An introduction to Western Australia.

In the Merry Old Land of OZ
Western Australia, Day 2
Friday, August 29

Hannah was home sick from school on Friday with a sore throat and stuffy nose. Lindy, feeling that we couldn’t just sit around the house all day, decided to take us all to the Western Australia Maritime Museum in Fremantle. Hannah was entertained by a little scavenger hunt the museum has for kids, and Aedan was more than happy to run around and go up and down the stairs. He has a thing for stairs.

The museum was small, but nice inside. Fremantle was apparently the largest submarine base in the southern hemisphere during World War II, and so the maritime museum has a lot of artifacts from that time, including a sub that you can tour.

We wandered around for a while, trying out all the interactive things and looking at a lot of boats. The Australia II, the boat that won Aussie its first America’s Cup back in the early 80s, is housed there. It’s a very shiny boat.

After an hour or so at the museum, it was back to the house and naptime for Aedan. My uncle came home from work early, and he and Lindy got some bad news regarding Aedan. Aedan had cancer about a year ago, and it looks like it has come back. It was both very awkward and depressing to be in the house when they got the phone call. Lindy was very upset. I can’t blame her, though. I think she’s a lot stronger than I could ever be. Hannah had a lot of heart problems as a kid, and now this. It doesn’t seem fair somehow. I don’t want to say anything more about it, though, because it’s too depressing and it’s also not really my business to be sharing.

After Aedan woke up from his nap, we all went out to Cottesloe Beach. A strong wind was blowing in, and there were tons of surfers, windsurfers and parasurfers in the water as we drove along.

To get down to the beach, we took a cobblestone path through some scrub brush, passing some stone artwork along the way. One piece was a large sundial that actually worked; I thought it was pretty cool.

We got down to the beach, and Aedan went toddling off into the sand. Along with stairs, he also really likes sand. I walked out to the end of the jetty on my own to take some photos. The sun was setting, and the whole scene was pretty impressive. I will certainly say that Australia has some beautiful beaches.





But with the wind and chilly sea spray buffeting me on the jetty, I didn’t stay long. I walked back down to the beach, where it was apparent Lindy and Hannah were just about ready to go.

It was “cold” by their standards. Granted, the wind was pretty chilly. But it had to have been in the mid-50s, and that’s certainly nice for “winter” as far as I’m concerned. But I suppose the longer you live there, the colder that temperature would start to feel.


We made our way back to the car and back into Fremantle for dinner at Song Tam, a Vietnamese restaurant. I’ve never eaten Vietnamese food before, but it was pretty good; similar to Chinese, really. I got some lemon chicken that was amazing. We didn’t stay too long, however, because Hannah wasn’t feeling well and Aedan was also getting slightly cranky.

We made our way back to the house just in time for bedtime. I could tell everyone was exhausted from the day, but I’m grateful that Jerry and Lindy took the time and effort to show me a little more of Australia. Overall, it was a really nice evening.