We have timed our departure so that we can get into the CBD and go to the Old Melbourn Gaol when they open at 9:30, then head up to the Melbourne Museum afterward. Best laid plans of mice and men.
Our first tram ride works well – the 109 tram is waiting for us as we walk to the station. We have plenty of time to hop aboard, swipe our Myki cards and get a seat. The ride into town only takes 20 minutes and we’re at the Circle Tram stop a couple of minutes after that. Sadly though, this is where our plans all go awry.
I never checked the Circle Tram hours of operation. Huge tactical error. The darn thing doesn’t even start until 9:30, and won’t get to this stop until 10:00. It’s currently 9:00 and we really don’t relish waiting an hour for the tram. (We’ve found this out by using the only good thing that has happened all morning – the free wifi available all over the CBD.) I look at the tram map and think I’ve found an alternative way to get up to the museums – so we hop on the 75 train. But I’ve obviously read the map wrong and we have to hop off at the end of Flinders street and try to wait for the Circle Tram again – or walk (all up hill, about 2 Km) or take a cab.
After some deliberation – and an aborted attempt to find the bus that runs up to the museums, I pop into a hotel to ask about a cab. The lovely girl at reception calls one for us – but as we sit and wait and wait and wait, we realize it’s stupid – its so late now, we can just take the Circle tram. Back out we go to the tram station, where we wait, and wait, and wait. What the heck? The Circle tram in the other direction comes and goes – but none in our direction. As the 2nd clockwise tram passes us by, we give up and go hail a cab on the corner. What a CF.
The cab turns out to be great though, the cabbie is from one of the “stans” countries, has been here since 1997 and proceeds to give us a little tour up the street, with history and background on everything we are seeing. Then he proceeds to give us a quiz on American history. Seriously. People around the world know so much more about our history than most of our citizens, it’s amazing. So, 10AU later, we are at the Museum and thankful that we made the decision to ditch the tram.
We changed plans and go to the Melbourne Museum first, which is an interesting collection of Aboriginal, Science and History exhibits. We get a 20% discount here with the Myki card, but when we show the ticket guy the card, he looks at it and then just gives us the tickets for free. Hmmmm….interesting. We’re not arguing – free is free. And as it turns out, he gave us the concession price (because we’re old! Ha ha – too funny. But again – free is free).
So we meander through the museum, enjoying all the dinosaur skeletons and fossils, the animals of the wild displays, the brain section (which has gory but somehow fascinating cross sections of real brains), the anatomy section (same thing with the gory but fascinating body organs on the display) and then finally the WWI memorial room. Makes for a good hour or so of visiting. But, it’s getting late (because of the tram screw up) so we make our way a few blocks down the street to the Gaol.
On the way we found the Market Cafe across the street for a quick bite – which was a great choice. We shared a ham and cheese baguette with beer and wine, then headed across to the Gaol. We got one discounted “concession” ticket, because I couldn’t lie about my age to the ticket gal, even though I’m sure I could have passed for 60. Too honest. I told her I had 3 more years, and I thought she might give me the reduced fee, but no such luck.
We were in time for the 1:00 Watch House experience, so we went there first before exploring the Gaol itself. Totally great visit – you go to the Watch House, which is where prisoners were sent to wait for their court appearance, and you are “arrested” by an officer and thrown into the jail rooms. The “officer” we had was a girl, and she was great. Yelling at us, making us say “yes, Sergeant” or “no, Sergeant” in response to her questions, yelling at us to put the phone and camera away, it was a hoot. She separated the guys on one side of the jail corridor, girls on the other- then threw the guys in a cell and the girls in another and slammed the doors. That was creepy. When she turned the lights out it was even creepier.
They used the Watch House up until the late 1990’s – which makes it even more creepy that this wasn’t simply an ancient historical thing – but was used much more recently. After the lock up, we were put together with the guys again, and then got to wander around the facility a bit on our own.
After we were “released,” we walked back down the street to the actual Gaol house.
The Gaol is 3 levels, and very reminiscent of Alcatraz with its iron stair cases and balconies, and small barren cells. Constructed in the 1840’s, the Gaol grew over time, with an added Women’s wing (now demolished). The displays inside are fairly gruesome, with lots of death masks – why did they do those things? – and displays of masks and hoods prisoners wore when punished. There is also a good amount of information about Ned Kelly, the most notorious criminal in Melbourne history, who was jailed and hanged here.
On the 2nd floor, we actually get to see the gallows, along with the tools of the hangman’s trade (the ropes and hoods, etc.) They hung prisoners right there in the Gaol – a trap door opened and they fell through to hang above the 1st floor. Now that is really creepy and goosebump inducing.
Finishing our tour, we head back out into the heat taking some snaps as we leave the building….
…to try to catch the 35 Circle Tram again. This time we were much more successful, and we get the tram after about 5 minutes. It’s sweltering aboard, however, so the ride isn’t that pleasant, but at least we’re moving and heading in the direction of the 109 tram stop.
We manage to catch the 109 as soon as we get to the platform, and spend the last 20 minutes of our ride in relative comfort.
Once back in Port Melbourne, we aren’t quite ready to get back on the ship, so we head to the cafe with the awful wifi to spend our last Australian money. We have just enough for 1 beer and wine, and we leave whatever little change we have for the bartender as we leave. Next up- our Tasman Sea crossing and New Zealand.
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