RGot up at 4:15 this morning to catch a 7 am flight. It's not as bad as it sounds - that's only a little after noon at home, so really, I slept in. I woke up before the alarm, allowing me a more leisurely morning. I was glad for the extra time, as the food court at the domestic airport was amazing - fresh fruit, high end pastries, meat pies (popular here), and steamed coffees (at last I think that's what its called. It looked like they were making espresso and adding shots). all i really wanted was plain black coffee , but who am I to turn down good coffee. Even McDonald's got into it with extravagant pastries, including my favorite (although I didn't get it), a mango macadamia nut cheesecake. There were only a couple of chains (besides McD's, also Subway & Krispy Kreme, who's everywhere) the rest were local bakeries.
I like flying domestically in Australia. You don't have to take off your shoes, or clothes, or anything. There aren't any liquid requirements (so I chugged my water bottle for nothing). You don't have to show ID or a valid ticket to get through. Basically, its like the old days. I'm not sure if this is because there has not been an issue, or because they don't have enemies like the U.S. (who could dislike an Aussie), or if the "rebels" who claim a lot of our security measures don't really do anything, but are done to appease people, are right .
I took the Skybus from the the airport to the city. Them I started the 8 block walk to the information center. I wanted to take a bus, but was told it would cost $8. For that, I can walk.
But before heading out, I snuck into the waiting room for an automated chair massage. For $2, it massages the calves, butt, back, and neck, for 5 minutes. I needed it after carrying my backpack around for 5 days,.
I got to the information center, reserved a room at the YHA (youth hostel assn), booked a hostel for Tasmania (the YHA there was full, so I'm at a City Backpackers - I guess there's a wine and cheese festival going on, yum), and tours for 3 days in Melbourne and one day in Tasmania. Afterwards, I left for the free tram that runs through the city.
I forgot about the difficulty in acclimating to a new city and its public transportation. I finally figured out Sydney, and left. Now I need to learn Melbourne - like there's a free tram that circles the city, and could have taken me to the information center. So I went out to the road to catch the tram, and accidently got on the free bus that circles the city...but doesn't go near my hostel. Would have been nice to know there was both a tram and a bus. So I got off after a short ride, walked back to a tram stop, and then headed to my hostel. This is just one of many times I've been glad I packed light.
The street names in Melbourne are a trip. You have Flinders Road, which runs parallel and is one block over from Flinders Street. And you have Howard Street, which has Little Howard Street running perpendicular. I don't know if they ran out and had to start reusing names, or if it's a trick they play on tourists. If you don't pay attention, you can easily end up lost.
So getting back to my time in gaol. I went to the Melbourne Historical Gaol in the afternoon. The gaol was closed in the 1920's, and the Watch House (for short term stays like overnight or while awaiting trial) was closed in 1994. Both were open less than 100 years. The gaol was disturbing. The cells on the first flour were 2.5 paces by 1.5 paces. If you were really good, they moved you to the 2nd flour where the cells were a larger 2.5 paces by 4 paces. Even better and you could go to the larger multi-person rooms on the 3rd floor. At the end of the hall was the noose where they hanged 133 prisoners. The disturbing part was reading about the different prisoners and criminal justice practices that were displayed within the cells.
I went on a tour of the Watch House. Because it was the last tour of the day, I rushed to get there and didn't know what it was. A man in a police uniform comes in, tells us to call him sergeant, drop our belongings, and take off hats and glasses. It seems we were just arrested. He then had us stand in one leg, bend over, shake out our hair, show we had nothing in our mouths, etc. Then it was 8-9 to a cell, the doors were slammed shut, lights turned out, and we sat in pitch black. The "next morning", we were taken out to the exercise yard, which was a room without a roof. After that, we were let loose to take pictures and explore. Various cells had first person audio and video recordings of inmates. On the way out, we were able to take a mugshot of ourselves with our cameras.
In the evening went to the Skydeck, a 300 meter observation deck, both inside and out. I didn't realize how big Melbourne is. The metro city is no bigger then Cleveland. The suburbs stretch forever. The view was great, although the outside deck was VERY windy. Around the inside , they had lookout cylinders fixed on various buildings throughout the city. There were a news ribbons with facts running on the floor. I enjoyed it, but not sure it would have been with worth $25. Luckily the gaol and skydeck were free because I signed up for two tours with the same operator.
By the way, I stopped by McDonald's and even in the city they have the pastries from the airport.
That's it for now. Tomorrow I go to Grampian's National Park.
Random thought of the day (unfortunately I get tons of them, but I'll limit you to one a day): I'm noticing that I carry my backpack & luggage in my right hand. I switch to my left for relief, but before too long I've switched back to my right. I'm trying to decide if that's because I'm a lefty and trying to keep my left hand free, or if I'm being ambidextrous again.
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