The Swan River stretches 22 kilometres from Perth's glass-fronted business district to the limestone wharves of Fremantle, threading through tidal flats, residential bays, and yacht moorings before emptying into the Indian Ocean. Commercial ferry services connecting the two cities began in 1829, the year Perth itself was founded, when rowing boats carried mail and passengers along the estuary. By the 1880s paddle steamers had replaced oared craft, and by the turn of the twentieth century the route was served by purpose-built steel-hulled vessels carrying up to three hundred travellers daily. Today's river cruise Perth to Fremantle services follow the same sheltered channel, departing from Pier 3 at Barrack Street Jetty and calling at intermediate points including East Perth, Claisebrook Cove, and Point Walter before arriving at Fremantle's Victoria Quay. The waterway remains the only navigable river in Western Australia's southwest, its width varying from sixty metres near the Narrows Bridge to more than four hundred metres at Melville Water. The channel is maintained at a minimum depth of three metres to accommodate commercial traffic, though shallow sand bars and submerged pylons from decommissioned jetties require captains to follow marked navigation beacons. Kings Park rises two hundred metres above the southern bank near the city centre, its escarpment face planted with eucalypts and paperbarks; the northern shore comprises reclaimed wetland now occupied by office towers and apartment blocks. Downstream, the river broadens into Melville Water, a wide basin popular with keel boats and dinghies, before narrowing again at the rail and road bridges that mark the boundary between Perth and Fremantle. Fremantle Harbour, completed in 1897 after thirty years of dredging and breakwater construction, transformed the river mouth from an open sandbar into a protected deepwater port. The limestone buildings of the Fremantle townsite, many dating to the 1890s gold rush, line the harbour's western edge. Cappuccino Strip, the nickname for the cafés along South Terrace, emerged in the 1980s when Italian families who had settled in Fremantle after the Second World War opened espresso bars in renovated warehouses. The Round House, Western Australia's oldest public building, sits atop the limestone cliff overlooking the harbour entrance; it was built in 1831 as a gaol and is now maintained as a heritage site. Passengers disembarking at Victoria Quay walk directly into the Fremantle Markets precinct, where indoor stalls and outdoor vendors operate Friday through Sunday. The return journey upriver typically takes ninety minutes, timed to catch the afternoon light on the city skyline.