• Daniel Giffney
  • Helen Budd
april 2023

Fremantle to Exmouth

A trip 17 years in the planning. Les mer
  • Gage Roads Brewery, Fremantle

    27. april 2023, Australia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Our last full day in Fremantle started with breakfast at Gino’s. We went to this cafe on our honeymoon and had a fabulous breakfast - Gino’s Special and pancakes.
    Daniel had the special again whilst Helen went with a bruschetta but the kids went for pancakes, but they didn’t come with berries this time - not that the kids cared!
    We visited the second hand bookshop across the road before returning to the hotel to start to pack - the plan being to send a few bags back by road freight but it turned out it would cost twice as much as buying extra baggage on the aeroplane.
    Fremantle was the first settlement in Western Australia before the settlement was moved to Perth (a more defensible location). The Fremantle Prison was made from local limestone and replaced the Roundhouse to house the convicts (who built both) and other criminals until 1991.
    We did the Real Crimes tour where we heard about some of the criminals who were housed (and escaped) there.
    Afterwards we went to the Shipwreck Museum and saw material from the Batavia (which was wrecked on the Houtman Abrolhos in 1629 and has a story that is fascinating - read about it here https://museum.wa.gov.au/research/research-area…) and Dirk Hartog’s plate that he left on an island (now named after him) in 1616 and is the earliest record of Europeans setting foot on the continent.
    In the evening we had dinner with Dani Brown and her son. Dani is partially responsible for us getting together - if she didn’t appoint Daniel as CAPA IT officer and give Hawkesbury the ACM in 1997 we may never have met!
    Throughout the trip Daniel and Macca have been enjoying different beers from local breweries and sharing photos with a group of friends. Gage Roads has been popular so it is was appropriate to finish the trip at the brewery and pick up a couple of take home cans!
    Les mer

  • Heading home

    28. april 2023, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We were blessed once again with a beautifully sunny day. The temperatures are definitely a lot cooler down south than our northern adventures but we really have been fortunate with the weather the whole way. The only significant rain has been on long driving days and hasn’t had any impact upon us. We have had amazing weather for all our aquatic adventures and the eclipse day was flawlessly blue skies (unlike the day before and after).
    We ended our time in Fremantle with a walk around the markets - first to the ones at Pier B (that sadly looked rather tacky) and then to the markets near the Sail & Anchor to grab some coffee and Claire to buy some jewellery.
    Walking around a different town whilst on holidays imparts a different feel. No work pressures. No need to race to appointments or pay bills. It was as if everyone else is busy racing around but for us, time stands still. And so as we packed the car there were university students racing past (Notre Damme university has many of the heritage buildings in Fremantle) worrying about their next assignment, whereas for us life restarts when we touchdown in Sydney.
    We made our way to the airport via Cottesloe beach and the city of Perth (just a drive past) to board our plane for the trip home.
    As we headed east, somewhere down there was Macca and Fi and the boys also making their way eastward.
    I’m looking forward to getting home and downloading all my photos once I sort out the MacBook.
    We hope they everyone’s has enjoyed following our journey.
    Les mer

    Reisens slutt
    28. april 2023