Today unfortunately the weather forecast wasn’t incorrect. We woke to gale force winds and heavy intermittent rain squalls. A day that indoor sightseeing was the only option.

The Scott’s were off early and enjoyed breakfast overlooking the water (from the shelter of their car) before heading over to Perth for the Terracotta Warrior exhibition. We weren’t that organised and headed off around 930 to check out the Fremantle Markets (indoor). We picked up some bits and pieces and Bob and Jase got shooed away multiple times from places while they were waiting for Sue and I! They must have looked like they weren’t shoppers, just loiterers 🙂 .

We picked our break in the weather and got back to the car to head over to the Shipwreck Museum. We all really enjoyed this one. So many fascinating stories of the over 1400 shipwrecks that have occurred along the WA coast – most of which happened in the 1800’s, but some as far back as the early 1600’s. Many of these shipwrecks have only been discovered since the 1970’s and there was a really interesting narration on the detective work that occurred to identify a wreck from the 1800’s that was found on the coast with no name engraved on the bell. Possible dates for the wreckage were bookended based on the dates of the coins found in the cargo with names on various cargo used to direct research. Finally newspaper articles were used to identify the wreckage as the Rapid. So interesting.

We also saw the original hull of the Batavia which was wrecked in 1629 at the Abrolhos Islands with mutiny, murder and hangings part of the history. We have heard the backstory of this ship on our way up and down the WA coast as well as on our day trip to the Abrolhos Islands.

After spending a lovely morning perusing markets and the museum, we headed over to the Gage Roads brewery for a light lunch. We almost got blown over walking there – wind gusts today at Fremantle exceeded 90km/hr. The wind has been beyond belief! Luckily we got a seat adjacent to the fire and a pleasant hour or so was spent out of the weather.

We departed Fremantle for our first trip into Perth. Jase and Sue went to the Terracotta Warriors yesterday so they spent the afternoon at a retro video games establishment. I’m not sure who the winner was….

Bob and I were the last of the group to the Terracotta Warriors, and like all the others, found it really interesting. Seeing terracotta guards and animals that were positioned in the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor in the Qin dynasty around 200 BC was mind boggling. The mass production techniques to produce these were also so amazing.

Not too many photos today as we’ve literally been hiding from the outdoors. Hoping tomorrow will see the forecast reduction in winds. We have a free day due to our Rottnest Island day being cancelled so are looking at fine vs bad weather options.