In a nutshell: I thoroughly enjoyed it. Except for the heat – that’d take more than a couple of days to get used to (granted, packing only jeans didn’t help!)
The weekend across the Tasman was a good chance to get away from it all – really relax after last month’s exam – and catch up with friends. It was a weekend of good eats, sights and shopping.
Of course, being a fan of local historical sites when travelling I stopped in on the Old Melbourne Gaol (said as jail) Monday morning.
Ignoring all the giggly high-school children, it was a really good experience. It was eerily cool on what was otherwise a super-hot day. The cells were tiny, bare and depressing. The whole place was.
Throughout the prison were stories of men and women executed there in the late 19th century. Including the likes of Ned Kelly. They displayed the death masks. We could walk right up to the scaffold they hung them on. Oh boy.
But the best part of the visit was the tour of the City Watch House… Where a sergeant takes you around the watch house as though you were the criminal.
Right from the get-go I was torn between loving it and wanting to cry. It was really good. Well worth the entrance fee. Except… I wouldn’t recommend it for kids. They say it on the website, but a woman was still there with her pre-teen daughter. And a dude dropped his pants, among other things.
It was a good tour. If you’re visiting – or even live in – Melbourne, I recommend that you check it out.
