Fremantle

Fremantle is a city in Australia.

Fremantle (Freo in Aussie-speak) is the old port city located 30 km from the centre of Perth in Western Australia. They used to be separate towns, but have long since merged. However, Fremantle keeps its charming old buildings, small streets and beautiful spirit and is a refreshingly creative and friendly centre. People are very welcoming and kind, shoes are everywhere optional (except inside bars etc), the sea breeze (known as the Fremantle Doctor) whistles through the trees and there are smiles on faces all around. Check it out.

Places to Visit

There is a community garden centre FERN (Fremantle Environmental Resource Nerwork) which is generally full of lovely people doing things like gardening, bike workshops, yoga classes and organising activist events. They have a donation-based vegan soup kitchen on Monday nights for sitting around a campfire under the stars, eating more delicious vegan food than you can reasonably be expected to put in your stomach in a week.

South Beach (the free CAT bus, look for the orange buses, goes there) is lovely for a swim (there are sometimes little jellyfish but nothing serious, don't worry) and is a popular gathering spot for travelers in the evenings, and sometimes reggae parties on the beach. It's illegal to camp here and they do check sometimes. There are free bbq and toilets though.

Places to Avoid

South Terrace (the main strip) at night, especially on the weekend. Due to lots of pubs opening there, it's become like the worse parts of the Perth/Northbridge areas, with unpleasant drunks littering the streets, making it hard to believe you're in the same hippie haven that it looked like 5 hours ago.