Day Seventeen - Melbourne

I slept surprisingly well considering I am not feeling the love for The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.  Don't get me wrong, it could be lovely.  However, I feel it needs a good bottoming as my Nan would have said ..... however, this means something completely different to 'the gays' :)

Moving on. We had to go and find breakfast.  Obviously, not in the hunter

Beautiful Art Nouveau glass in Flinders Street Station

gathering kind of way but it may as well have been.  We caught the free tram down to Flinders Street Station in search of food.   Melbourne is not an easy place, thus far, to find food.  However, we found a little Italian place and had a great breakfast.  This is great as it fills you up and then sets you up for the day. Also, the place where we had breakfast was just cross the road from where we needed to be.

First stop today was the Immigration Museum. I was intrigued as to how the Australians would hand this sensitive subject.  In all fairness, it was an interesting place. It only cost $15 (around £7.50) to get in and it told the story of how Australia has welcomed immigrants ....... well mainly white British people and few others reluctantly.  

Not sure what message this is selling as there are 8 million people currently living in London!

Little was said about the convicts which is something I am particularly interested in as I have a relative who was sent out here back in 1798.  Her name was Mary Guile and her crime was to steal some cloth.  She was sentenced to seven years transportation and sailed out from the UK not the transportation boat Speedy and served her time and was given her freedom.  However, I cannot find 

anything else about her form then onwards.  I intend to look more when I get home.  See, us Guile women are tough!  I shared the museum with numerous school parties, but it really was interesting.

After this we crossed the River Yarra to the Southbank side of town.  It is apparent that they have spent a great deal of money on this part of town.  We sat by the river, in the sunshine and watched too many men jogging in their lunch break.  My manage is from Melbourne originally and I think I will have to enforce Melbourne Style Lunch Breaks when I return to the UK.  I strolled along the riverbank and treated myself to a very large (I did not know it was going to be that large) ice cream and looked at some displays around F1 which I suspect are related to this weeks Melbourne Grand Prix.  

We then decided to go to the Casino.  Now, this is something I have ever only done once in my life and this was when I was living in Stoke and what an

experience that was!  I remember going to register a few days before I was due to go and was told by the women that I would not be allowed in, or any man I was with, if we were wearing football tops.  My reply to her was 'do you think I look like a woman who would be seen with a man in a football top!'.  In my head it was going to be like Casino Royale; in reality it was like the Jeremy Kyle show.  Today, Melbourne's experience was not much better.

It never ceases to amaze me of the demographics in these environments and I spend too much time thinking of all the wonderful sociological research I could do.  I put $10 (£5 approx) in the 'fruit machines' and played for ages and ages.

I won; I lost and it was fun.  We then went to the roulette table.  I chose the table a I thought the woman had a friend face. Andy cashed up $50 (around £25) and I watched him a bit.  Then I cashed up $20 (around £10) and put a chip on the table and lost.  Then I put a chip on 31, my Megan's birthday and it come in!  The woman was so surprised and I did not have a clue.  My $5 (£2.50) chip won me at 35/1 $150 (£75)!  Yay go me.  The woman was so pleased for me and I was over the moon.  I told her that it was my daughter's birthday and she said treat her to something nice.  How lovely is that!

We left the Casino, in my case richer and made our way down a long the river and had a drink.   I wanted to say champagne darlings, but had a gin instead.  

We walked around and then went and got some dinner.  We found a lovely place that sounded as if we were in a nightclub, but the food was good. By now, we were both tired so caught the free tram back to the Inn of the Sixth Happiness and just chilled out and planned our next day; our last day, in Melbourne and Australia. 

As always, with my love x

Part of my winnings.  Unfortunately, not enough to let me buy a house on Phillip Island