Sight-seeing in Melbourne

---

9/12/08 = Rained off in Melbourne

Woke up early and had to make yet another embarrassing walk to toilet. Was 6/7 minutes away from van, on a main road full of work traffic, that I walked down in my black pyjamas with my scarf on, somehow thinking that my scarf would disguise me and make me look like a normal person (a bit like when you wear sunglasses and feel like they are disguising your whole face!) Scuttled along and scuttled back. Tried to get back to sleep, but just ended up lazing around until got up at 10 o clock. Had to make ourselves get up because had planned busy day of sight-seeing in Melbourne city, only put off because of rubbish rain. The 6/7 minute toilets were so awful, decided neither of us could get washed in there, so did the 10 minute walk to the nice toilets. Truly was one of the most embarassing things ever done. Trammed down main beach road, in pyjamas, with all of my washing things and new clothes in 2 carrier bags, just like the homeless lady out of the song we used to sing a middle school - 'Streets of London' I think it was called. Could have easliy mistaken us for tramps. If I was on any kind of respectability ladder before, I definitley dropped down it a few rungs on this day. Didn't even do things like this as a teenager, let alone a 25yr old!

It gets worse. Did the 10 minute journey. Got to the toilets. Put heads over sink and washed hair right there in the communal area of the toilets. Like Deb said "People should just be glad we are getting clean". Thankfully nobody came in. Never washed hair so fast. Reminded me of when I was little and Mum used to sometimes wash my hair in sink (not a public toilet sink obviously!) Trekked back to van nice and clean, not quite like stepped out of a salon, but not as much like Streets of London Lady. Had some breakfast, did the usual petrol and ice thing, then drove into Melbourne city. Decided that was silly us both paying $7 a day to get trams in and out, when could just drive and park somewhere close. Drive wasn't that bad either. Got stuck in the city at one point, but did a quick U-turn and managed to find a spot not too far out, near a park (Botanic Gardens Park). Not too expensive to pay for day, so left van and walked over river bridge into city.

Was a 2km walk and came out near Federation Square. Was raining again at this point, so went to see St Pauls Cathedral. Really nice cathedral, not as nice as one in London, but still nice to see. Got on the free tram (awesome thing about Melbourne = free tram, to take you to all major sights) and went to check out the aquarium. Turns out that it cost too much for us, so waited for next tram and went to see famous 'Golden Eagle'. Was raining quite heavily at this point and getting off to see Eagle was one of most disappointing decisions of day - was even worse than the Merlion in Singapore. Looks nothing like an Eagle and much more like a penguin. V.disappointing. Not even golden! Waited in rain for next tram and wanted to get off at Web Bridge, but was raining so much that decided to miss it. Amused me for ages though that Web Bridge was right next to Batman Park - what a combination! Should have definately been called Spiderman Bridge. Got off at Docklands instead to see famous Waterfront Villiage. Some really nice buildings round here - v.modern. Lots of bright colours and reminded me a bit of Toys 'R' us (in a good way though). Probably would have looked really good on a nice day, but on a wet day, where you have to wear a cagoule (typical teacher...how disappointing) and hold your trousers off the floor so they don't get wet, it's not so good. Still had a walk round and looked at the 'modern' christmas tree, then waited for the next tram to take us to the Koori Museum of Culture.

Really gald we went to Koori museum. Really interesting infromation about aboriginal history and culture, with some really good aboriginal art too. Spent ages in there, looking at and reading about things. Even had mini video clips to watch. At 4 o'clock we left and decided to try and find somewhere to eat. Wanted to visit library and Museum too, but too hungry and decided would have to wait for another day. Trekked about for food...literally was a trek, in the rain too. The pavements in Melbourne are black, shiny paving slabs that get ridiculoulsy slippy when they are wet, especially when you are wearing flip flops with no grips on. So, slid, tip-toed and skidded our way around, until could resist temptation no longer and headed back to the lovely Charles Dickens Tavern - so English! Had to wait until 5:30 before we could order, which was pushing it really because needed to be back at car for 6:30, but we did it anyway. Was worth it though - got the same meal (burger and chips) and did not disappoint! Deb got Sausage and mash, which rather curiously, also came with baked beans and a breadroll...seriously, what is it with mashed potato and bread rolls out here?

After our lovely hot food, we marched our way back to van in damp and cold. Floor wasn't quite as slippy, so could walk normally again, rather than like my grandma. Took 40mins and were half an hour late for ticket when we got there, but was o.k. anyway. Passed reams of joggers on the way again and people doing just random types of exercises, including weight training on grass again. V.healthy country and an excellent work-life balance. More people exercising in parks through weekdays than there are in the city centre working - love it! Must be some kind of flexi-time system. Got straight into sleeping bag when got back. V.dull outside and both v.tired. Must have been watching all the healthy people exercise that wore me out! 😊

10/12/08 = Museum, Gaol and desperate campsite times

Woke up early, but was a good job. Had set alarm to put new ticket on car at 7, but battery had come out of alarm, so didn't go off. Rolled out of van, renewed ticket, then got v.minimal wash in yet another awful toilet. When get home, am definitely going to write some kind of review of the toilets and libraries in Australia - visited most of them from Adelaide onwards! Anyway, didn't matter about the wash so much because today was campsite day - yeh!

Went into town early because had alot to do and see. Good job we did, because ended up wasting most of the day anyway! Tried to get a tram to Museum first, but didn't start running until 10, so walked through town instead and found a camera shop. Both needed to have our photos put onto a CD and sent home. Rubbish shop because had to have all photos put on disc, despite fact already had half done, so ended up costing double. Went to Library while we were waiting and is a v.impressive library and definitely best we have visited so far. Went back to pick up CD's after and then headed to lirary once again to check that they worked. They didn't! So we went and found another shop and tried them there, just in case it was the computers in the library. Didn't work there either. Had to go back to shop for third time, but on their computers they worked! Thank the Lord for the good internet shop we found on another street, where a man came and helped us and showed that the silly camera shop had put our photos on the disc as a 'hidden folder'. I don't even know what that is and I don't even want to know - silly camera shop! Spent ages uploading photos and by the time we finally came out of internet shop it was 2 o'clock - what a waste of a day!

Everything we wanted to see closed at 5, so had to make a choice and went to Melboune Museum first. Glad we did aswell, it was really good. Deb wanted to go to see set of Home and Away, but it had been moved, apparently was only 'The Poms' who really liked it, so wasn't worth keeping it up. Museum was good anyway and would have made a great school trip. Had a really good insect part with real creatures in, including massive spiders, which I didn't like so much. Also had a good 'Mind and Body' section, which was really psychology related, so I really liked it. Didn't have time to get round it all and had to miss the 'Outdoor Rainforest' section because we really wanted to go and see the Gaol, which I presume is some kind of old spelling for Jail - makes phonetic sense I guess.

Walked to the Gaol because it was really close. Only paid $14 because had missed the last tour and only had an hour to look round, which was enough anyway. The Gaol was really cool. Looked just like you would imagine an old jail does. Had heaps of cells and most of them had some kind of story in about a prisoner that stayed there, telling you what crime they committed and what happened to them. Was a really interesting section on female criminals that had been sent there and the awful crimes they had committed and also a big section on Ned Kelly, who is kind of a big deal out here and did get sent to this jail when he got captured. The jail was spread over 3 floors and did take an hour to get round. Glad we went, was really interesting.

Headed back for van then and had an ice-cream on the way, despite the fact that it was still cold. Bit disappointed that we didn't get to see Cooks Cottage (which was sent over from England stone by stone and re-built here), but didn't have enough time in trip to stay in Melbourne for another day. Set off for Frankston to find our campsite. Was a good drive on a great beach road and it took us toi Carrum first, where we first looked for a campsite. Coudln't see one sign posted anywhere, so carried on to Seaford. Same story again, no campsites signed. Went a little further still to Frankston = a much bigger town. Again no campsites to be found anywhere. Getting worried now. Couldn't afford to drive any further and was getting late, so pulled into a petrol station and asked there. The most unhelpful man said he didn't know anywhere in area and that was that. The most lovely and helpful lady ever heard the rubbish man and followed Deb out of the shop, offering to help us find one. It was marked on our map, but not by street, so she got out her street map and helped us search on that. Was still unclear, but the lovely lady gave us her brilliant (and massive) street map book saying she needed to buy a new one anyway - what a lovely lady!

Had a quick team talk and decided to head back to Carrum to find the site marked there. Was a much smaller town than Frankston, so logically, should be easier to find. Ha! Saw a site on route, but when pulled in a brunt man told us it was for permanent members only. Quickly pulled off and then the same thing happened in Carrum. Thankfully the man here was much nicer and told us there were 'loads of site in the area' - well we couldn't see any, that's for sure! He directed us on our heavenly sent map and we soon found the one in Edithvale. Were so pleased when we pulled in, was already after 8pm and I was starving (same old me!) Pulled in and did the obvious thing first: got some food. They didn't have a cooker so we couldn't have our usual pasta meal, had to settle for our second most usual meal = beans on toast. Was still lovely though. Had my advent chocolate with a tea, then chilled out and watched CSI, which always reminds me of my Mum and it's on all the time out here (you'd love it Mum). Went to bed after that and was already nearly midnight. Looking forward to a good sleep, because not been getting to sleep very well lately.

---

Photos

St Pauls Cathedral
A view from the door.

'The Golden Eagle'
Can't think of a worse name for it. It is neither golden nor eagle like!

A Docklands christmas tree
Suppose it is modern...but it's not for me!

The waterfront city
Doesn't look so nice in the rain.

The Charles Dickens
Saved our lives...

An interesting statue by the river
Maybe a dog?

Dinosaur
They love the dinosaurs out here!

Awful spider!
I am zoomed in, but he really was big!