As I'm typing up this post - I'm back in Singapore! Currently enjoying the comfort of the aircon, and reminiscing about my wonderful year in Perth. And Fremantle of course!
On that note, here's the 3rd post for the Ultimate Maritime Trip - combining the Cappuccino Strip and the famous Shipwrecks Gallery in one. Starting out with - the Cappuccino Strip!
It was only 4pm then, and the evening crowd had not arrived.
The Cappuccino Strip is a famous landmark in Fremantle where there're lots of Italian restaurants, and other restaurants of course! It's always crowded at night, and towards around 6-7pm we'll see lots of people sitting outside and enjoying the night air. Anyway I come down to the Cappuccino Strip pretty often, and one of the featured shops - Theobroma - is one of my favourite!! I've a weakness towards chocolate - especially the dark hot chocolate in Theobroma! Had it 2 days before I left Perth.
The Sail at Anchor - a famous landmark along the Cappuccino Strip. It's "neighbour"? The famous Fremantle Markets! I saw people drinking on the balcony - looks like Friday nights and Saturday nights are pretty relaxed!
When I was there, it was about 5pm, and there was a street artist painted in metallic colours! You'll see him entertaining us in the 3rd picture. I had a pic with him!
The famous Fremantle Markets, established in 1897. I'd not take pics in there, as everything's basically handcrafted and very, very original and creative. Anyway I bought some bracelet charms from there, and will be stringing them together very soon! The Fremantle Markets are only open on Fridays to Sundays, and on public holidays. But business is always good!
I wanted to buy some vintage posters from the Markets, but I had to take into consideration my luggage space. Doesn't matter - I might come back again someday! It's a matter of when.
I wanted to buy some vintage posters from the Markets, but I had to take into consideration my luggage space. Doesn't matter - I might come back again someday! It's a matter of when.
Moving on to the Shipwreck Galleries - one of my new favourite places now. I bought 2 seashells, 2 bookmarks and a very beautiful notebook, plus 4 replica coins from there. Guess what - the bookmark had ship patterns and a really cute anchor on the ribbon!!
Anyway I was also really impressed by the facade of the Shipwreck Galleries. Simple but very nice! And the anchors located on the front were so strategically placed! The museum's housed in an 1850's Commissiariat building, and has shipwrecks from WA coastlines.
I decided to attempt to replicate one of the pics I saw online. So far so good - except the lighting conditions. The original pic was taken sometime at sunset. Mine was taken at about 3pm.
ANYWAY...more pics of the outside before I went in.
The first exhibition I visited was near the entrance. Like the name suggests, the Shipwreck Galleries involves a lot of artefacts recovered from shipwrecks...including lamps like this, and anchors/cannons. All of them are pretty well-preserved, although many were already broken into pieces. Somehow the archaeologists managed to put them back together.
Some food bottles were also recovered from wrecks - and guess what - one had PICKLES in it! Yep - pickles from the 1800s!!! I don't think anyone will want to try to open that bottle!
Most of the food bottles were empty though. Some were opaque, so it was hard to tell.
Lots of ceramics, hull timbre and stuff tend to be recovered from shipwrecks. In fact, one of the artefacts recovered included a full chess set! It looked really intact! I think it was made of ivory. It was pretty impressive, and arranged nicely.
The Shipwreck Galleries has a few permanent exhibits, and one famous one is the Batavia Galleries. The Batavia was wrecked in 1629, and its artefacts have been preserved up till now! The remnants were recovered by archaeologists in the 1970s. The restoration process was really major.
Some cubes recovered from the Batavia shipwreck. They're still pretty intact! Apart from these, there were 3 cannons, and some other stuff like cannonballs. All of them were kind of intact.
But the most famous part of the Batavia galleries - the HULL! This behemoth could be viewed from the ground floor or from the 2nd floor, and it was equally impressive from either end! It was really old and fragile though, and had to be kept under special conditions, or the wood will rot.
Beardman jugs - I saw so many of them! Apart from these, here are some of the other artefacts recovered. These included tools, pencils/graphite, and coins! Lots and lots of coins!
More beardman jugs on display at the Dutch Shipwrecks. The museum was closing soon, and I didn't have much time to explore. In fact, I came to the museum twice - just to see everything! Ships featured included the Zuytdorp, Zeewijk and the Vergulde Draeck - all originating from Holland.
The beardman jugs were pretty famous actually!
Some glass bits recovered from a Dutch shipwreck.
Other things recovered included combs, jewellery, ivory and stuff like that. Most of them remained fairly intact! I was really awed by how they were preserved for so long. Anyway there were a few featured ships in the Dutch shipwreck exhibit.
Went back down as the museum was about to shut - and spotted a diving helmet and a ship's bell!! Diving helmets were used during the early 20th century when diving first began. Modern-day diving's seriously a far cry from what we see in the 20th century!!
Anyway to learn more about the stuff I saw, do visit the Shipwreck Galleries, OR go to their website at http://museum.wa.gov.au/museums/shipwrecks. It's a very very cool place and I really want to go back there again!
I'll be posting the 4th post for this series pretty soon! Do stay tuned!