I'm back with the second last part of the Ultimate Maritime Trip series! In this post, we focus on the area where ships come in. The first part is on the O'Connor landing and the second - Victoria Quay.
As I was walking towards the O'Connor landing, I could see one of the ships from the carpark, plus some cranes. Massive ships come into Fremantle each time, and they're an impressive sight! Check this out - you could actually see the tallest part of the ship on the left side of the pic. It looks convincingly like a building, but in actual fact it's a ship!
A massive cargo-loading crane and the E-shed markets, as well as the Customs House. Right in front of the Customs House is a statue of C.Y. O'Connor, erected in 1911. C.Y. O'Connor was an Irish engineer who contributed largely to the development and construction of the Fremantle Harbour - which has been used (and is still actively used) for over 100 years. The harbour was completed by around 1903, after work commenced in 1892.
And here is a picture of the big ship - seen from the first picture. I'm pretty sure it's from one of the East Asian countries - possibly China, Taiwan or Hong Kong. The name of the ship is Xue Long (雪龙) - literally translated to "Snow Dragon". The ship had been anchored to shore and I think they were still loading cargo onto it (or maybe off it!), when I was there.
As I walked around the O'Connor Landing, I noticed another massive cargo ship coming into the port.
The ship was guided by a number of smaller tug boats, and was making its way into the port. The main harbour looks pretty small, but in actual fact it can accomodate massive ships! Pretty impressive - thanks to C.Y. O'Connor's brilliant judgement and his idea to construct the port at the mouth of the Swan River (where I was standing at that time).
Anyway we had a really wonderful view of the WHOLE ship! It was colossal, and loaded fully with containers. Quite an impressive sight, actually!
Like the Xue Long (shown earlier), this ship was stationed in the harbour for quite a long time! The Xue Long was still there when I left...and you can see part of it in the 2nd picture below.
Cute figurines along O'Connor Landing.
This is how the O'Connor Landing looks like, with the Maritime Museum right at the end...
And right across the water - the busy port where ships do their unloading/re-loading.
Remember the vintage ship I spotted when on Bather's Beach? I'm pretty sure it's parked here on Victoria Quay! I saw it while walking away from O'Connor's Landing. Well...part of it!
Oh and the building right in the foreground is a cafe. I love Fremantle so much! There're cafes EVERYWHERE! Not just Cappuccino Strip, but also outside Victoria Quay (where I was), in almost every museum, the Prison (Convict Cafe), the Arts Centre (Canvas Cafe), High Street etc etc etc...I just have to walk into a random cafe and grab some bites - usually hot chocolate and a cake or roll... :D
I went closer to the ship, and the more I look at it, the more it resembles the vintage ship I saw!
This ship - surprisingly - is still fully functional. If I'm not wrong this is the Leeuwin II. She offers 3-hour tours, as well as more long-term tours, but all participants have to be involved in the operation and organisation of the ship. Check it out here: http://www.sailleeuwin.com/. And here're more details on her: http://www.sailleeuwin.com/content/ship.
I think she's pretty impressive! Would like to sail on her someday!
Fishing outside the A-sheds. The A-sheds are located on Victoria Quay - towards the south of the port. The O'Connor Landing (which I featured earlier in this post) is located further inland.
I think this area's safe for fishing. There're lots of "No Fishing" further inland.
Situated at the end of Victoria Quay is the famous WA Maritime Museum, built in 2002. This building is definitely a very significant icon in Fremantle, and it overlooks the open sea. There're always interesting things going on in there, and we even get a tour inside HMS Submarine Ovens, an Oberon-class submarine, led by an experienced guide from the navy! Most of these submarines are attack/patrol submarines, and have been preserved for tours. The Submarine Ovens is one of them. It's very, very impressive. I did a short post on the WA Maritime Museum here.
I didn't go in this time round, but I went to the Welcome Walls and scrutinised them - more to that in the next post!
Lunch for the day - Churros for One and Dark Hot Chocolate (in soy milk). This is what I typically eat when I go to San Churro. It's just enough for me - and I enjoy drinking the chocolate sauce after eating the churros! My friends usually pass their chocolate sauce to me to drink!
Pictures taken after lunch. Cappuccino Strip - as usual. Well as you can see (from the 2 pictures above!), I went to San Churro for lunch and San Churro is on the famous Cappuccino Strip!
Now that I'm in Singapore, I'm looking out for chocolate places that I can go to. So far I found 2 - Max Brenner at Esplanade and Au Chocolat at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. I've been to both. Looking out for even more!
Down Cappuccino Strip once again - later on in the day - to get to the bus stop. Buses are more sporadic on weekends, so I had to strategically time my trip such that I reach the bus stop at least 5 minutes before the bus arrives.
I took alternative routes to the station a couple of times - and the first time I did so, it was pretty scary as the bus took a massive de-tour! But on the second time I was familiar with the route, so all was good.
I was also able to stay around in Freo for a longer time - as it got dark at about 7:15pm and that made life way easier for me! It got dark at 5:30pm in winter and that meant that I couldn't stay out for too long. Since I don't drive, I usually go out at night only when my friend drives.
And here's a small preview for yet another trip! Pictures speak a thousand words - here I have four pictures! The souvenirs I brought are all now in Singapore with me. I was really, really happy with them - the plushies (prisoner and prison guard) are actually magnets but I put them together, and the book gave a very good overview of the prison itself, including history and stuff like that. The prisoner and prison guard are now sitting happily on my bed. They're so cute!!
That's it for part 5! In our final installment, I'll be posting pictures of the Welcome Walls outside the WA Maritime Museum. Do stay tuned!