Melbourne

---

11/2

We got up early and walked to Flinders Street for the Neighbours tour we had booked for this morning. We bought a snack and drink from a little shop and found our way to Bunyip's office and waited for the tour. We all left on a little Neighbours bus with our crazy Irish guide called Gerry, giving us a lot of facts and figures about the beauty that is Neighbours! Neither of us had watched it for years, so we didn't know a lot of what he was talking about, but there were the old classic characters we knew! We got to the set and saw the backs of the buildings- Erinsborough high and the mechanic's garage. Then we were ready to meet our special Neighbours star, who turned out to be none other than the one and only, Dr Karl Kennedy! We were pleased it was someone who we knew and remembered. He is still in Neighbours and he chatted with us for a bit about some of the storylines- without giving too much away! We all had a photo with him and got his autograph. We then headed off to Ramsay Street (aka Pin Oak Crescent- the real street name! They were filming there today, which was disappointing, as it meant we couldn't go down the street, but we did get to see Lou Carpenter from afar, wearing his trademark bright shirt an BBQ apron! They were filming the new credits, so,we saw some of the new characters too, who we didn't know. We had photos holding the Ramsay street sign, and were allowed, 2 at a time, half way up the street for some photos, where we got a closer look of the street and the Carpenters! We then headed back to Melbourne on the bus, watching a classic episode of Neighbours- Dee and Toadie's wedding, followed by the spectacular crash into the sea where Dee dies! We got back to the city, and then walked back to our hotel. We then headed out into the city, using the free tram that does a loop around the city. We got off at Federation Square, where we stopped for 10 minutes to use the free wifi, then we headed to the Botanic Gardens. It was quite far out, and took a while to walk there, but we made it and were very hot. We had an ice cream to cool down, then walked around the gardens, which are very nice. We looked around some of the different areas and sat down by the lake for a bit, where a little long-necked turtle came to say hello! We headed out of the gardens and walked back towards the city. We passed a theatre where War Horse was playing- we didn't realise it was on. We decided to book tickets for the following evening, as neither of us have seen it before, and it's not easy to get tickets for it in London. We walked along the Southbank looking for somewhere for dinner, but everywhere was either too expensive or not open yet. We got the free tram back to,our closest tram stop and had dinner at the Italian close to our hotel, it was pretty cheap, and really yummy!

12/2

Happy Pancake Day! Today we went to Old Melbourne Gaol. We walked there, which took around 20 minutes. We stopped on the way to get a milkshake from Hungry Jacks. It cost $25 for a self-guided tour of the prison, and also a tour around the courthouse. There is only one block left of the prison now, the rest have been knocked down. The Gaol closed in 1924, so it hasn't been in use as prison for a long time. It was used during the Second World War to house soldiers who had gone AWOL, before returning them to the regiment. There were 3 floors in this block. The first floor had lots of information, which we spent time reading, and there were lots of death masks on display- casts of prisoners head's who were hanged there. It was a little creepy, especially where you could see the bulge in the neck, made from the noose. There was a big section on the famous bush ranger Ned Kelly, who was finally caught, and hanged in this gaol. We saw his death mask as well. We looked around all the floors and saw the area they used to use for hangings, with the trap door. After we had looked around the gaol we went to get some food, and noted the times of the courthouse tour, to come back to later. Seeing as it was pancake day, we headed to Lovely Pancake Parlour, where we had a main course of chicken tenders with a potato pancake, followed by buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup for pudding. Absolutely stuffed full, we headed back to the courthouse for a tour. The tour was acted out as if we were real prisoners and we were each given a prisoner card, with a name and crime on it. We were made to line up against the wall and our hands and fingernails checked! We were then split into men and women and separated into 2 separate cells, and the lights were turned out. It was pitch black, you couldn't see a thing. We were released from the cell and free to look around so elf the holding cells, including a padded cell. We had our mugshots taken and when the tour wasting finished, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our evening out. We met an old friend of Chantelle's for a drink on the Southbank, then headed off to War Horse. It was fantastic,a few dodgy accents aside, but we absolutely loved in, and it felt great to be in a theatre again after so long! We took a taxi back to the hotel after the show as we didn't fancy walking back in the dark.

13/2

We decided to head to Brighton Beach today, to feel like we were at home! We took the free tram to Flinders Street station, to get the train to Brighton Beach. We had to purchase a myki card (like an Oyster card) to use the train, as it is the only way you can pay for travel in Melbourne, which was a bit annoying- you can't just buy a single ticket. It cost us $6 to get the card and then topped it up with enough to cover our journey. It took about 25 minutes to get to Brighton beach on the train and we headed over to the beach for a walk. There were a lot of shells on the beach- some very pretty ones. There were lots of mussels on the rocks and strange anemone looking creatures stuck on the rocks too. We walked from one part of the beach to another, seeing crabs, snails, urchins and starfish as we went. We walked over the rocks and had to climb up a small cliff to cross to another section of the beach. There were lots of black swans swimming on the sea, and lots of brightly painted, funky beach huts, they looked really cool sitting on the beach. We also saw a highly inappropriate photoshoot going on on the beach of a woman not wearing very much and a pervy photographer. Very odd. We walked towards the station along the road, looking at some of the lovely beach front houses. We stopped to have some food in a restaurant near the station called Milanos. I had some crayfish, which was nice, but a bit small, and Chantelle had a pie. We took the train back to Flinders street and walked back to our hotel, stopping at Coles for a couple of bits to keep us going tonight and tomorrow. We paid for some wifi at our hotel tonight so we could say a quick hello to people at home, as we were staying in tonight.

14/2

Happy Valentines Day!! Today, we went to Melbourne zoo. We walked to a tram stop that would take us to the zoo, but we had to top up our myki cards to get there. There was a 7/11 shop close by where we could top up, so headed there and also bought a drink for the journey. We got the tram to the zoo- it stops right outside. There was already quite a queue to get in, and we paid the $26 entrance. We headed straight for the koala enclosure as there was a tall, but we only caught the end of it. The koalas were sleeping so we didn't get to se much of them. We looked around the Australian animals section, and saw kangaroos and wombats- who were sleeping on their backs! We had a look around most of the zoo, a lot of the animals were sleeping, as it was so hot. One of the highlights was the little baby elephant who was let out for a run around with the other elephants. It was cute. We also loved the meerkats, the brown bear, little penguins and a crazy orang-utan who thought he was a gymnast, somersaulting and throwing himself around! We had a late lunch in the cafe, them finished looking around the rest of the zoo, before getting the tram back to the city. We walked back to our hotel, and quickly got ready to head out to meet someone Chantelle knew (but had never met!) for a drink. She was lovely and gave us a few tips. We had a drink and chatted for about an hour, before heading off for our valentines day treat- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the theatre. (If we had realised warhorse was on, we would have come tonight instead of Chitty!). The show was O.K, but not amazing- as good as Chitty will ever be anyway! The truly scrumptious and the children were very good. We had a lovely Valentines Day anyway, and walked back to the hotel, as it wasn't too far away from the theatre.

15/2

We didn't have any plans for today- our last day in Melbourne. We headed to the post office first thing to send a package home for Claire's birthday, plus some little koala slippers for Leo! We had a voucher for the pancake parlour, so we decided to head there for something to eat- a different one from last time though. We had the buttermilk pancakes again today. After this, we had a walk around the city, and did a little bit of shopping in the sale, and topped up our credit on our phones (old school! And it's called recharge in Australia). We sat in federation square for a bit to use the free wifi there, and had a look in the Lanes, where there are lots of cool restaurants and cares with al fresco dining. We headed to the sky bus terminal to buy our tickets for the airport bus for tomorrow, as it was cheaper than getting a taxi. We then headed back to our hotel to relax for a bit. We headed to Subway to get something to eat, then went back to our room and packed everything up ready to move on again.

---