A few days after Christmas we headed to Australia to meet up with the Smiths. We had planned this trip for a while but when the trip actually came it was bittersweet because the Smith's had just left Korea and were headed for their next assignment in Dubai. So it turned out to be a last Hurrah with some of our favorite Australians.
The trip was off to a great start in Hong Kong where they had a Disney store! Check out all the Chinese Mickey stuff!
We stayed in Fremantle the first few nights and fell in love with the city. On New Year's Eve we took the kids to a fantastic park on the river and let them swim and play while the adults hung out.
We even got to meet up with Lorren, Darren, and Harrison!
Julian makes a new friend.
On New Year's Day, Sasha decided to spend the day puking (she seems to have a policy where she only gets sick on vacation. Unless it's Disney...) so our choices were limited. She actually picked a good day to do it as we had it slated as kind of a chill out/rest day which we definitely did.
Jeff and Teddy and I took turns going out, exploring parts of "Freeo" and touring the Prison. We actually got to stay at the Fremantle Prison - it's one of the oldest prisons in Australia and was built with convict labor.
We rented a cottage that was used for female guards and their families. It was awesome! We had 2 bedrooms, an eat-in kitchen and a back garden. It was a perfect place to stay with a sick kid because we had lots of room to spread out and relax. Teddy spent part of his time creating some photos with a friend which I only discovered after we got home!
Freeo is super-cool. It's got the neatest little streets and the architecture is amazing. It's full of characters and yet completely clean. And there are TONS of amazing restaurants, coffee shops, and bookstores. Totally my kind of place!
And best of all, it's full of Australians! They are a rare breed, those aussies.... the younger generation all look like supermodels (one young man that was helping me with directions was so drop-dead gorgeous that I actually got all flustered and forgot how to talk for a bit..) and then there's no middle aged people, and then when they re-emerge as senior citizens they are the funkiest looking people imaginable. I have no idea how the gorgeous youth of Oz somehow morph over the course of their lifetimes into dudes with crazy hair, bizarre beards, and faces that have tufts of hair sprouting from strange, strange places, but apparently around age 50 the weird hair gene kicks in. The cool thing is that they can pull this look off with their awesome Aussie accents. Check this store out. If you said the name of this store in their accent it actually would come out sounding like "Shock and Awe". So it works!
Cool buildings everywhere....
The next day Sasha was better so we got back with the Smith's and checked out some really great parks.
There were tons of playgrounds and botanical gardens so we played and hiked and just generally enjoyed the warm weather.
The kids could have done anything and had a great time! After the parks we headed to Cottesloe beach for a swim.
Then next morning we went south to Dunsborough (say it "Duns-Bra"). But that's another post. So fast forward to the end of our trip where we went back to Freeo for a few more nights. Jeff had business so we got to crash in his hotel with him and then he had to fly back to Korea. The kids and I got to enjoy a bit more of the town and had an EXCELLENT breakfast right in the middle of everything. Great food + people watching!
After that we just strolled around and took in more of the sights.
We found the coolest shop down this street that had bulk foods and I bought Quinoa and tons of other things to bring back to Korea. Score!!
Every part of town was like this. Just amazing colonial architecture and it was all meticulously maintained.
Then Zoe and Emily came and took us to an Australian store. Teddy wanted to buy it all. Here he's got some kind of severed animal foot backscratcher... it actually HURT, so don't ask a kangaroo for a backscratch. Just in case you're ever in that situation...
No Ted, you can't have an outfit made from animal skins. This is after I talked him out of buying the bottle opener made from sheep testicles. They have a great sense of humor those Aussies.....
I have been to many places in many countries and I have to say that Fremantle Australia is the nicest small city I have EVER been to. It really has everything. Great free transport in the form of "Cat" buses, amazing buildings, several incredible markets that sell organic produce and local crafts, great people, wonderful parks, it's right on the water, the weather is fantastic and it's CLEAN! Seriously, if you're one of those people that's always looking for a great place to visit, add it to your list.
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