We've decided to take a ferry along the Swan River into Fremantle and to take the train back. There is some very fancy residential real estate along both sides of the Swan River as we cruise downstream. One or two of the more prominent and extravagant constructions would set you back a cool AUD$60m or so, but you'd need pretty deep pockets if you wanted anything decent along the waterfront, even though it stretches for miles all the way from the city centre to the ocean on both banks of the river. And it seems that for every property there are at least a dozen boats. Apparently this area has the largest number of boats per head of population anywhere in the world. There are certainly plenty of yacht and boat marinas packed with boats of every size - mostly large! If you like waterfront living, this may well be the place. The properties are every bit as extravagant as they were in Sydney. The riverbank also boasts the world's smallest and most exclusive yacht club. It is housed in a small blue shed-come-boathouse on the water's edge and has just two members. Two brothers built themselves this small construction, but did so without planning consent. They were of course ordered by the local authority to demolish it. Their lawyer, however, had other ideas and found a loophole in Australian planning laws which allowed the building of a yacht club to go ahead without the need for planning permission. Suffice to say the loophole didn't last very long, but this small and charming monument to the stupidity of planners and the ingenuity of the legal profession stands today for the world to see.

After 45 minutes cruising past stunning properties we approach Fremantle port, a huge working trading port handling over 500,000 containers each year and still growing. Huge container ships sit alongside cruise liners and every size and shape of commercial vessel. A short walk from the ferry dock, however, is the old town of Fremantle itself.



What attracts the population of Perth into the town at the weekend are the markets which operate on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. They all bustle with activity. Local produce sits alongside specialist foods, meats, seafood, clothes sellers and the inevitable tourist tat shops. We hadn't appreciated that the world needed so many didgeridoos!

Every tourist emporium also sells the strange phenomenon that is the ugg boot. If ever the term 'caveat emptor' applied, it applies to the ugg boot. The ugg brand is actually owned by an opportunist American who took what was an Australian name for a type of sheepskin boot and registered it. The consequence is a strange anomaly. In Australia you can buy genuine ugg boots that are made in Australia from Australian grown sheepskins. These are labelled as Australian made 'ugg' boots and there are eight companies making them across the country. They are not exported and it is not possible to buy them outside this country. You can also buy ugg-branded boots. These are never made in Australia. Invariably they are made in China very often but not always from Australian sheepskin. Chinese made ugg boots using Australian skins are most often branded 'uGg' and usually described as Australian because that's where the skin is from and it is these impostors that are sold around the world.


We learned all about this as we wandered around this rather attractive town from market to market and shop to shop calling at some of the many and varied delicatessens and other vendors of tasty and fattening morcels along the way.

Two fatter travellers have now returned to their flat and after a slug or two of Amber Nectar will feast on lettuce and retire for the night.

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