Sat 2 July  - Oz election day
Yet another picture-perfect morning on the Swan River and not as teeth-chattering ly cold as yesterday. We didn't leave until the temperature had risen above the 1 C and the sun had thawed the frost on the car windows. Then Peter keyed Fremantle into the magical GPS and he followed the woman's instructions implicitly. There is no stopping on the freeways here like there is in Auckland. All lanes flow at 100 km constantly and everyone appears to know where they're going. Even local arterial routes flow at 60 km giving no opportunity for map-reading.
School holidays start this week and seeing that Fremantle is such a popular holiday destination we realised we needed to visit the first day the famed markets opened. Freo is a mere 20km from here so that gave us time to find a parking building, a Friday hair salon, the I-site and a coffee house before visitors arrived.
Freo was founded in 1829 and was the first Porto call for migrants hence it's cosmopolitan mix  There are now two free CAT buses which run every 15 minutes which assist the elderly who have already exceeded their daily 10000 step goal.
Our first stop was the Markets before they became prohibitively crowded. I really could have spent another couple of hours there but after spending half an hour with the most alluring blond saleswoman choosing the perfect Swarovski crystal set, I thought I'd better not pushand a Trilby hat,  my luck further. But then Peter found a belt and a Trilby hat so all was forgiven.
We walked the long way round to the fishing boat harbour through the Roundhouse ( built in 1831 to house the original convicts while they were building the official prison up the hill) . We then had to make our way across Bathers Beach to the fishing boat harbour with the vast array of seafood restaurants. By the time we got there the hordes of schoolchildren were finishing their end-of-term lunch and starting to move away. Even the seagulls relaxed. We chose a restaurant the best fish and chips in town -which we found to be true.
Just across the park was the WA Maritime Museum which was fascinating. Maritime history for Freo began in 1616 with the arrival of the Duyfken with Dutch explorer s and then the Batavia in 1629. Many boats were wrecked on that Western coastline and the museum has a grand collection of drawings, artefacts and diaries all displayed artistically. Of particular interest was a video of the restoration of the trunk engine from the X an tho which was used in the pearling industry but sank due to overloading in 1879. The wreck was discovered by marine archeologists in 1979 and there began the retrieval and restoration of the engine which is now proudly exhibited in working order.
After all that, there was nothing for it but to hop on a free bus to Capucchino Street where we had bowls of hot soup t