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!