Behind bars

John and I have spent the afternoon in prison. Happily it was our choice to be behind bars and not because of any wrongdoing on our part. I have been wanting to visit the old Fremantle Prison for some time and, as it was a beautiful Autumn afternoon, it seemed to be too good to spend the afternoon indoors. My yellow and grey quilt was calling me, but so was the yellow sunshine and it was the latter which called the loudest. Besides, I spent most of yesterday working on the quilt and I am now up to the binding so thought a break was called for.

The prison was built by convicts in 1850 and was used as a place of punishment for over 130 years. It is incredible to think that people were living in these conditions as late as 1991.
 

The Prison is Perth's only World Heritage listed site and I suspect that its frontage now presents a much more welcoming picture than it did when it was being used as a prison.

Although the old limestone buildings are impressive, they are also rather forbidding.

After our taste of incarceration we celebrated our freedom by visiting a new beachside restaurant for a coffee. In the words of the Perth restaurant reviewer who wrote about this place over the weekend, we felt we were "livin' the dream", something the inmates of Fremantle Prison were definitely not doing.