Freo Feels Like Home (But With Better Coffee)
so here i am in freo, feeling like i've stumbled into some indie movie set where the lead character finally figures their life out. the weather's doing that whole 'warm enough to sit outside but cool enough to need a light jacket' thing-23.42 degrees, feels like 23.12, basically perfect for pretending you're productive at a cafe. i just checked and it's basically t-shirt weather right now, hope you like that kind of thing.
this place is weird in the best way. like, there's a guy selling handmade soap from a vintage caravan outside the markets, and nobody thinks it's strange. i heard from a barista (who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else) that the best fish and chips are at this place called cicerello's, but someone else told me they're actually terrible and overcharged. classic freo-everyone's got an opinion, nobody's wrong.
"If you're not wearing something thrifted, are you even really here?"
a dreadlocked dude said that to me outside a record store. i didn't have a good comeback, so i just bought a vintage hawaiian shirt instead.
if you get bored, perth and mandurah are just a short drive away, though why you'd leave freo is beyond me. the architecture here is like someone took a victorian building, gave it to an artist, and said "make it weird." there's street art everywhere, but it's the kind that feels like it belongs, not like someone tagged a wall because they were bored.
*the cappuccino strip is exactly what it sounds like-a street full of cafes where everyone sits outside with their dogs and laptops, pretending to work. i tried this place called the raw kitchen because a girl at the hostel said it was "life-changing," and honestly? it was just really good vegan food. not life-changing, but i'd go back.
i keep forgetting to mention the freo markets because they're just...there. like, you expect them to be touristy garbage, but they're actually full of local artists selling things they made while probably listening to Tame Impala. there's this one stall with handmade candles that smell like the ocean, and i bought one even though i have no use for it.
the thing about freo is that it doesn't try too hard. it's not like those places that scream "i'm quirky! love me!" it's just...there. being itself. and somehow that makes it more charming than anywhere else i've been recently.
i overheard someone say that the prison* here is actually a tourist attraction, which sounds depressing until you realize it's more about the history than the actual prison part. still, not sure i wanna spend my vacation in a jail, even if it's decommissioned.
anyway, if you're ever in western australia, freo's worth a stop. just don't expect it to be anything other than exactly what it is: a slightly weird, mostly wonderful port town that's figured out how to be cool without trying.
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