Melbourne Goal

This morning while Dan was finishing up at his conference the boys and I trotted off down the road to Melbourne Goal.

Now all I can say is if my youngest ever carries out a non-law abiding act I will be very surprised. To say he was totally and utterly mortified by the whole experience would be under emphasising his experience there. The day started off with a guided tour round the eery cell block which was brilliant.

They used study the physical facial features and the size of the skull as they thought there was a link to criminal character traits, so after a person was hanged plaster casts of their heads would be taken other wise known as 'death masks' to study this theory.

We learned about the infamous Ned Kelly. The boys got to dress up in prison gear. The youngest person on record in the Goal was a 3 year old boy who spent 6 months in The Goal - imprisoned for being idol and disorderly!

The death penalty was one of the topics which our guide discussed, not to sway opinion but in an open way giving the pros and views against. As our guide pointed out he believes that while quite a dark topic it is part of our history and is something our children should know about as it is only a vote away and might very well be something our younger generation may have to vote on later in their lives.

Then came the second half of the tour ... role play - where we were all fearsly instructed to line up against the wall and given que cards outlying our credentials such as our name, age and crime. Unfortunately the acting wall too real for our youngest and when prompted to come forward to the bench, he had to declare he ws caught shoplifting, "But I didn't do it - I don't know what shoplifting is" at which point the tears started to roll. He genuinely thought we were all going to spend a night in the cells... well a bit further along we did briefly experience being locked up (the group not individually) in the dark... much to his dismay, poor thing. The trauma has scarred him for life. I have to hand to our guard for her oscar winning performance.... hmm may be this is the way forward to reform naughty children at school... just thinking?

Silence Mask or Calico Hood

Melbourne Zoo

Saturday was a work day for Dan so we sought advice from the concierge to pick his brain for ideas on how the boys and I could spend the day. After a process of elimination we caught one of the Melbourne trams to Melbourne Zoo.

Given my boys love their animals combined that it was a gorgeous warm sunny day we had a fab time wandering round Melbourne Zoo. There was loads to see, but the animals that particularly stick in our mind were a cute little platypus and wombat which was a first as we've never seen either of them before. Other zones that we loved and should probably get a mention were the butterfly house and the never ending aviary - honestly it was truly massive and the longest we've ever walked through.

Platapus

The longest aviary ever

Emu 

Koala 

Baboon

Sting ray

Giant Tortoise 

Frilled Lizard

Death Adder

Australian Pelican

Butterfly House

Gorilla 

Red Panda 

Red Tree Kangaroo

Mandrill

Red Panda

By the time we left the place was chock-a-block with people. We went to see the tigers and elephants but we were just drifting along at a shuffling pace due to the hoards of people that had opted for a zoo day… time to make an exit me thinks, so after a few quick snaps we trotted off back home.

Now here is something we don’t get every day… on arrival back at our room in our Marriott hotel we were greeted with little prezzie from the consierge… a bottle of vino and a plate of sweets and chocs for the boys…

... now how nice is that?

Just for the record we never made it to the goal today, roll on tomorrow!

Melbourne - Road Trip to the Twelve Apostles

Friday was the day we embarked along the infamous Great Ocean Road trip to make the pilgrimage to the Twelve Apostles - a full day required for this one – just brings home just how vast Australia is! The drive took pretty much the entire day with two boys keeping us entertained the whole way by their various hyperactive sing songs (pushing us to near breaking point). 


It has to be said that the trip was a scenic one packed full of coffee and  photo pit stops enroute. All was quite at the back and we thought the boys’ hyperactivity had finally burnt out when we heard a little yelp from our eagle eyed eldest “Koala” so we turned around and went to investigate. Low and behold on the opposite side of the road, hidden high in a tree amongst the leaves was a little koala having a little snooze. 

Koala

(Pub quiz fact – koalas sleep 22 hours of the day). 

Have to say, hats off to him for spotting it in the first place! So after a little photo shoot we pressed onwards. Unfortunately for the koala, a few tour coaches pulled over to see what we were looking at, so by the time we left the crowds were beginning to build marking an abrupt end to his nap.

Koala aside we also saw many Australian birds and lizards to add to our list...

Australian Magpie

Australian Top Notch Pigeon (or referred to my my boys as the Cockadoodle haired pigeon)

Despite being a long drive we saw managed to fit in a number of little stretch legs stops enroute…

Bells beach made famous where Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves shared a moment when filming Point Break.

Stunning scenic view sat Teddy's Lookout...

...and another one at Cape Patton...

... a short walk to Erskine Falls...

.... not forgetting the all important Australian kangaroo sign...

... finally arriving at the Twelve Apostles. 

The Twelve Apostles were amazing, I totally fell in love with them. We arrived just before sunset, so perfect timing. Not really sure what to expect, there was a walkway which lead us along the cliff edge to various viewing hot spots in which to admire the apostles… humongous tall masses of rock standing still amongst the waves crashing against them… with the sun getting lower in the sky I can’t put my finger on it but there was something magical being there – beautiful.

We then made a quick pizza pitstop before making the long 'doge the wambat' drive back to Melbourne. A full on day, but so worth it!