’ve learned:

·         Fiji is ruled by a strict military regime with limited freedom of speech and jail as a repercussion

·         Only men appear to drive here

·         It’s illegal for women to run away with a man (without permission) before 21

·         Illegal for students and those under 18 to smoke (marijuana is completely illegal)

·         21 is the voting age, but this is switching to 18 in the next election

·         You are to remove your shoes before entering one’s house

·         Clubs are open until 5am and do not admit native students

·         Girls must wear their hair up and cannot wear fingernail polish to school

·         Citizens are not always able to get visas to travel due to some citizens staying past their allotted stay

·         Peanut butter is common :)

·         All apples are imported (and hard to find)

·         Motorcycles are uncommon except amongst Europeans on the North Island (we’re on the South)

·         There is only one national park in the whole country

·         Many stores and products suffer from heavy inflation due to the popularity of imported goods

·         Television subscribers have only about 13 channel options

·         Following primary school (the equivalent of elementary), there is a semester fee of about $50-70 to attend grammar school and an additional fee for year-end exams

·         Kava, the national drink, is made from a natural muscle relaxing root and tastes like dirt-filled water

·         Bugs are out constantly! (which explains my many bug bites)

·         Fiji water is much cheaper in Fiji

·         Animals are rarely kept in homes