10th November2009


Today's port of call was Melbourne. Amazingly I managed to get Rosalyn out of bed, breakfasted and on the tram into town by 8.30 am. Melbourne is Australia's second largest city. Many Victorian bluestone buildings may be found amongst brand-new highrise blocks and English-style parks and gardens, contributing to the air of stability, reserve and tradition. The city also enjoys the reputation as a “Fashion Capital” with many streets being lined with rows of modern and trendy boutiques.

Our first stop was at a cafe for a decent cup of coffee (the stuff on the ship isn't brilliant) and to catch up with e-mails and update the blog. Despite having been here before we have never visited the Botanic Gardens which are supposed to be very good and that is what we set off to do, but very quickly we decided it was far too hot to walk far and revised our choices. Melbourne is experiencing a very early heatwave, bringing with it the ever present threat of bushfires. Today the temperature rose to 35C so you can understand why we didn't feel like walking very far. We decided to visit Old Melbourne Gaol as we had not been there before and it was more interesting than we imagined. Opened in 1845 prisoners were kept in a series of inadequate lock-ups from which escapes were frequent and by 1850 the Gaol was already overcrowded. The self-guided tour took us into the various cells to learn more about the inmates terrible conditions. We also saw a number of death masks. These were made from wax casts of the heads of the executed prisoners!! Ned Kelly and his mother were held in this gaol. We then visited the Police Watch House were we experienced what it was like to be arrested, charged and locked-up – quite scary.

By now it was time for lunch so we went to the Young & Jackson pub. Rosalyn had hardly settled in her seat when an old man who appeared slightly worse for wear, approached her, thrust his face into hers and asked her to watch his beer while he went for a 'piss' He was some time but when he returned he thrust his face into hers again, thanked her and told her it had been a long 'piss'!

Because of the heat we returned slightly earlier than intended to the ship and sunbathed until it was time to get ready for dinner. A long day and another port of call tomorrow means an early night. Incidentally I'm feeling rather pleased with myself. We knew City had won 2-1 against Stoke but not who'd scored so I suggested Olofinjani and Jan Venegor of Hessle Road (local joke) to Rosalyn and she laughed; but when we looked in the paper in the cafe this morning, guess what – I was right!!!