They passed one of the abandoned lighthouses on its rocky spit, where a faded sign welcomed sailors. And then the harbour was gone and they were in open sea.
The sign at the mouth of Fremantle harbour isn't quite as I remembered. It is no longer faded and no longer mentions sailors. Perhaps its updating reveals a new sense of professionalism in a city gripped by a mining boom. When I was growing up in Perth, our one claim to fame was that astronaut John Glenn once saw us from space. Everyone had left their lights on for the occasion and the electric sizzle stood out against all the empty darkness that surrounds one of the world's most isolated capital cities. For decades after that, we called ourselves the city of lights.
Although it's isolated from everywhere else, Perth is actually two cities. Its twin, Fremantle, is the prettier half. Perth is all concrete and modern, with glass towers and open shopping malls; Fremantle has older, more genteel buildings and is a knot of high streets and cafes. It's main feature is the harbour. At the harbour, the Swan River meets the sea. Vast ships unload new cars and mining equipment, while floating cages spirit away scared and stinking sheep.
Yet, despite all this industry, much of the harbour always feels oddly quiet. In the heat of the day, when there's no shade to be found anywhere, some of the quays are more or less abandoned. Which makes them the perfect place to set the sudden, violent sequence where Sadie first meets the villainous Drowners.
1. The Harbour
Three figures shot up from the harbour depths. They rose ten metres in the air, trailing saltwater, and then dropped onto the wharf. Their hair was knotted and foul and their faces warped and discoloured. They wore tight-fitting, tarnished armour: chain-mail vests stained with verdigris and heavy bracelets on bony wrists. Helmets masked their eyes and exaggerated their brows into curled horns. One carried a double-bladed axe, one had a sword strung from his rotting leather belt, and the last gripped a trident.
This is the patch of bitumen on which Sadie and Jake first encounter the Drowners. It's at the very end of the docks, close to the open sea and the new(ish) maritime museum, just out of the way enough to ensure nobody will be running to the rescue.
It's a place I've kept returning to, over the years. I fell in love with the idea of travel at a very young age, so was always excited seeing all these ships arriving and departing to places I couldn't imagine. This place truly felt like the edge of the world. And there is romance in a ship that an aeroplane lacks. One day, I was going to board one of these vessels and disappear over the horizon. Of course, I never did. By the time I was old enough to go anywhere, the only people who travelled by sea were well-off retirees. The furthest I went by sea was Rottnest Island, a narrow strip of sand and shrub about 25 minutes' voyage from Fremantle.
I think my love of the sea is probably pretty evident in Fire in the Sea. It's in the title, after all. I spent most of my childhood around it, in it, or bouncing across it in friends' boats. The sea has possibilities, romance and, most importantly, deep and dark secrets.
The toes of her boots were on the raised wooden edge of the pier. She stared down at the dark green water. Low waves washed against the barnacled timber posts. Sun glittered irresistibily.
It's a drop of a couple of metres from the pier to the water and, frankly, it's not the sort of water anybody should go swimming in. It's deep and dirty and currents are likely to pull you out to sea or under a boat. If you go in, you're not getting out easily.
People used to come and fish here, long into the early hours of the morning. One Esky for the fish, another for the beer. A small radio playing classic hits. Something by Cold Chisel, maybe.
If you're sailing up the river, out to the sea, then you'll emerge from the harbour at the left of this picture. The dock where the fight scene takes place is between the two tall buildings that can be seen around there. To get to this point by car (this was taken on the rocky spit that features the red lighthouse) is a little more difficult, as you need to go right out of Fremantle, across the river and then drive through a labyrinthine industrial wasteland. Still, it's a nice view when you get there.
Tom and Sadie sail through this scene, from left to right, towards the end of the book. It's a journey I've made myself on several occasions and it's always quite exciting when your boat suddenly hits the swell and surge of the ocean.
The view from the end of the spit, with the lighthouse and welcome sign at your back, looks like this. There are always container ships lurking on the horizon, waiting for a space at port. Somewhere in the water out there, Sadie's destiny is waiting.
Here is another picture of the lighthouse. For no other reason than I like lighthouses. It was my dream to one day live in one. (Not this one, it's too small.) Now that I'm older, I'm not sure I like the thought of all those stairs.
2. Frobisher's office
Jake had stopped, peering up at a dusty sign above a warped, flaking door. The Law Offices of Horace Frobisher, it read, First Floor. Jake went up, three stairs at a time, threw open the frosted door that topped them and called for the lawyer.
High Street is now a little less rundown than I describe it in the book, mainly because a university has bought up so much of it. But there are still plenty of little shops, some more temporary than others, and little patches of scruffiness. I was very pleased to see that Frobisher's office is still waiting to be poshed up.
Well, actually, Frobisher's door is a little scruffier than I had imagined. Perhaps he's gone away?
This place was actually a flat where my best friend's dad lived after a messy separation. I came here when I was about ten, I think. It was probably the first bachelor pad I'd been in and certainly the first flat above a shop. Imagine living above a shop, I thought! How exciting. It's stuck in my mind ever since.
This is the side view of the flat, from a different street around the corner. The first floor windows belong (or belonged) to Frobisher. On the other side of the flat, there's a dirt carpark, which Jake drops down into when he runs off. Those crumpled gates are currently blocking his exit to the street.
Next door to Frobisher's building, back on High Street, is this mysterious club. Is that a Minotaur above the door? Coincidence? Yes.
Actually, I wish I'd remembered this when I was writing the book. I could have had a lot of fun with the Buffalo Club.
A little further up High Street (not directly across the road, as in the book) is this army surplus store. You can see here the shade from which Sadie is watched by a mysterious figure in an overcoat. He wasn't there when we stopped by.
From here, it's a short walk (as Sadie discovers, to her peril) back to the harbour.
Next time: Jake's house and the University
