Onwards and upwards

Today is the first day that I've been in Perth when the sunshine has been interrupted by a hazy layer of cloud. And I've been here for two weeks. Perth is coming into winter, it's low season, and as such there hasn't been any work for me here. Instead I am moving North to Broome on Wednesday. Broome is currently in its high season and I have distant family there (the son of my great aunt – I'm not sure what relation that is to me? Cousin removed, second cousin?) who say there is definitely work for me there. Money is tight, having finally got the tooth I broke in Singapore fixed, and now having paid for transport to Broome! So as much as I love Perth, I have to move on.

Therefore I've taken my last few days to explore around Perth a little and do the “tourist thing”. I went down to Freemantle – the first settlement around here. Whilst my guidebook says to allow at least a day for Freemantle, I allowed an afternoon. And I was very glad that I did, as I was bored before I'd been there for two hours. Not a comment on Freemantle so much as me. I just don't think it was for me. Whilst I found the shipwreck museum interesting, I was more interested in the temporary exhibition about early trade routes and navigation than of all of the artifacts that they'd pulled out of the sea near here. The history of Dutch shipping and their discovery of a faster route to the spices of Java was very interesting. The numerous bits of pottery, coins and fabric swatches less so...

I also visited “the roundhouse”. The oldest building and early prison. Again interesting, but no historical facts or concepts that I wasn't already familiar with. And then I notice a passing reference that this land was populated with aboriginals when the first ships arrived. And that's it. Just a passing reference. What did the Europeans do to them? Now that would be a story I would be interested in. Something that I didn't learn in school. But as always the interesting stories are glossed over for dates and measurements. In a way I was reminded of the audioguides in China, which put great emphasis on describing everything that is in front of you, giving you the measurements (which are pointless as you can see how big it is – it's in front of you!) and dates (which you can get from your guidebook), but no actual history or context.

After this I wandered around the famous Freemantle markets, which had a lot of interesting wares for sale, most of which were, for some reason, imported from Asia, and not a great place to spend time when you know that you have no money to spend (incidentally I chose the museums to visit that were free entry or entry by donation). I also visited the less famous E block markets by the quays. Which were similar to the Freemantle markets, but surprisingly with more tat at higher prices.

Apart from Freemantle, most of my tourist exploration has centered on the beaches, and these are by far the most satisfying option. Beautiful expanses of soft white sand that stretch for miles along the blue of the Indian Ocean. I only hope that Broome is as beautiful!