Today we woke to better conditions than yesterday. Not great conditions, but better. Still intermittent downpours and windy, but not gale force. Bob and I decided we would just go with the fine weather alternate plan for today and see how we went.

First stop for the day was a tour of Fremantle Prison. This prison was operated for 136 years and closed in 1991. It was known to have terrible conditions – heat, cold, disease, crowding. There was no electricity connected to the cells until 1985!

The Scott’s did the tour with us. There were lots of really interesting stories about life and conditions back in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Bob was keen to make this happen today and it was very worthwhile.

We visited the gallows, where 44 people were hung between 1889 and 1964. Very sobering.

We said goodbye to the Scott’s as they had planned to stay local today, while we headed to the wharves and picked up the Allen’s ready to head out to Mandurah for the afternoon. Sue told us about a fantastic bakery in Pinjara that has won heaps of awards for its pies, so of course that became the plan for a late lunch. There were even a few vegetarian options so after we all had our lunch pie, I went back and bought a couple of cold ones to put in the freezer for heating up on travel days in our pie oven.

Then it was off to start our path around the Mandurah Giants. These are very impressive artworks dotted around the Mandurah area with a story and challenge built in to finding them. There are 6 in total, but with our time restraints today we could only manage to find 3. Bob is a convert…..from not having any interest in seeing them when he first heard of them, he has commented this evening that it would have been great to do them with the kids when they were young. There are other giants installed around the world from the same artist. So clever.

Once we’d finished with the giants we headed into Mandurah CBD and took a walk around the precinct. The wind was bitter which meant the place was very quiet, but it was easy to see how it comes to life heading into summer.

While we were down south, Karen and Kieran headed to the Shipwrecks Museum where we headed yesterday, and finished the day back at the Fremantle Prison doing the tunnels tour. These tunnels were built below the gaol using prisoner labour. Kieran describes the interesting use of the natural water supply in the tunnels. They enjoyed multiple ladder traverses utilising fall arrest devices, paddling kayaks in pitch black. Right up their alley!

Tomorrow Bob and I have our reduced Rottnest Island experience after our ferry for today was cancelled. Unfortunately all the others have pre-booked services for their vehicles so didn’t have the option to rebook. We’ll all be at separate locations tomorrow. Will all meet back up at Busselton on Wednesday night.