Monday 5th November 2007

Steve was remarkably calm this morning when he couldn't find his 'missing' shoe... for about 5 minutes - and then he slowly started to crack up. At first he said it was fine, he'd wait until our bags were out of the way and then it would appear... but it didn't. Next he said it didn't matter because if he re-packed his own case it was bound to turn up... but it didn't. When it got to 9.55am - 5 minutes before check out, he left the room and then we hid it UNDERNEATH his bag. He came back in and found it - but was not impressed! He wasn't sure if we'd put it there - but accused us anyway!

With the 'Great Shoe Mystery' solved, we left the hostel and walked round to the new one. Finally the sun was shining - for the first time in 5 days, and we took a nice slow stroll through one of the many parks in the city. it shouldn't have been a stroll - but both Nikki and Steve are wimps and Steve did nothing but moan the whole way about how heavy his bag was. We eventually made it, they had a quick moan about the standard of the hostel and then we went out again.

We thought that we'd go to the famous Melbourne Gaol today - which is where some of Melbourne's most notorious criminals have been imprisoned... including Ned Kelly. Steve led us to the nearest tram stop, because he couldn't be bothered to walk - only for us to stand there for about 20 minutes because the Melbourne Cup festival had caused them to be taken off service. In the end we had to walk - and it was only about two blocks away.

Our visit to the gaol started with a tour of the 'holding cells', where we were all given character charge sheets and then taken through the process of being locked up - answering the Police Sergeant with either 'yes' or 'no Sergeant'. I have to say - it was not a very nice experience. Afterwards we were taken through to the cells and all locked up. They even turned the lights off and it was pitch black! Next, we went into the original Melbourne Goal which was awesome! It had loads of pieces about the history of the place, the prisoners who had 'stayed' there - and even had the original 'gallows' from which they hung 136 people. The prison was an awful place, with tiny cells and Nikki said she could never do anything wrong... because it was too cold for her. She said she'd moan unless they gave her a blanket and some slippers.

This afternoon we took a walk over to Brunswick Street, which reminded us of Gloucester Road, back in Bristol - with loads of funky, retro-type clothes shops. Apparently, Brunswick Street is a notorious place for 'gays', but Steve insisted he only wanted to go there for the cafés and book shops (yeah right!). We stopped in a really cool place called 'Gutz' for our lunch and spent the rest of the day looking around the shops. Steve has been moaning for the last couple of days about how cold he is - so me and Nikki were both really happy when he bought himself a new tracksuit top... hopefully he'll put a sock in it now!

After wandering along Brunswick Street and then into town this evening, we went to China Town and then finally came back to the hostel and had some noodles for our tea. The kitchens are gross and we're already looking forward to checking-out in the morning... oh, the joys of traveling!

Steve's a great guy... but he moans like a woman (he he)!