Day in Melbourne

We have been to Melbourne several times, but only on cruise ships..I have been there and seen Melbourne City before ....But John has never seen the Yarra etc...so today we are off to Melbourne City...

Nice day for it not too hot not too cold perfect, we were able to get a good park right in the middle of the city, then we set off on foot to check out Flinders Station and St Pauls Cathedral..

St Paul’s Cathedral is built on the site where the first public Christian services in Melbourne were led by Dr Alexander Thomson in 1836. Soon afterwards a small wooden chapel was built elsewhere, and the area became a corn market until 1848, when it was made available for the building of the bluestone St Paul’s Parish Church.  Consecrated in 1852, this Church was used until 1885, when it was demolished to make way for the present Cathedral.The decision to build on the site of the existing church was made because of its proximity to the railway and soon to be completed cable tramway service.  The Swanston Street and Flinders Street corner remains one of Melbourne’s busiest intersections today, so the Cathedral is a place at the heart of city. What an amazing Cathedral, we went inside, and I was able to take more pictures...

From here we decided to walk to Southbank to have lunch...I was amazed at how brown the water was in the Yarra, but this would have been caused by all the rain we had a few days ago...

After lunch we decided to take the city cirle free tram The City Circle tram service operates within Melbourne's central business district the service operates in a circular route passing major tourist attractions.

You get a running commentary on the places of interest along its route. You can get off the tram at any of its stops, so you can visit particular attractions, and then catch the next one.

We got off at the Old Melbourne Gaol,

This iconic landmark is the site where 135 people, including infamous bushranger Ned Kelly, were hanged. The prison was also one of Australia’s most significant historical sites, including the Gold Rush and World War II. The Gaol was built in the mid 1800s. Between 1842 and its closure in 1929 the gaol was the scene of 135 hangings including Australia's most infamous citizen, the bushranger Ned Kelly.

We also went into the Watch House...The Watch House Experience is a forty minute interactive experience like no other. With a Charge Sergeant as guide, visitors are ‘arrested’ and encounter what it is like to be locked up.  We are all lined up and given a charge sheet, I was arrested for sell drugs...The Sergeant picks out  someone in the tour to actually go through the booking etc... and yes you guessed it HE PICKED ME !!!  what a laugh....  

Nothing has changed in this site since the police and inmates left in the 1990's. They put us in the cells and closed the door and turned the light out .. how scary !!!

From here we went over to the main jail where all the crim's were housed...

 Once the criminal had been hung they made a "Death Mask" and these were displayed through out the different cells....yukky ....

This is where they were hung...

This is the "Hanging Box" where the ropes were kept !!

After my arrest... I was helped to escape with another criminal I met in the cell....

What a great day we had !!!