A leisurely start ready for the day of exploring. Having been dropped off at Croydon station by my personal Uber driver Dom and her assistant Baby Noah, I was heading into the city. It’s about a 40 minute journey to Melbourne Central my destination. When I left it was drizzling so there was me with my umbrella, I actually needed my sunnies 🙈
The first stop of the afternoon was Old Melbourne Gaol. When the Old Melbourne Gaol was built in the mid-1800s, it dominated the Melbourne skyline as a symbol of authority. Inside the Gaol, dangerous criminals were held alongside petty offenders, the homeless and the mentally ill.
Between 1842 and its closure in 1929 the gaol was the scene of 133 hangings including Australia’s most infamous citizen, the bushranger Ned Kelly.
Ned Kelly was born in December 1854, near the town of Beveridge in Victoria. When Ned was 12, his Irish father John ‘Red’ Kelly, an ex-convict, died of ‘dropsy’ (Edema), forcing Kelly to leave school and become the family breadwinner. Soon after, his mother Ellen moved the family to a slab hut in the tiny Victorian community of Greta to be near her own family, the Quinns, who were squatters (sheep farmers). Greta was something of a lawless outpost, and the young Kelly soon grew into a troublemaker and progressed to acts of crime.
Having served a brief apprenticeship with the infamous bushranger Harry Power, Kelly formed his own gang (along with brother Dan Kelly and mates Joe Byrne and Steve Hart) in 1878 and fled to the bush. They became feared outlaws as they perpetrated brazen robberies and assaults, took hostages and stole horses. When the Kelly Gang shot dead three policemen sent to capture them, a 500 pound reward for the capture of each gang member – dead or alive – sparked the biggest manhunt in Australia’s history.
More bank robberies and skirmishes with police followed. Eventually their luck ran out in the town of Glenrowan in north-east Victoria. After holing up the railway station, the Kelly Gang herded the town’s citizens into the local inn to prepare for their last stand. It was here that Kelly and other gang members donned homemade iron armour, Ned’s weighing around 44 kilograms (97 pounds).
Police surrounded the inn and at 3am they opened fire. When the smoke had cleared, Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart lay dead. Ned Kelly escaped to the bush, reappearing at sunrise to try to rescue his brother. This time, police shot Kelly where he was most vulnerable, taking out his legs in a volley of bullets that finally brought the dramatic siege to an end.
Kelly’s preliminary hearing was held in the Beechworth Courthouse in August 1880. On 11 November, Kelly, aged 25, mounted the gallows inside the Old Melbourne Gaol. Moments before he was executed, Kelly reportedly uttered his famous last words: “Such is life”.
After my little audio tour around the gaol I headed to Chinatown. Chinatown in Melbourne is reportedly the oldest continuous Chinese settlement in the Western world and the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere. Chinese immigrants settled here during the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1850s. The plan here was to have some lunch now when a tourist and with over a million places to go into you get overwhelmed. I ended up in Robo Mao, it was busy which surely is a good sign, I ended up again being overwhelmed by choice so ended up with honey chicken and bbq chicken bao buns. At this point I was stuffed, thank god I didn’t eat all of it. and trying to plan my route to the next location, fine line tattoos.
So a few weeks ago I had zero tattoos, a few glasses of wine and me thinking it was a face painter at Huddys 50th I ended up with 3 little stars and a heart to remind me of my queen, Granny Wood. As mentioned this trip is mainly thanks to my queen so whilst in New Zealand I ended up with a silver fern. Today I’ve got a eucalyptus .I can confirm I won’t be getting anymore, I won’t put money on it though…
Post tattoo Dom had recommended that I try a Mont Blanc at Good Measure, an absolute game changer, coffee with cream and then orange zest! Who knew that combo would work. From there I walked through Melbourne museum gardens past the Royal Exhibition Centre, where the University of Melbourne was holding its graduation ceremony, past St. Patrick’s Cathedral, through Fitzroy Gardens to the MCG, getting the train from Richmond back to Croydon. In Fitzroy gardens is Cooks cottage, which was sent over from Yorkshire in 1934. The cottage, originally built by Captain Cook’s father in Yorkshire, was given as a gift to mark the centenary of Melbourne.
Once back in Croydon I met Dom at Coles to do a bit of grocery shopping ready for a relaxing evening. Dom cooked risotto and I opened the bottle of Pinot Noir that I bought the other day. Then watched the highlights of South Africa kicking Australias butts in the T20 😂🤪.
Flying Solo 