Day 58 - Melbourne

Melbourne and it's raining, but we only have two full days here so the sightseeing has to go on in spite of the weather. It's out with the umbrella and off we go; I expect we will spend longer on the tram today rather than walking even though most of the sights are relatively close.

Headed off and stopped first at the Waterfront and Docklands area. They have their own walk of fame here along with some statues of some famous Aussies. Bill had a photo with Dame Edna and me with Kylie; her petite frame made me look enormous though, not good. Walked up to the Old Melbourne Gaol after lunch; this is listed as one of the best tourist attractions to visit and was certainly very popular. It was an interesting but really macabre place as it was the place where 135 people including the infamous Ned Kelly were hanged and they have all the death masks of many of them on display in the very small cells. Also included in this tour is a visit to the old Police Watch House where everyone is treated as a criminal and locked in the cells for a short time in the complete darkness to simulate being locked up overnight. Just experiencing this was enough to keep me on the straight and narrow even if I were thinking otherwise, not that I am you understand. Back to the hotel early to change and get ready to meet David who is picking us up after work to drive us to his house for dinner. It was still raining hard and apparently Melbournians are not used to driving in the rain and the traffic jams were awful. It took us around 1 ½ hrs to do a normally 40 minute journey. His children were still up when we got there and it was lovely to meet Charles, George and Mary-Anne and of course Sherri his wife. Dinner was delicious and we had a very relaxing and lovely evening although we both felt really guilty that David had to drive us back to the city even though it did only take around 40mins, but he kept reassuring us that they are very used to having to drive long distances to get anywhere.