A Pub crawl with Mick

Well during a ripper day in Perth Jacko, cousin Mick and yours truly decided to go for a quick little beer, and after finding most of the pubs we drove passed were closed...

Is there something wrong about having a beer before 10 in the morning? Crikey I remember the old Royal Oak in Tighes Hill was our early opener at 6 in the morning, straight after work on a friday morning you would find yours truly sinking a schooner of New with his workmates... Those were the days.

But after a bit of research by our Occupational Drinks Consultant (Jacko in the backseat with his phone), we settled on a beer in Freo as it had the nearest opened pubs around. And thus we are here in the legendary SAIL & ANCHOR HOTEL, and didn't those first beers go down just nicely. It's a ripper old Pub with a nice little beer Garden out the side which is where we got our photo, so now we had had our first nice cold beer we thought we might just try one more pub before heading back home.

Well across the road we tried the old NORFOLK HOTEL but the bloody thing was closed, I don't think I'll ever get use to this 'Pubs being closed thing'. Like I can understand them being closed at say 2 in the morning, but wouldn't you think they would open up again at say 6!

So our Pub Consultant came up with the idea of trying a brewery just across the park, so here we are having a photo with the Freo Eye, or as the locals call it "The Tourist Wheel' crikey they must of sat up all night thinking that name up. But at $12 a hit I think that money could be spent on a pint somewhere else... sorry tourist wheel thingamajig.

And before you could say 'Lets keep $12 for a pint' we were standing outside the LITTLE CREATURES BREWERY, and about to enjoy a nice icy cold beer tickling the tonsils.

Not very often do you get two dicks in a photo! ha,ha. Of cause one being a lot bigger then the other.

And here we are at another wheel but this one is much better as it's inside a Brewery, It's also sitting on the back of Elsie the Kombi so that makes it even better. I tried a Pacific Ale which was okay but fairdinkum give me a Dingo Lager any day of the week, the barmaid said it had a Hazy passionfruit aroma which isn't really my cup of tea but I twisted my arm and it was okay. I didn't really taste the passionfruit but I might smell it later on tonight.

Inside the Brewery is pretty impressive and looks real beaut, high roof and heaps of places to have a sit and those beaut looking steel thingies.

Then it was a nice easy walk back across the park to the very Impressive ESPLANDE HOTEL, but as we found out it's actually called The Ball & Chain. It's pretty cool inside as it caters for the tourist who loves the old Port sea stuff and the old pioneer days, so you can see why yours truly really felt at home here.

The three gorgeous blokes at the bar in The Ball & Chain, the beer was cold so I was happy and fairdinkum looking at us we could be in any one of those photos on the wall. Actually this photo was harder then you can imagine, as I pressed the button on my phone camera the face recognition boxes popped up and was going mad! All those faces in the one photo ha,ha.

This scallywag who goes by the name of 'Little Chief' was imprisoned because of a long list of crimes including Indecent behavior, Obscene language during x-box games, False pretenses of a four wheel driver, Disturbing the peace and Drunk & Disorderly on saturday nights.

Now on the way to the Gage roads Brewery we were walking along Henry street in Freo's West End, when we came upon this little Pub called THE DARLING DARLING. now me being me if it has a beer in there I'm more then happy to give it a burl, but old cousin Mick was a bit dubious about the name Darling, Darling. To him it conjured up images of blokes doing awful things to themselves, like holding hands! But yours truly and Jacko were straight in to see what horrors it had install for us.

You know when sometimes you stumble upon a something you just didn't expect, well this was just one of those moments. This Pub is located in Freo's old Sadleirs building, and has been made to make you feel you have entered the under-deck of an old 19th century pirate ship.

There's old tied up ropes, compasses, ship light lanterns, pulleys, wooden wheels and all sorts of old ship memorabilia, genuine maritime antiques on the walls, this was a scallywags playground

so we fit right in.

Jacko showing us how low the roof was and how it looks like your standing in the hull of a ship,

And to finish off the experience we had a ripper barmaid who keep us talking and drinking like all good barmaids should, they have bowls of peanuts which seem to be unlimited and all over the floor are the discarded shells. Trust me beer nuts go hand in hand with a pint and we really enjoyed our time at Darling Darling, I couldn't recommend it more highly for a few drinks on a night out.

After letting our eyes adjust to the daylight we wondered along Henry street to we reached another pub THE BAR ORIENT, which is an old pub that has been renovated and it had two things I love in a pub.

It had cold beer and a pool table so after getting our mandatory Pub photo, we wondered over and had a couple of rounds of pool. Before heading out towards the Port for our next pub.

As we got to the Port docks we found the STS Leeuwin II which was docked at B Shed, at Victoria Quay, right next to our next drinking hole.

This magnificent sailing ship was launched in 1986 and was purposely built as a sail training ship, I'll tell you what this pub crawl has had a real nautical feel to it hay. Pity you can't see this magnificent ship as there was three knobheads in the way.

Our next beer destination is the newish GAGE ROADS BREWERY on A Shed in Fremantle Port, it's a real nice brewery and perfectly located on the freo wharf.

Here we are in fount of some brewery steel thingymebobs and just about to sink one of there ripper brews, the brewery itself has a real nice coastal feel to it with lots of sailing aroma and surfing euphoria. Fairdinkum I could almost feel the sand between my toes.

Jacko giving us his I'm not as pissed as a parrot type of face, which I've seen for way too many years and I know it too well, while he's standing inside Gage Roads. We both had a Single Fin which in a pub is great, but trust me you don't want to experience a single fin out in the ocean! Actually it's named after the Single fin on a surf board but I reckon my explanation is far better.

You know that you've come to your last pub when you find it harder to get a good photo, this was a bloody Barry Crocker of a shot but I did get everyone in... maybe not much of the Pub but we got in it.

And Jacko found his true love sitting on the High street come to think of it that's where he finds most of his girls ha,ha. But we had made it to a freo icon THE NATIONAL HOTEL, and fairdinkum isn't she just a bloody ripper and now it was time to not just enjoy a beaut cold beer but also a nice feed.

We made it up to the top roof bar which I had never been to, so as we waited for our tucker to arrive we had a nice gander of the view while sipping on our beers.

360 degree stunning views of the city that can't win a AFL Grand Final!

Just have a gander at these bloody ripper feeds it's like I've gone to parmie haven!

Here's Mick about to wrapping his laughing gear around a ripper Parmie, trust me it was mouth watering and went down beautifully a lot better then bloody beer I decided to get. Fairdinkum it was a BALTER XPA which I found out doesn't really go well with all the Lagers that I had consumed during our day in Freo. The beer promotes that drinking one makes you feel like your running naked through a spring Forrest, but for me it was more like I ran over a cliff face and was bouncing down the cliff on my beer gut. Not my favorite beer trust me.

But all good things have to come to an end and with that we had to call it a day, it turned out to be a ripper day out in this Port city. And now we have to pop back so we can do the extra pubs that we missed out on... Can't wait.