To Melbourne

View of the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens
see all photos »

My journey to Melbourne started at a quarter to midnight when I got on to the bus at the Canberra bus station. I had no idea what a long night I was in for.

The driver was terrible, jerking the bus all over at just about every stop and turn. We stopped quite often so that he could go to the toilet, talking to himself, making really annoying noises...I was not happy and trying to sleep in a bus seat was not happening. I woke up feeling motion sickness and was in the dirty toilet being sick for awhile....not the best way to start the first morning of a trip!

Ned Kelly, who is the Australian outlaw equivilent of Billy The Kid, was hung there in the jail and his death maks is on display as well.

Approaching the Melbourne Museum in the rain
see all photos »

When we got to Melbourne I found out that the Greyhound bus station was now on the other side of the city from where Munni was standing at that moment waiting for me. It was a bit of back and forth but Munni had to go to work and I had to find my way across town, which was easy enough, just walk up a block and hop on a tram. Which I did and about 20 minutes later called Munni to come and find me at the Queen Victoria Markets.

Once to Munni's house and after all the excitement and drama of the morning I fell asleep almost instantly for a few hours of recovery.

The Royal Exhibition Building (sorry its not really falling over, just a bad camera angle)
see all photos »

Awake again and hungry, since I hadn't felt much like eating at breakfast time, I walked down to the Queen Victoria Markets for some lunch and to browse some of the stalls around. I had some lasagna and a cappuccino at Cafe Verona at the markets there. the food was beautiful but I couldn't enjoy it as much because my stomach was still a bit upset. It had started to rain so i decided to walk around in the markets. Such a huge variety of stuff and so many stalls.

I soon tired of wandering looking at things I couldn't buy and decided to head down Victoria St. in the rain and see what I found there. My first stop was at the Melbourne Baths to check prices and times for massages. My neck was in serious pain after a terrible night on the bus. I never did get that massage.

Snakes on Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum
see all photos »

The next stop was the Old Melbourne Gaol, which had lots of interesting stories about the inmates that had been there and the eerie lighting to go with it all. Ned Kelly, who is the Australian outlaw equivalent of Billy The Kid, was hung there in the jail and his death mask is on display as well. The gallows are actually inside at the end of the 2nd story row of cells.

Back outside in the rain, which was heavier now, I decided to keep on walking and wishing that I had bought an umbrella from the Markets. I came to Carlton Gardens next and walked around a bit but was getting cold so decided to head into the Melbourne Museum. I was glad I did. It was a really well set up place and had lots of interesting exhibitions. The outdoor forest exhibition was really great.

Inside the Old Melbourne Gaol
see all photos »

After about and hour of the museum my brain was full and I headed back out into the rain. I walked to where Munni worked and got the key from her and went to freshen up before some more of her friends showed up.

Munni, Jai, Dan, Rob and I all went out to an Italian restaurant on Lygon St, which is the Italian part of Melbourne. The service we got was terrible and the food took forever to arrive but it was good at least. Then it was back home and to bed.