Adventures with Ben

Our first weekend in Fremantle was great!  Kara has a family friend who lives here named Ben.  He has been sooo helpful showing us around the area.  One of our first nights, Ben picked us up and took us to see different views of the ocean and Swan River by moonlight. On Saturday night, Ben took us out in Perth- for our first time downtown.  We met his friend Jay at a nice jazz bar and listened to great music while drinking some wine.  Later we went to the North Bridge area, which is an area with lots of bars where young people go out.  It reminds me of a much larger Westport.  It was super crowded so we only went to one bar- but I’m sure we will return in the future!

We were supposed to start fieldwork on Monday, however it was a public holiday for the Queen’s birthday.  We went to Ben’s house for a nice BBQ.  We sat on his back patio for the glorious sunny day.  Ben made a variety of seafood.  First oysters- I do not generally like these but ate one for Uncle Warren :)  Then we had mussels, and for our meal we ate prawns and red empress fish- which was soo delicious! We had a wonderful time hanging out with Ben and his roomies- who are quite a cultural bunch!  They are from Italy, France, & England.  Ben has been so much help and I’m sure we will spend lots more time with him. He has taken us to some awesome places that we would not know about without a local friend! 

Stop Hammer Time!  Loved this stop sign!

 Wearing purple for Ben's fave team- Fremantle Dockers

Ben- the wonderful musician

Kara, Amy, & Julie at the Swan River

Apartment

We have really enjoyed our apartment so far.  It is about a 10 min walk from the center of Fremantle.  We live in an old warehouse building that has been transformed into a home, so it still has some brick and stone walls.  It is 3 levels and very open- no doors even on the bedrooms.  One bedroom has two twin beds and the other has a full bed.  I am sharing with Kara now, but we plan on switching each month.  We even have a bar area and a small workout room.  You can guess which of those will get more use...   Here are some pics:

Bedroom 1- on the bottom level where it is nice and cold

Bedroom 2

Julie lounging in the living room; Bar in the background

Kitchen- our table is down the stairs on the second level

Pictures

On one of the beaches of Rottnest Island

Bay where we stopped to eat our lunch

Julie, Amy, & Kara

My pretty seashell art I made on the beach

Harbor where we ate dinner one of the first nights

Delicious seafood platter- voted best fish and chips

 Beautiful Sunset in Fremantle

Rottnest Island

On Friday, we decided to take a day trip to Rottnest Island (“Rotto”).  Australians tend to shorten lots of their words, which I quite like!  This is a small island 19km from Fremantle.  It has 63 beaches/bays.  The whole island is 11km from on end to the other and there are no cars- just some busses and bikes.  We woke up early to catch a ferry at 7:30.  When we arrived to Rotto, we hopped on a bus and rode to one of the beaches.  We spent an hour or so on at least 5 different beaches.  It was sooooo amazingly beautiful!  I don’t think I have ever seen so many shades of crystal clear blue water- heavenly!  Because we went on a Friday and it is just spring, we were some of the few people on the island.  We usually had the whole beach to ourselves!  After relaxing on the beach and walking all over, we returned to our home for an early night.        

Arriving in Australia

I decided to create a blog during my time in Australia.  I think this will be the easiest way to keep anyone who is interested updated.

 

I arrived in Australia on Wednesday, September 20.  The flight was extremely long and boring, but smooth with no problems at all.  I am spending the next three months in Fremantle (“Frio”), which is a suburb of Perth.   I traveled here with two classmates- Kara & Julie.  We are completing our 12 week fieldwork at Fremantle Child Development Center.  I am excited/nervous to start work but sure it will be a great learning experience.

We spent our first couple days exploring and getting acquainted with Fremantle.  It is a very charming town with lots of neat shops, restaurants, pubs, churches, art galleries, and much more.  There is a beautiful beach just past the city centre, within walking distance from our apartment.  We are living in a nice furnished apartment- that we are sooo thankful to have found!  Until the week before we came, we would have been living on the streets.  The only problem is that we do not have internet service and have not yet found a good place to regularly use internet.