Western Australian Maritime Museum - For Maritime Buff

Besides Fremantle Market and Fishing Boat Harbour for fish and chips, visitors should not miss out on a visit to the WAMM (AKA Western Australian Maritime Museum) at Victoria Quay when making a day trip to Fremantle.  The museum houses several galleries that traces WA's affinity with the sea.  Being an "island" continent surrounded by oceans, Australia has a long maritime tradition.

WAMM is located on Victoria Quay in Fremantle, in the heart of the historic working port.  There are six themed galleries inside the Museum, showcasing iconic vessels such as Australia II and Jon Sanders' Parry Endeavour (information taken from museum website).  

Entry for a family of five costs A$35 which is relatively cheap.  In fact, on the second Tuesday of every month there is entry to WAMM by gold coin donation.

Another interesting exhibit at WAMM was a display of rarely known shark, named Megamouth.  

 

One sight that one should not forego is the HMAS Ovens - Oberon Class - submarine tour.  This tour is an add-on to the basic entry fee and is restricted to small group of 10.  Personally, this is the highlight of the museum trip since there are not many opportunities to see the inside of a submarine, albeit a Cold War "relic".  If you are wondering, the submarine is air-conditioned.  The tour is ably guided by a museum volunteer and we were fortunate to have Roy as our guide.  Roy, whose family migrated from the UK, served for a short period in the RAN and also with the Foreign Service.

Original telescope from HMAS Ovens installed on the upper level of WAMM.  Offers a 360 degree of the surroundings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After visiting WAMM, we walked a short distance to E Shed to see what was on "offer".  Although the place is not filled with crowds - perhaps it was on a Friday afternoon - the souvenir shops do offer good bargains.

 

Fremantle and Perth

After a rest day on Thursday (12 Dec 13), the plan for Friday was to visit Fremantle Market.  Prior to Fremantle, we made a stopover at King's Park which is the Singapore's equivalent of Botanic Garden, except perhaps on a larger scale.

King's Park offers a fantastic view of the Perth business district and the Kwinana Freeway.

The park also has a variety of fauna and flora native to Australia.  It also serves as a memorial park for Australia's participation in overseas military conflicts.

Fremantle is divided into two distinct sections - one selling local produce and the other selling souvenirs and Australian handicrafts.

A visit to Fremantle should also include a meal at the various restaurant selling seafoods and the ubiquitous fish and chips.

View towards Western Australian Maritime Museum

Stopover at Mandurah - Perth Summer 2013

Following our Alcoa tour, we headed for Mandurah for lunch.  However, when we arrived at Mandurah Terrace, we found to our disappointment that the renowned Miami Bakehouse has shifted.  Our children particularly like the beef pies that the cafe-style eatery serves.  After checking at the Mandurah Visitor Centre, I discovered that it has shifted further south to Falcon along the Old Coast Road.

Jetty next to the former Miami Bakehouse locale.

Disappointed, the children decided to amuse themselves at the town centre.

Taking into consideration that we still have to visit MacNuts by 3 pm, we decided against searching for the new location.  To get to MacNuts, head north from Mandurah along Kwinana Freeway and exit Mundijong Road.  Then turn right at the first cross junction into St Albans and look for Doghill Road.  It is adviseable to drop the owners a email to check if they are open for the day.  According to them, they are usually open on weekends.  However, as it was close to Christmas, they were opened on the day we visited, which was Wednesday.

With some time in hand and suffering from the heatwave, we decided to head for Serpentine Falls.  To get to Serpentine Falls, travel east along Mundijong Road towards South Western Highway.  At the junction, turn right and travel about 7 km and look for the sign to the falls.

While we were disappointed that the original Miami Bakehouse has re-located, thre was a happy ending as we managed to find a branch near Fremantle along Canning Highway.

Alcoa Discovery Tour, Perth Summer 2013

With youths in tow, I decided that our holidays should include an educational element.  Following some research, I found out that industrial giant Alcoa offers an educational tour at two of its facilities in Western Australia.  Alcoa is involved in bauxite mining.  Bauxite is the key ingredient for the production of aluminium.  Taking into consideration distance, I decided on the tour conducted at Pinjarra - about 20 km from Mandurah.

Departing from Joondalup at 8 am, we barely made it for the tour after making a wrong turn just before the exit to Pinjarra.  We arrived at 9.30 am and found that the ferry picking other visitors from Mandurah had just arrived.  The Alcoa Discovery Centre is located together with the Pinjarra Heritage Railway Station. 

After registration, our guide Rhonda brought us for a tour of the refinery plant, north of Pinjarra.  Unfortunately, photography at the plant was not allowed.  The scale of the refinery is large and it was surprising that the mined bauxite is transported down from the mining area at the top of the Darling Range by a system of conveyor belts. 

Following the refinery tour, we proceeded to observe the mining operations at Huntly mine.  The trip to Huntly took about 30 minutes.  The mining were super-sized.  The dump trucks alone was about 1.2 times the height of our minibus.

Besides mining, Alcoa is also huge in ensuring that its mining operations has minimal impact on the local eco-system.  This is important as the Darling Ranges is considered a key water catchment for the Peel region.

After the mining tour, we proceeded a lookout point where we viewed the rehabilitated Jarrah forest under by Alcoa.  The tour ended at 1 pm.