Weekend fun in Fremantle

Happy Halloween!  People in Australia do not celebrate Halloween as much as in the USA.  Some kids may dress up or people will have parties, but we had no plans for Halloween.  In order to keep the spirit, we decided to go on the prison’s Halloween tour last Thursday night.  The Fremantle prison was created in 1842 and was still used until 1991!  Glad I did not come here 20 years ago.  Because it was the Halloween tour, they told some more gruesome stories about prisoners.  They tried to make it scary by occasionally having people jump out at us- but I think only the middle schoolers in our group were scared.

Fremantle Prison Courtyard

Prisoner's artwork in a prison cell

Kara, Julie, & Amy with Simon, our prison tour guide

Friday night we stayed home, worked on some homework, and went to bed early -because I was starting to get sick :(  Saturday morning, Ben picked us up and took us to his dad’s horse stable.  Ben’s dad (Jim) and his friend Joe own and help train horses for races.  Horseracing is actually extremely popular in Australia.  We watched Joe ride one of the horses around the arena to prepare for a race the following day.  We then drove into the “hills” in a town called Kalamunda, where Jim has one horse that is resting and recovering from being sick.  It was sooo beautiful and peaceful up there!  We ate a delicious lunch at a little café

Joe getting the horse "Miss Lingerie" ready for her race

We then headed to Dig’s house (one of Ben’s friends).  His house is in the country and is basically a little farm.  They have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses, a sheep, chickens, and BABY KANGAROOS!  The joeys- names rabbit & legs- are sooo adorable!  The babies were found in the mom’s pouch after she was killed.  It is kinda like having a real baby- they have to bottle-feed them throughout the night.  They have their own bedroom and spend most of their time in bags lined with blankets- like the mom’s pouch.  

Amy with Rabbit & Legs

Feeding the baby kangaroo :)

Baby Kangaroos hugging

On Sunday, we woke up early and went to the beach with Ben and some of his friends.  It was so beautiful and warm out- but the water was freeeezing!  You really have to go to the beach in the morning because in the afternoon the sea breeze (“Fremantle Doctor”) comes in and makes it much cooler with blowing sand.  In the afternoon, we went to the Maritime Museum.  It was neat to learn about Fremantle’s history as a costal/port city and see all the ships on display. 

Kara, Amy, & Julie on North Fremantle Beach

Kara, Julie, & Amy

This week is our midterm for fieldwork.  Can't believe we are almost half way finished- time flies in Australia!

Perth!

View of Perth from King's Park

Amy on the tour bus

 This past weekend was wonderful!  On Saturday, we woke up early & caught a train to Perth- for our first time exploring the city.  We went on a sightseeing tour bus to make sure we could see all the important parts of the city.  We saw the Perth bell tower, walked around in Kings Park, went to the Museum and Art gallery, saw the casino, went shopping, and enjoyed the perfect weather. 

View from King's Park

King's Park

Perth Bell Tower

On Saturday night, we went out to Benny’s (a bar in Freo) and met up with a new friend. We had sooo much fun dancing, having some drinks, and meeting lots of new people.  Our walk home- which usually takes 10-15 minutes- took almost 2 hours because we met some nice people on the way home and ended up chatting for a long time!  It was definitely one of our best nights so far!

We returned to Perth on Sunday because the tour bus pass lasted two days.  We attempted shopping but clothes were either cheap and ugly, or super expensive.  Oh well, there will be plenty more time for shopping :) 

Amy & Julie before the tour of Perth

Julie & Kara in King's Park

Fun in Freo

Last week, we had Ben & Alberto over for some delicious tacos- we have been craving Mexican!  I sure wish I had my mum’s homemade salsa though!  Ben even brought tequila with a scorpion in it- eww! 

Amy, Alberto, Julie & Ben on Taco night 

This past weekend, we decided we need to start having more fun. We have been a bit overloaded with homework from our online class and found ourselves staying home half the weekend to complete it.  We made a resolution to reserve the weekends for fun, except maybe Sunday evening (we still have to be good students :)

On Saturday, we attended the opening day of the Ascot Horse Races.  It was quite a fancy event! Girls were all wearing high fashion dresses, very tall heels, and elaborate hats and fascinators.  They had a fashion show that any girls could enter.  The winner received a Lexus convertible!  Too bad I didn’t wear my best and enter the contest! We had a wonderful time people watching, drinking champagne, eating fish & chips, and watching the horse races.

Horse Race

Kara, Amy, & Julie

Kara's favorite outfit at the races

Saturday night, we went to a bar in Freo called Benny’s.  We had a glass of wine, and listened to some great live music.  The band played lots of older popular songs with a Jazzy sound to them.  We even talked to the band players and told them we would come back another weekend!  On Sunday, Kara and I went to a festival at Notre Dame for St. Mary McKillop, the first Australian saint who was canonized Sunday in Rome.  In the evening, we went to a “Sunday Session” at the Left Bank, a bar right on the Swan River.  Sunday evening is a very popular time to go to all the bars along the river/ocean.  In the past, bars were only open for a couple hours on Sunday- which became known as “Sunday Session.”  Now, it is a tradition for everyone to go out Sunday evening.  The Left Bank was super crowded- like a Friday or Saturday night! We had a delicious burger and fries!

Kara & Amy at The Left Bank for Sunday Session

 This week, we went to Ben’s house for Kangaroo burgers!  Ben and his two friends, Toby & Dig, cooked us an amazing dinner!  I quite liked having all those men cooking for me ;)  The Kangaroo burgers were delicious!! They even made a homemade creamy, dark chocolaty, strawberry pastry.  We may need to continue these weekly dinner parties! 

Dig & Toby cooking the delicious Roo Burgers

OT Work

It is about time that I write about my work here- the reason I came in the first place!

I am working at Fremantle Child Development Center, which is a community-based center.  There are three primary facilities where a team of OTs, PTs, Speechies, pediatricians, social workers, dietitians, and clinical psychologists work.  Child Developmental Services is a government-funded agency that serves children with non-specific developmental delays.  Services are free-of-charge for families, however there are extensive waitlists to receive services (4 weeks to a year depending on severity).  Children who have diagnosed disabilities, such as autism or cerebral palsy, receive services through other government-funded agencies.      

The center has 7 OTs; two who work full time and five who work part time.  They serve children age 0 to 16, but generally under age 9.  The children they work with face a variety of concerns including sensory processing disorders, self-regulation difficulties, attention/concentration difficulties, fine motor delays, coordination difficulties, delayed play skills, and visual perceptual difficulties.

My supervisor, Amelda, has worked at the center for over 10 years.  She specializes is early intervention and works with children age 1-4.  This semester we are running multiple groups, attempting to reduce waitlists for therapy.  The groups focus on parent education and involvement with their child’s development.  We are running two pre-kindy groups (age 3-4), a toddler group (age 2-3), a kindy group (age 4-5), and a playgroup with a special education/speech teacher.  We will also have individual sessions that include home and community visits.

I have really enjoyed work so far and am excited to get to know the kids and parents better.  All the therapists are wonderful and I am already learning so much!   

Pictures

High Street in Fremantle

Bathers Beach

View where I sat to do homework one day- I got quite distracted!

Fremantle Market- where we get all our produce and homemade bread- Yummy!!

Footy

 Last weekend, we watched the Australian Football (Footy) final championship game.  The real championship game was the previous weekend but they tied and had to replay.  Two Melbourne teams played against each other: the Collingwood Magpies and St. Kilda Saints.  We went to a bar that is owned by the Fremantle Dockers Footy captain and a player who retired a couple years ago (Paul).  We ended up talking to Paul for a bit and he was quite attractive :)  The game was a blast (even though the Magpies beat the Saints by over 50 points) and we drank lots of yummy cider.   I really enjoy the Australian Footy and it seems much faster and more going on than American football.  

Yesterday, we had another Footy experience.  We went to watch the All Stars Charity game at the Subiaco Oval, where the Fremantle Dockers usually play.  Retired players from the Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles played against each other to raise money for a children’s hospital.  Our “friend” Paul was playing and scored a goal!  They even let a little boy play who was probably around 6 or 7 years old and he scored a goal!! It was a great experience to see a footy game, even though the Eagles won.

After the game, we went with Ben and some of his friends to a bar called Mo Jo’s.  We listened to a band called The Sunshine Brothers who play “Dub” music.  They were quite good and we danced the night away.  I think we were some of the only people without long dreadlocks.  

Paul- retired Fremantle Dockers Footy player

Footy Oval

All the mascots ran a race during half time

Watching the Footy game