Western Australia Day 10: Fremantle Markets

The section for bites you can have as you shop, or take away for later.

It was Christmas Eve morning. We arranged to meet a friend at Fremantle Markets in the late morning so we woke up a little later today. We visited the markets in 2011 and enjoyed ourselves, so it was one place we were looking forward to visiting again.

This section was dominated by fresh produce. Although about the same price as what we get back home, the produce here looked somewhat fresher.

We found parking at a nearby street corner and enjoyed a short walk down Cappucino Street before arriving at the entrance to the craft and souvenir section of the market. The market is laid out like a fair, with similar items and services placed together in the same sheltered hall.

We strolled along quickly as breakfast was already some time ago, and we had room in our tummies to try something at the food section. What surprised me was the variety of international food available at the market. Alongside Australian choices were Bratwurst, Asian noodles, Russian cake and a number of other fusion concoctions.

A large, juicy Bratwurst brings back memories from our previous trip here.

The kids just called it a 'hot-dog', but this was no ordinary sausage. After a few passes most of it was gone, and the girls requested for another on (this time without mustard). I suggested we try something else.

Chocolate coated strawberries? Sweet treats will have to wait till after lunch.

How about another 'hot-dog'? This one is branded as a Wassup-dog. We got a free egg stuffed into it.

Waiting in line for a hot snack is extra appetizing in the chilly weather.

This ain't no ordinary hot-dog! Sausage is split open down the centre, grilled, and stuffed with egg, corn and onions. We requested for no veggies, and topped it up with ketchup!

mmmmm.......

More sampling stations: this time, we pick up a piece of 'Russian Honey Cake'.

Very sweet!

There was a stall selling all kinds of jerky and biltong.

I requested for a bag of mixed flavours and pieces. It was quite nice but a little too much for just me alone.

The freshly squeezed juice bar was quite a hit with the kids. The juice is served as an icy slush in a large cup big enough for all of us to share.

On one side of the stall, Rocky-Road candies were quite a hit. On the other side, the lady was selling olive and truffle oils.

The street market atmosphere is completed with messy displays of gifts, souvenirs, food and of course, the occasional busker playing a tune around the corner.

In the spirit of the holidays, we let the girls pick out a gift each. They both fell in love with this Floonie toy.

After a fulfilling morning out at Fremantle Market (we stocked up lots of gifts for our friends back home here too), we headed to our next 'old' spot from our last trip here - Harbour Town. We were surprised to see that the shopping centre is now known as Water Town instead. The complex hosts a variety of factory-outlet shops that offered pretty good bargains if you had fashion or sports gear in mind. We stopped at the exact same Noodle Inn restaurant we lunched at during our visit in 2011. They serve large portions of Asian food, including dim sum, curries, rice and noodles. We shopped, or should we say, Mummy shopped with her dear friend (the one whom we met at Fremantle) while Daddy and the girls just followed Mummy from shop to shop.

The old 'Harbour Town' label is still alive on the banner of this eatery. The food was just as good. I have to say it's a lot cheaper back home in Singapore through <cheeky grin!>.

Lots of branded-items for sale here.

Back at our base, the girls 'discovered' that our family blog had past entries depicting travels when they were still too young to remember. After dinner, they requested to revisit the entries and read what Daddy and Mommy wrote about them when they were just toddlers. There were laughs and gasps as they flipped through our online scrapbook of memories. It was heartening to see such a positive response to our blog from our youngest readers, and I get a strange feeling that they'll be writing some entries of their own soon. Watch this space!