 During my shopping escapades, I bought a musical instrument called a didgeridoo. It's made from a long hollow piece of timber that has been hollowed out by termites!
Fremantle Markets
“We could get lost in a place this huge,” were the words I heard coming out of a young girls mouth as she took her first steps into the Fremantle Markets.
The little girl was right, the markets consist of more than seventy-five stalls of merchandise, and an entire section of the markets are filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. Open only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the markets remain busy for this entire time as the items carried vary from week to week. I have been to the markets four times and have seen many different things every time I've attended. This Sunday, five of us went to the town of Fremantle to wander around and buy a few more souvenirs ranging from photographs to beautiful mosaic mirrors to a variety of wood pieces.
The town of Fremantle is located about half an hour south of Perth and takes roughly one hour to get there by bus. Built originally as a port to the city of Perth just up the river, it is full of a rich history of Aboriginal people as well as the development of a new settlement in Western Australia. For one of my classes, we took a tour of the early parts of the Fremantle settlement and learned that many of the buildings in the area were built by prisoners who were brought across the ocean from England. The first building built was a jail followed by a church and, not long after that, a pub was built. The rich history of the area provides an interesting background when looking at what the town of Fremantle has become today.
This trip to the markets was a lot of fun! I ended up buying a photo from Rottnest Island of something I had actually seen, which made choosing which photo to buy pretty easy. I also managed to pick out a couple of presents for some people back home, and I think I am almost done buying souvenirs. All that’s left is to see if I have room for my souvenirs in my suitcase. But that’s not for another three weeks, so I’m not too worried about it yet. After wandering around the markets for about an hour, we set out to see what else was going on in Freo for the day. We had been planning on stopping in a store called Didgeridoo Breath that sells, what else, didgeridoos! A didgeridoo is an interesting instrument; and when we walked into the store, I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to buy one or not. A didge is a long hollow piece of timber—often made of an eucalyptus branch that has been hollowed out by termites, cut down, and then treated to refine the sound. After looking around in the store, I decided that I needed a didge for one of my souvenirs, so I spent some time searching for the instrument that fit me best. I found one that was painted with beautiful Aboriginal designs and put it on hold so I can go back later this week to buy it! The decision to buy myself a didgeridoo made for an exciting day.
Shopping is not the only thing to do in the town of Fremantle. On another visit to the city, I took a tour of the Fremantle prison, once by day, and once by night. After taking the tour, I couldn’t believe that the prison had been fully operational until 1991! Although I won’t go into a lot of detail about the tour itself, I was pretty surprised to find out that there was no indoor plumbing in the four divisions in which the prisoners lived, even in 1991!
My trip to Fremantle this past weekend was definitely enjoyable, as it always is. I think that every time I go there I discover a new part of town or shop to visit, which only adds to my enjoyment!
Until next week,
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