Playing Tourist - Fremantle Prison Tunnel Tour

A few of us headed to Fremantle on a hot Sunday afternoon, last week, not the weekend that just passed but the one before that, to do touristy things seeing as Al was back home from Sydney.

Despite living in Perth all his life and that includes us (us being - Wells, M, me and bf) none of us has completed the underground tunnel tours at Fremantle Prison ever since it opened. So playing a little tourist underground of a prison seemed exciting and adventourous, especially for a Sunday.

It's not that I can't position the camera to be straight, the ground was just slanted the whole time no matter where i stand and how I held the camera. Anyway, that's the entrance to teh Fremantle Prison. See it doesn't look that bad....

 

We had to wear fabulous and gorgeous white suits (please note the sarcastic undertone) with gum boots, which was then topped with helmets, life jacket (seeing as there is water down there - they dug the tunnels under the prison because they found fresh water down there, that is until it got contaminated in the 1960s and the town found fresh water else where, until then the tunnels provided water to the town of Fremantle) and of course a harness - after all we were climbing a 20m ladder down to the tunnels. This was all done only after a successful passing of a breathalyser. Blood alcohol must be 0.00!

 Us in our "gorgeous" white suits and black gum boots

I can feel... an aura around you!

 nnnaawww doesn't Wells look sooo cute here!

bf sitting waiting to get helmets

We successfully completed the tunnels tour so all smiles around!

bf after the tunnels tours - see all the safety gear! haha totally HOT (NOT!)

There was took a short tunnel tour (literally had to be bent down for those tall people, I was fortunate enough and didn't have to bend too much - see short height comes in handy....). We then loaded ourselves onto boats and canoed along the waterways of the tunnels which was an experience. Without our helmet lights it was pitch back, you couldn't even see the your hands and they were right in front of you!! Even if your eyes adjusted to the darkness you still couldn't make out anything. Our tour guide Tristan proved that to us!

We learnt a fair bit out the history of Fremantle and the jail. It was not just to house the convicts, but the convicts were specially "imported" from England to help find fresh water (which was scarce in those days) and the convicts managed to find it, it was right under them. The prison stayed open from th 1890s until 1992 when it closed. It wasn't until mid 1990s that the prison was opened to the public as a historical venue and tourist hot spot.

For those coming to Perth, I definately recommend you take a Fremantle Prison Tour, if it's not the tunnel one at least the Night time tour (it's freaking awesome with all the "ghosts" especially at Halloween!), or even the day one is probably good too.