"The winds have changed and we're gonna have a blast (literally!). Now let's look out for the lady with the black umbrella, black trenchcoat and massive red bag, who is practically perfect in every way."
That was the status update which was prompted by the sdden gust of strong winds and heavy rains that's been drenching Perth since last night. There has been warnings about small hail but I haven't seen any yet. Believe it or not, it's 15 degrees Celsius today (when it's already spring!). I'm definitely inspired to do a sketch on Mary Poppins right now.
Anyway before the winds changed, I was gallivanting around Fremantle one of the weekends. Stopped outside the famous Fremantle Markets and walked down Cappuccino Strip.
This is the Newport Hotel - a favourite hangout place for university students like us. In fact, there's going to be an over-18 event at the same place soon. Not too sure if I'll go though, because of my extremely heavy workload.
Another hotel I passed by - which is under renovation/restoration.
There were market stalls outside the Fremantle Town Hall, and I actually recognised one of the vendors. She was in charge of one of the stalls in uni too - we've got market stalls coming into uni every Thursday and I've been buying stuff from them quite often.
Took a MAJOR loop (yep, de-toured quite a fair bit!) and ended up outside the Fremantle Post Office. It kinda reminds me of the GPO in Melbourne, except that it's smaller, doesn't have a clock tower...and is not currently under restoration. When I last went back to Melbourne, the GPO was all barricaded up and work was going on.
Walked past a bunch of shops not too far away from the post office, as well as an old church - which seemed to be closed most of the time! I'm really curious - how does the church look like inside? The stained glass appeared to be quite beautiful.
Ended up at a second-hand records shop and a small cafe. The second-hand records shop was really, really cool. They had 33 (and one-third) inch long-play vinyls, turn-tables, CDs, cassettes...everything! Brought me back to those days of studying about sound recording. I still keep the weekly journal I did for that subject...and I remembered doing really well for it.
The two contrasting subjects I really, really liked during my undergraduate days were "In the Groove" (the one about sound recording) and "Broadway and Music of the Theatre" (on Broadway of course, which makes me want to visit New York).
The second-hand records shop wasn't just the highlight of that street. The restored buildings were equally outstanding.
New Edition Bookshop, located just next to a backpacker's hostel. The hostel was initially a hotel as well, but was converted to a backpacker's hostel. Oh and not to mention, this street was named High Street.
Turned into one of the smaller streets and there were more old buildings on display. Some were simpler in design, others more elaborate.
I was literally turning into alleyways and smaller streets here and there. Didn't have an actual set plan...just wanted to take as many pictures as possible!
Looking down yet another major street...with more restored buildings, including a Chamber of Commerce...then turned into Philimore Street.
Also explored another street leading down to the Esplanade, where most of the restaurants were. Didn't go entirely down this street.
Old hotel (white stone building) and another smaller building...and other places that have been converted for various purposes. If I'm not wrong the white stone building was now part of Notre Dame University. Other buildings were presumably for people to live in...they looked pretty cosy.
The old Cleopatra Hotel, now taken over by a new company. Can't really remember what it's called though, but it had a tree for a logo.
Orient Hotel and Bar - sharing a similar design to the Newport Hotel and the Dome Cafe building along Cappuccino Strip.
Decided to stop by for some hot chocolate as I was feeling really hungry, but at the same time, I still took a couple more shots before heading off.
At the end of the street (where I bought my hot chocolate as well), I spotted the famous Roundhouse - one of the oldest buildings in Western Australia and an accomodation for convicts during the 1800s. There was a tunnel below the Roundhouse...which led to Bathers Beach. There were quite number of people at the beach - enjoying the warmth. It was actually unusually warm that day.
Anyway Bathers Beach isn't a very big one.
Some pictures taken from the top of the Roundhouse. Unfortunately the place was closed for the day but we were still able to hang around it.
Passed by some cottages, previously for pilots (if I'm not wrong), which were not too far away from the Roundhouse.
And decided on a few more pictures of the streets before heading back to the train station.
Found a bunch of photographers having a course on portrait photography, and decided to gate-crash to get a few pictures of the model. After all, it was a gorgeous day and the lighting was really good. I think it was about 4pm by then and shadows were getting longer and longer.
Walked down the same long stretch back to the train station, where the bus terminus was...and passed by some familiar buildings like the Chamber of Commerce, and the Customs House.
Last shot before catching the bus back to my apartment.
Will post more about other trips soon! Meanwhile, the winds seem to have changed again and it's now sunny! Since when did Perth's weather become as fickle as Melbourne's weather?