Day 4 - Drive to Freemantle

After two days of venturing the city on foot, we finally decided not to put ourselves to further "endurance" test. Neither ABE nor I was that enthusiastic to continue tracking the city and beyond on our two feet. And we could see the kids were pretty exhausted themselves.

"Time to get us a car," I told ABE that morning. After breakfast, got the girls to do the laundry and we both headed to the car rental outlet. A friend had told us that it's easy to rent a car in Australia, provided one has a valid driver's license from the country he or she hails from. We checked out Bayswater (they say their rates were the best in town), but there were no cars available till late afternoon. Must be the weekend, we thought. In the end, we got ourselves a Hyundai Elantra from another car rental operator located just opposite Bayswater on Adelaide Terrace.

After signing the papers and putting down some deposit, ahhh...we got our wheels!!! Since I am hopeless at reading maps, ABE told me to take the wheels and he would do the navigation. Okies...no problemo!!!

We drove back to the apartment and collected the kids and after Zohor prayers, we drove down to Freemantle or Freo, as affectionally known to the locals. Fremantle is located in the south west corner of Australia. It has its two sids bounded by the Indian Ocean and the Swan River and is Western Australia’s major commercial port. Approximately 25 kilometres south of Perth, Fremantle has long been known as Western Australia’s second city.

Fresh fruits packed to go

A HALAL food stall at the Freo Market....pekena Char Kway Tiaw & Fried Rice here!!!

The slow drive to Freo was fun, passing through small towns before finally getting there. Driving the car was easy, but keeping to the 60km/hour speed limit was a challenge. I could have sworn that I saw ABE giving glares at the speedometer, ensuring that I kept to the speed limits.

The University of Notre Dame campus at Fremantle

We spent almost the entire afternoon in Freo, walking on the beach and checking out the markets (a must go when in Freo). One can easily get carried away in Freo, mesmerized by its unique local identity, arts, culture and sporting activities.

The Irish Pub in the background





Another significant landmark, beautiful architecture