Fremantle Prison

The Fremantle prison closed down in 1991 and survived two riots, the most recent being in 1988. Now operated as a tourist historical site, you can tour it much like Alcatraz. Our tour guide was fantastic and full of great information. I'm slightly sensitive to taking/posting photos of areas where people suffered so I focused on the artwork found in the cells. 

The other side of the two main towers once you enter. The prison was built using prison labor, so the inmates were building their own jail.

A room as it would have looked in 1885. It measures 4'x7'

The Anglican Church inside the prison. There are weddings held here to this day. As our tour guide hilariously said, 'A lifelong sentence in a place where you get a lifelong sentence'. The Ten Commandments are on the wall and they changed 'Thou shalt not kill' to 'Thou shalt not murder' as it would have been hypocritical in a prison that hung 44 inmates.

They allowed certain inmates to add art to their cells. It was calming to some and it was toward the end of the facilities life.

The cells are now larger, due to the fact that they separated the walls dividing two cells and combined them into one. Later on, overcrowding would put two men in each cell, limiting the room space once again.

Bunk beds from the overcrowding era. The drawing above appeared to be done in sharpie.

A closer look. It reads, 'Julie, Megan +Todd I love you more than life itself (love) Dad'

The doors to solitary confinement were beautiful. Creepy, I know. I just found the craftsmanship gorgeous. The plate marking the door number is adorned with a few aboriginal dots.

Scrawled inside one of the confinement rooms. I'm not sure what it says.

More markings on a confinement wall.

Early on in the prisons first years, it housed people who's only crimes were stealing a loaf of bread or political affiliations. One of those was John Boyle O'Reilly, who was an Irishman and a member of the Fenians. He was shipped to Fremantle and escaped with the help of Americans. He was welcomed with open arms in Boston, MA.

It's New Years Eve here in Australia, so Happy New Year! Thanks for reading!

Cottesloe

       

There is nowhere else I'd rather be, nothing else I would prefer to be doing. I am at the beach looking west with the continent behind me as the sun tracks down to the sea. I have my bearings.  - Tim Winton

Crown Casino

 

Last night we had dinner at Market&Co before walking across the street to the casino. The Begans, my other set of Grandparents, had sent money to myself and my parents, so we used it to treat ourselves! 

None of us are gamblers, but we did take a 'spin' on the roulette table. I lost $50 in less than 2 minutes, but my father faired MUCH better and doubled what he put down. He was thrilled and we all looked on with mild annoyance at his fantastic luck. CONGRATS DAD. 

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Nana Rea and Papa!

Caversham

*Note: We did this on the 27th, but the post failed to upload*

Today we went to Caversham Wildlife Park and had the pleasure of feeding kangaroos and petting Koala's!

    We were instructed to pet them with        the back of our hand. The oils from our palm can build up and funk up their fur.

    I didn't catch the name of the first Koala I petted (rude, sorry!) but the one Cole is with is Stevie. Stevie was sleeping the whole time.

    Stevie is passed out.

    The one I'm feeding had a Joey in it's pouch! You can just make out the bulge in the top center of the photo.

    This Joey was full of energy (not the same one in the pouch).

    Cole made a new friend.

One week left! Aaahhhh, can we fit it all IN?!?

Thanks for reading!

Museum of Natural History

Or as I called it, "The Creep Show". After Caversham we headed to Guildford for lunch and to see the Museum of Natural History. What it turned out to be, was an old house filled with a taxidermists treasures and some dinosaur replicas for good measure. It was fascinating to see the collection, but it was mostly a random collection of preserved animals.

This was my first clue that something was amiss, amok, awry. IT'S DEAD. At least he looks comfortable.

WELCOME!

Unfinished shark replicas. The one on the right appears to be wearing some strange surgical mask...

A few more dead pets.

It was a quirky place yet fabulously fascinating.

Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas

 I hope you all have a Holiday filled with love and Christmas Specials!

Nail Art

Just a quick hello before I get back to the excitement of Christmas Eve. **WARNING: This post contains pictures of feet** Mom and I painted our nails in festive colors and designs. Cole even let me paint his big toes. He's such a good sport.

I'm a nail biter, so I don't have much to work with. I was pleased with the Santa hat I did.

Mom went for a candy cane theme

While I did presents.

Tada! Cole sat patiently while I painted. He has been wearing flip flops to show off his fancy toes.

I hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas!

The Heritage

My grandparents, Bob and Maureen, were generous enough to send me to Australia with money so we could all go out to dinner as a Christmas present. Dad had the perfect restaurant in mind, and we took the train into Perth to dine at The Heritage. 

Dad, doing his best Vanna White.

After toasting Bob and Nonnie, we had a feast!

Oysters while we waited for our table.

iPhone + backlight = crap photos 

Three of us had the Seared Scallops with Crawfish...

While Dad chose the Seared Salmon. All were delicious, and we were all a big fan of the mashed potatoes he got with it. Notice that they're green? They mixed avocado and peas in them!

On the way out, we noticed this gorgeous tree:

And I had to take a picture with it.

* I had given money to one of the guys collecting for the Children's Cancer charity, and in return I got these sweet foam antlers. I wore them all day.

Thanks for reading, and a special thank you to Bob and Nonnie who treated us to an early Christmas dinner!

Sightseeing

I finally did it. I went on a tour bus and took a ride around Perth. Living in San Francisco, there is no shortage of tour buses, and most pass through our neighborhood every 20-30 minutes. Before we hopped on, we had some time to kill and walked around Murray and Hays Streets. They run parallel to each other and both have sections closed off for just pedestrian traffic. Lots of shopping and street performers. We then headed down to Barrack Square, which Cole and I kept pronouncing as Barack, much to the annoyance of my Mom. 'Is this Barack Obama Square?' No. No it isn't. We had lunch down by the Swan River and saw The Bell Tower.

This is the rear view. While I didn't go in, I did find out that it's home to 18 historic bells, one of which dates back to 1550!

Cole took this artistic shot and insisted I use it.

On the top!

Cole has been representing San Francisco and the Lakers this trip.

We drove all around King's Park, which is like the Golden Gate/Central Park of Perth. It is home to Botanical Gardens and the most gorgeous views of the city. It was easy to see why so many people were picnicking there.

Partial view of the city. Thanks tree.

Swan river and another TREE. 

Because we were on the last tour of the day, we didn't hop off since no bus would be coming to pick us up. So, these are the best photos I've got of King's Park. Sorry. After the tour, we jumped off and met Dad and some of his co-workers for drinks before we took the train home.

Thanks for reading!