Fremantle

What better way to spend Saturday than on a road-trip along the coast with the lovely McKiernan sisters? We figured out that it's at least three years since I saw Candle, so I was super excited to catch up with her; for those who don't know, I'm moving in with Jess in December until the end of my placement in June. The girls picked me up this afternoon in Jess' awesome red retro Saab to begin our tour.

Today's route from my place to Freo

Our first stop was Jess' apartment in Peppermint Grove to have a little look at where I'll be living next. It's so cute and in the perfect location, close to the highway, which I'll cycle to work on, and the train and bus stations. There are trains to both the city centre and Fremantle, which gives us lots to do on the weekends. Peppermint Grove is very posh and we passed loads of really plush houses!

From there we headed to Cottesloe Beach, which I heard a lot of good things about. It's only a ten-minute walk from Jess' and has lots of cool bars and cafés; despite all the shark stories, I'm looking forward to cooling down there on the hot summer afternoons.

It was then onto our main destination for the evening, Fremantle. It's the town whose port serves Perth, so there's a huge dock with tonnes of boats coming and going, but the rest of it is really Bohemian and cool. After a little wander around the famous markets, where we had free ice cream and lemonade samples and came across some really cute stalls, we headed to Creatures for dinner. It's this amazing brewery in a huge industrial unit on the waterfront; the girls introduced me to some local ale and we shared a feast of woodfired lamb pizza, chips, grilled halloumi and marinated squid. We then walked off our dinner before stopping off at a shop for Gelato (just in case we hadn't eaten enough); I had scoops of caramel and cappucino, yum!

Didgeridoos for sale on a market stall

"Freo eye" in the park

My gorgeous girls!

As if this evening could get any better, I've been invited down to Dunsborough for christmas; the McKiernans are used to hosting all sorts of Cornwall folk at christmas time, so hopefully it'll be a big reunion with some other Trebarwith people making an appearance. The thought of cosmopolitans in the pool on christmas morning has me wishing away the next three months!

♥