After a hectic first day travelling to Melbourne, exploring and then one night with Miley we decided on a more sedate start to the day on the Saturday and started off with breakfast at the Pancake Parlour. I had heard how good this place was for food and wasn’t disappointed, the hardest part was choosing whether to go sweet or savoury especially as you can have icecream for breakfast with the sweet pancakes! I chose the eggs benedict which was so good!
After breakfast we set off on a mission to find the nearest Haigh’s which is a chocolate shop full of the best tasting chocolates I have found in Australia. On route we discovered a new band and bought their pretty good CD and some statues who may or may not have been statues as they didn’t move for a very long time!
After stocking up chocolates we then went for a wander around the CBD looking for the Queen Victoria Markets taking in the sights as we went. I really like Melbourne, as a city it reminds me of London a lot with the mix of old and new buildings, tram service, busy CBD with shops, restaurants and bars. It’s a place I want to visit and spend lots of time in, I could even see myself living there one day but probably on the outskirts so it is easy to get to the City but you live far enough away you don’t feel like you live in a city.
We popped to a big discount shopping centre for a few hours late morning but before hoping in our taxi we booked some tickets to go on a ghost tour at the Old Melbourne Gaol where Ned Kelly was imprisoned amongst other ghoulish sounding criminals.
It looks a bit different day Vs night
It was difficult to take pictures in the Gaol as the tour began late and it was dark. It started off with several of the women needing to use the bathroom before the tour and we were helpfully pointed to the very end of the gaol past numerous cells and up a flight of stairs. Two of our group were waiting downstairs and I was stood looking out over the walkway when the lights went out and a door slammed. Apparently our screams were heard throughout!!!
After recovering some dignity, we began the tour pretty much in the dark with tales of the prisoners who lived and were ultimately executed in the prison until its closure and their ghostly stories. It was pretty cold in the gaol and the stories definitely helped build up an atmosphere.
I didn’t “see” anything but was glad to be out of there at the end! The Guide showed us a lot of convincing photographs and stories to suggest that strange happenings do go on in the prison after dark. I certainly would not want to work in there.
I’m hoping to make it back there again one day during the day time so I can explore it all fully. It is definitely an interesting tour to go on, especially with friends as you manage to wind each other up because of the Guide’s stories.