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(Freo visit June 2007)



American WWII torpedo in the the Freo Maritime Museum’s lost & found.

Nah, not really. It was laying outside the building pointing the way to HMAS Ovens. The lost & found presumanly holds a couple of jumpers, a single thong and a set of house keys for somewhere in Tokyo.


Biggun

Didn't do the Ovens tour. Too buggered that day and couldn’t face clambering up into a narrow sub with a pack of excited sprogs and adults and donging my head on a bulkhead.

Virtual tour of the sub

Ovens is a decommissioned sub. She lives next to the Maritime Museum on Victoria Quay. The new Maritime Museum not the old one near Cicerello's. Look for the Port Authority tower or follow the CAT bus into the carpark.


Biggun

Inside the museum was a video on Ovens's last journey back to HMAS Platypus,the submarine dock in Neutral Bay in Sydney Harbour. A Sydney friend spends much of his spare time on his Neutral Bay balcony watching the sailors bending over.

The video was cool. Showed you the inside of the sub and what everyone does when they play war games against the Americans. Panic slightly was the answer in some cases and there was all that cool naval repeating of orders thing they do. At the end, when she steamed up Sydney Harbour under the Coathanger and into Platypus, the captain had a little cry and so did I.



Her conning tower with the flags of Australia, Pommyland and America flying over a list of subs "commemorating the sacrifices made by the Allied Submarines operating out of Fremantle...during World War II".

I swear some of those subs were named by Terry Pratchett: Croaker, Flasher, Paddle, Trout and Tapir. Isn't a tapir some sort of rubber-nosed creature of the African plains?


Quizzed

Another email with some interesting questions:

I found your blog This isn't Sydney and wondered if you could help.

I am moving the the Peninsula from Sydney and am keen to get a local's thoughts and insights into the area for interest.

Do you know of any blogs that give a unique insight into the area...?

Every blog gives a unique insight but This Isn't Sydney might be said to be a bit unique-er than the average.

(am not sure if you are a local - just presumed so from your blog)

I am.

... is Umina really full of troubled youths causing chaos...?

No. Most of the population is over 55. What few teenagers there are in Umina spend most of their time saying "I'm boooooored" and going up to Bloody Erina (Erina Fair). where they annoy the shopkeepers by making one hamburger last three hours and not picking up after themselves. Newspaper stories about troubled youth sell more newspapers.

is Ettalong a haven for retired couples...?

Yes.

... what is the community feeling like in the area...?

Not like Sydney. Slower, nicer, far less aggro.

...is the area progressing?

Depends on what you mean by progressing. If you mean does it now have an over-large edifice where the RSL used to be, then yes. We also have more coffee-shops than you can poke a tourist at.

It appears I'm turning into something of an agony column for prospective Woy Woyans.

I also get a lot of mail over at my Flickr page wanting to use a picture or three for non-commercial use (only if you ask nice) and so on, including one asking for some details about local churches for a fillum.


Weather report

Magnificent wind this morning and a lovely black sky came over. Then it sailed off up the coast. Look like it’s going to piss down up Newcastle way.