So, two thirds of last weekend was spent writing papers. All day Friday and all day Sunday I spent sitting at my computer, typing away. Two pieces of good news: I’m finally done, and I had an AMAZING Saturday in Melbourne. We caught the 9:30 train out of South Geelong so that we would be in Melbourne by 10:30. It’s almost exactly the same as taking the LIRR into NYC.

Our first stop was the Old Melbourne Goal. We wandered around this prison for about an hour. It’s a very cool museum; almost every cell room contains a story of an inmate who stayed there or gave some interesting background on the history of the criminal system in Australia. It was also where the famous Australian outlaw, Ned Kelly, was housed for a time. We then went next door to the Watch House, where we were processed like criminals and got a chance to take mug shots:

We grabbed a cheap lunch at Hungry Jacks: the Australian Burger King (meals at Hungry Jacks and McDonalds here come with frozen Coke! Mmmmm). Then we headed to the Chinese Museum, in Melbourne’s Chinatown, which is actually very cool:

On the way we stumbled on a long, twisting alley, with some very cool graffiti art.

Photo Credit: Debby Lee

The Museum is home to the longest ordinary dragon:

The we headed back to the Old Melbourne Goal for a recreation of the trial of Ned Kelly. One of the girls with me volunteered to play a part, and got to be the judge.

We stopped at a food court for some snacks, and then headed to the free city circle tram.

Photo Credit: Debby Lee

On the way, we stopped in the Melbourne main library, which is gorgeous, and has a statue of the judge who convicted Ned Kelly in front of it (the part our friend had played!)

We got out at Flinders Street Station…

…took some jumping pictures in Federation Square…

Photo Credit: Debby Lee

…wandered down to the Yarra River, which is pretty disgustingly polluted…

Photo Credit: Debby Lee

(though you can’t really tell from this photo)

…and then went across the bridge.

Photo Credit: Debby Lee

On the way to get dinner, we were scared by this guy:

After dinner, we grabbed some ice cream, and became enraptured by a street performer. He was impressive, hilarious…and from Philadelphia. We came all the way to Melbourne to see an American perform!

Photo Credit: Debby Lee

We ended the day at the Eureka Skydeck, where we had a beautiful view of the city.

Photo Credit: Debby Lee

Today was my last day in Geelong, and it’s going to be a quiet night, since we’re leaving at 4:30 AM tomorrow to catch our 6:00AM flight to Sydney. I get back at around midnight on Saturday night, and then leave around 8:00AM Sunday morning – to come home. The time has just flown by! I won’t have internet in Sydney, because I’m not going to lug my computer, but I’ll be sure to post about my adventures there when I get home.

Cheers!