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| City Guide - Perth - Excursions | ||
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Excursions For a Half Day Fremantle: The reasons for taking the 25-minute train ride from Perth Railway Station to Fremantle are many: visit convict-era architecture and museums, sample the many pubs and South Terrace cafés, or simply enjoy fish and chips near the fishing boat harbour while gazing out to sea. 'Freo' was spruced up to welcome visitors during the 1987 America's Cup, and remains an attractive and welcoming port while retaining a bohemian edge. Highlights include the Fremantle Markets, which bustle every Friday to Sunday with stalls selling handicrafts, produce and antiques; and the History Museum and Arts Centre, converted from a convict-built lunatic asylum. The Western Australian Maritime Museum explains the port's history and showcases the remnants of shipwrecks dating back to the early seventeenth century - including many relics of Dutch attempts at colonisation. Fremantle's numerous historic buildings, along with their surprisingly bloody pasts, can be discovered on Tram West (tel: (08) 93 39 87 19). Four different narrated tours of 45-60 minutes are offered, all leaving from the tourist bureau. Perhaps the most fascinating - and macabre - example of Fremantle's architecture is the Fremantle Prison, a maximum-security facility from 1855 to 1991 and now open to the public. The tourist bureau is located at Fremantle Town Hall, corner of William and Adelaide Streets (tel: (08) 94 31 78 78; fax: (08) 94 31 77 55). For a Whole Day Rottnest Island: In spite of a name that is Dutch for 'rat's nest', the island is an idyllic ten-kilometre (six-mile) stretch of sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. The rats in question are actually quokkas, small, harmless marsupials who are nonetheless inveterate picnic attendees (feeding them is forbidden). Swimming, snorkelling, windsurfing, skindiving, sunbathing and fishing can all be enjoyed on the island. Bicycles are available for hire and are the popular mode of transport. A two-hour Bus Tour leaves from Thomson Bay at 11.15 and 1.15 daily, exploring the island's natural features and ignoble history as a prison for Aborigines; a light railway tour to Oliver's Hill gun emplacement offers impressive views. Birdwatching is an especially fruitful pastime on Rottnest, with cormorants, reef heron, whimbrels, swans and ospreys among the species populating the isle's various habitats. Ferry services to Rottnest Island leave from Perth (Barrack Street Jetty) and Fremantle (East Street Jetty and Victoria Quay); the Rottnest Air Taxi (tel: (1 800) 500 006) offers flights on demand from Jandakot Airport, 20 minutes from Perth on the Southern Freeway. The Visitor and Information Centre is in Thomson Bay (tel: (08) 93 72 97 52; fax: (08) 93 72 97 55). |
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