Somewhere Else

Yesterday we suggested that our readers should go to Fremantle to see the Queen Mary 2 while it was in port. Well, a surprising number of people took our recommendation – we went to Fremantle after lunch and found that half the population of Perth was there to see the world’s second biggest passenger liner. The roads were nearly gridlocked, parking spaces were at a premium, and there were pedestrians everywhere.

Fremantle turned on a good show for the event. There were tall ships (that’s the STS Leeuwin above) and tall people (below). Plus face painting, fun fair rides, and live music ranging from sea shanties to Latino.

But this was just a flying visit (if that’s the right term for a ship) – the Queen Mary 2 was only in port for one day. In the late afternoon people packed every available vantage point for kilometres around to see the huge ship sail out to sea, dwarfing everything else in and around the harbour.