I caught a bus and walked along as many of the streets as I could, taking my time and going into any shop that caught my eye. The architecture of the buildings in the main areas of the city center are really interesting and kind of reminiscent of pictures I've seen of Bourbon Street in New Orleans (which, by the way, is another place I'd love to visit). I was enjoying walking around so much I forgot to take pictures, but I have a feeling I'll be in Freo a lot this semester, so I'll be sure to get some snapshots later on. The streets were lively yet relaxed and there were many eclectic eateries, bars, and shops. In this regard, I was a little bit reminded of Williamson Street in Madison, which has some neat little shops and a diverse assortment of restaurants like Freo. I had a great time from morning till late afternoon, and it was just a very pleasant, laid-back day.
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| A little courtyard of sorts between buildings on South Terrace |
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| The main entrance to the Fremantle Markets, similar to a swap meet |
The next time I was in Fremantle was not laid-back in the least. The next Friday, Paul had all us CIEE peeps meet at the Fremantle Markets for dinner, then a nighttime torchlight tour of the notorious Fremantle prison. Dinner was really nice because Paul told us he was giving us all "red vouchers" that we could "exchange for food," then proceeded to pass around $20 bills to everybody. By the way, Australian money is colorful and made out of plastic and in my opinion is much cooler than US money. Just saying.
I bought a poke bowl, which came with rice, lettuce, avocado, salmon sashimi, and various other toppings and it was fantastic. Towards the end of my meal, I was informed that the prison tour would be scary. Not just scary because it was at nighttime in a potentially haunted old, maximum-security prison which only had stopped housing prisoners in 1991 (yes, it was THAT recent!!), but the tour would include jumpscares.
I. Hate. Jumpscares.
Filled with nervous energy and very sure that horrors were quickly headed my way, I walked with the group towards the prison. Once there I was getting very anticipatory about what would happen on the tour and made a playful jab at Paul for not telling us about the scary nature on the tour. He told us about a thing called Uncertainty Avoidance which basically refers to a society's tolerance to ambiguity. Apparently, Aussies are very tolerant towards not knowing exactly what lies ahead. I told him I liked adventure as much as the next person, but I like to be told explicitly what's happening. Paul only smiled and said "oh, there'll be adventure tonight." This did not comfort me.
He didn't actually go on the tour with us, saying only that he'd been on it enough times and that when we reached Solitary Confinement to stand in the back of the group.
The torchlight tour began, and by torchlight I mean we were given dinky little flashlights to shine on the floor so we could see where we were walking. Otherwise, it was eerily dark within the prison. You could hear and feel the wind blowing through and there were plenty of cockroaches skittering around. I saw a huge one the size of my thumb.
Everything started out tamely enough, and our guide was very informational and very much enjoyed making morbid jokes. We walked through the different sectors of the prison and saw where inmates spent their time outside, as well as the kitchen area. The only scary part there was when someone screamed and threw a dummy dressed as an inmate from a cell on an upper level, which then landed with a horrible thud on the rigid metal netting just above our heads. This was, of course, staged to give us an example of how the netting worked. The metal netting was put in place to prevent inmates from committing suicide by jumping to the limestone floor, and also to prevent them from dropping their metal buckets (which they used as toilets) onto unsuspecting guards' heads on the first floor.
Other unsettling parts were when we went into the solitary confinement building, where I failed to stand in the back of the group. An actor posing as an inmate burst out of his cell and loudly rambled at us, showing us by example how awful the mental conditions of inmates in solitary confinement could become over extended periods of utter isolation. Part of the act included him picking out somebody in the tour group and essentially hitting on them, making eyes and doing suggestive dances and making verbal advances. Guess who the lucky victim was for this tour? (Hint: it was me)
Let's just say I was the most uncomfortable that I have ever been in my life.
We walked through the rest of the prison and saw the gallows where they hung inmates, the flogging post where inmates would be punished, and then headed down to the basement where another actor leapt out to terrify us and told us a story of a prisoner who had attempted to escape the prison.
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| Those who warranted punishment were tied by the wrist and ankles to this structure, then flogged severely. |
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| Art classes were provided in the prison's later years, and some inmates took it upon themselves to paint on their cell walls. |
The tour guide then brought us to the "dead end," where we concluded the tour with a visit in the morgue. The smell was dank and sort of moldy. As we left, he warned us to be silent lest we wake up any spirits. Then he set off a very loud noise which to me sounded like popping a balloon, solely to startle us, and laughed, saying we had to "end the tour with a bang." I think he enjoys his job a little too much.
Afterward, Paul bought us all some well-deserved and well-needed ice cream before we all parted ways. I promptly headed back to the uni village with some friends because if anything, that tour was exhausting. I do recommend it because though silly at some points it was educational. We even got to keep our torches as a "consolation prize" (yippee, right?).
The next morning, I took the train to my cousin's house since I hadn't been there in a couple weeks and was a little homesick. I can't stress enough how nice it feels to have family all the way out here, and that on the weekends I can just catch a train and take it easy with them. Ironically, it's such a difference for me from being at UW-Madison, where I have to go months without the comfort of being with my parents.
See, I haven't spent all my time studying! Though admittedly I probably should commit more seriously to actually studying, because it's harder to do than I originally thought. There's so much to do and see, and new people to interact with, so academics aren't the only thing pulling at my attention here. Maybe that's not such a bad thing, so long as I keep up with my readings. :)
Until next time!
~ JP
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