Fremantle Walk - December 2019

The Fremantle Roundhouse.

Sam and I found ourselves staying at Fremantle before jumping on a ship and heading over to Indonesia at the back end of 2019. I’d just come off the Cape to Cape Walk and was pretty well cooked from the heat which meant that a hard walk was out of the question today. Reading through my walking guide book I found a walk snappily titled Finding Funky Fremantle, a walk that the guide book said comes in at around 4.2 kilometres, that sounded about right for my tired body.

The described walk passed fairly closely to our accommodation at the Quest Apartments. 

The good news was that the described walk passed within a few metres of the front door of our accommodation at the Quest Apartments. So I pulled on my hiking Havaianas and staggered out the door picking up the walk on High Street. Fremantle is pretty famous for it’s heritage buildings and High Street is as good as anywhere to check them out. Reaching the end of High Street we climbed up to check out the historic Pilot’s Cottages, these cottages were the original homes of the pilots that guided the ships in and out of Fremantle Harbour and were in use from 1904 until 1982 (believe it or not!). A few metres after leaving the Pilot’s Cottages we arrived at the Roundhouse - an old jail that is the oldest intact building in Western Australia. The Roundhouse is a good spot not only to look back down High Street towards the Fremantle CBD but also gaze out over the Indian Ocean.

High Street

The old sandstone buildings around Fremantle are a highlight of this stroll.

The Fremantle Roundhouse.

It's not all old architecture though.

Climbing gently up to the Roundhouse we walked past the old Pilot's Cottages.

There's a nice view from up near the Roundhouse over Bathers Bay.

The Fremantle Roundhouse.

The Fremantle Roundhouse.

Dropping down from the Roundhouse we passed by the Whalers Tunnel as we headed south towards the Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour. This precinct is home to a lot of nice cafés and bars and also features a fair bit of public art. The first art we checked out was a piece called ‘The Jetty’ by Jon Tarry and Greg James which consisted of a couple of statues honouring the fisherman and the fishing heritage in town. While that was all nice enough it another Greg James statue across the road that what I was really wanting to see….a life-size memorial of the absolutely legendary AC/DC frontman Bon Scott. I’ve been listening to this guy since my early teens so I wasn’t going to miss out getting my photo taken beside the statue.

Whalers Tunnel, this tunnel was constructed back in 1837 to allow the whalers to bring in the oil from Bathers Bay.

Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour.

The Fremantle Waterfront is a nice spot to relax for awhile.

The bike path was a little damp.

There is some nice public art here.

Yeah, I know, I know....I'm old!

Horns up!

Suitably chuffed after my brush with Australian rock royalty we crossed the railway line and meandered our way through the busy Esplanade Reserve, checking out the large ferris wheel as we negotiated our way through the throngs of kids out enjoying the beautiful evening. Leaving the park we headed back away from the coast passing by the Fremantle Markets, which were worth a quick look. After a short detour to check out the Fremantle Oval, the home to the South Fremantle AFL Football Club, although not being a local the historical significance of the oval was largely lost on me. Our walk was pretty much over now as we headed back to the start point through Kings Square.

There was a small carnival in The Esplanade Parklands.

Check out Santa....

Sam and I meandered my way into town towards the café strip.

There is no shortage of great eating and drinking spots in Freo.

Fremantle Market.

I really like the texture of these old buildings.

The Dirt.
We walked 3.3 kilometres and climbed 6 metres (??) on this very easy stroll. If there is anyone out there interested in the European History of Fremantle then this walk is probably a must do, for me it was a nice early evening stroll without any ‘oh wow’ moments - well except for the statue of Bon Scott! This walk is written up in the Woodslane book by Paul Amyes, the walk is titled Finding Funky Fremantle and the book is called Perth’s Best Bush, Coast & City Walks.

Relevant Posts.
Rottnest Island, 2009.
The Pinnacles, Nambung National Park, 2009.

Heading back to our apartment in the early evening....yes, it's definitely not a hardcore walk.  

The view from our balcony at the Quest Apartments at Fremantle wasn't a bad one.

Waking next morning we looked out off our balcony and our ship was in port (we were about to jump on the ship that afternoon and head up to Indonesia).