Fremantle reminds me of small-town, used-to-be frontier America with an amazing combination of styles: neo-Gothic Anglican church (upstate NY), 2-storey building with wrought-iron balconies (New Orleans), pedestrian zone (everywhere) with bad singers and worse musicians. The traffic, of course, follows the English pattern but unlike in much of England, there are no signs painted on the street telling you to "Look right". I wonder how many tourists they lose in a year.
Many of the people I spoke with from Western Australia have a much stronger accent than I had expected but my previous experience was limited to Crocodile Dundee.
We are now in the Australian Bight and the ship is rocking again. The ocean, in this case, the Southern Ocean, crashes against the rocks of the shore and then comes back out with increased force so the ship is buffeted from both sides. When you consider than 90% of the time, you have no idea that you are at sea, a reminder now and again is not such a bad thing.
Cunard advertised a 3-day trip: Fremantle to Adelaide and more than 800, mostly single women, took up the offer. Unfortunately, they did not read the fine print so many showed up this evening at the formal dinner wearing summer clothes and beach shoes. They were politely but firmly turned away and told to change and come back. Some did, many apparently did not.
As my contact with Australians was and is limited, I do not know why they say something which sounds like "ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie" but it can get annoying especially when someone else is talking. On the other hand, they have the reputation for being lots of fun, fueled of course by lots of alcohol. But then, lots of cultures are the same in that respect. And, if like me, you do not drink alcohol and are as sober at the end of the evening as at the beginning, it can really be annoying.
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