Freo is short for Fremantle, which is where we are staying. Australians are incapable of finishing any word and shorten everything into slang. We can barely understand what anyone is saying.

We enjoyed a lazy morning. I enjoyed having a simple breakfast that I could serve myself while wearing my pajamas. I can’t believe I got sick of breakfast buffets, but I did. We built a fort and did a lot of drawing.

I took Millie out to attempt to ride the bike that is at our Airbnb. We have really failed with teaching her this skill. She had a bike at home but never had much interest in it, and now can barely do the basics. Some day she’ll get it.

We played at the playground for a bit but it was hot and there weren’t any other kids there, so we came back. We drove the short 10 minutes to central Fremantle and visited a very, very sweet kids’ bookstore.

She spent about 30 minutes in here looking at books. They had a whole table dedicated to Studio Ghibli books that she was obsessed with. I had told her she could choose one book, but unfortunately all of these were huge and hardback. We had some arguing about which she could get and I eventually persuaded her to get a paperback.

We walked to the park nearby and she played for a while. We sat on a bench in the shade, which was heavenly. She climbed on the top of this climbing thing (see photo below) and spotted a Ferris wheel. Nick agreed to take her on it.

It cost the two of the $27 to ride it! I can’t decide if it’s the shock of being here after how cheap SE Asia was, or if everything here is very expensive, but it definitely feels very expensive. Nick reviewed what we spent yesterday and it was crazy. $30 for a shared plate of fish & chips, $40 for two beers and one appetizer, $7 for parking, and a number of other things that all add up. Worth it, but I can feel my frugal hat going back on after not really paying too much attention to our spending recently.

We went to pick up some snacks and drinks for a picnic and were shocked to see that a 6 pack was $25, which is about $17. And then we realized it was a 4-pack! Highway robbery.

Ok, rant over. Other than the prices, Western Australia continues to be heaven on earth.

In the afternoon, we drove over to Bicton to meet up with some old friends. Frane and Mark were neighbors with my parents when I was a baby, and their son Luke and I were born just a couple of months apart. Millie has friends like this (Frankie, Tug, Oak, Luke, etc) so it was as if they met up to hang out again in 35 years. Our parents have kept in touch but I haven’t seen or talked to Luke since we were toddlers. Coincidentally, Luke had a son just a month after Millie was born.

Here are some photos of us in the late 80s, and then of our kids tonight. Life is crazy.

We sat by the swan river and had pizza and drinks while the kids ran around like crazy people. They built sandcastles and caught “blowies” (Aussie for blowfish) with their nets. They jumped off the dock. We saw dolphins splashing in the river. We chatted about WA and all the amazing places there are to see.

I once again was amazed at how nice it is here in Western Australia. Perfect weather, nice people, good food… what’s the catch? So far the only answer I’ve gotten, in person and from the internet, is that it’s isolated. The closest big city takes over 24 hours to drive to. But then you can fly to Bali for a long weekend, so maybe it’s worth it?