Australian Autumn - day 3

April 5th:


Whew! I was way too exhausted last night to blog. It was an absolutely lovely day, mid 70's, sunny with a little breeze, too warm for a long sleeve T-shirt and too cool for a short sleeve....you know how it is. So all day we kept taking off and on our light jackets. Its all about layering.....

First order of business was the Old Melbourne Gaol! (pronounced "gail"). A spartan, cold, stern 19th century jail built of stone, as harsh on the inside as it appears outside. They make you play a sort of hokey make believe game by giving each of the visitors a charge sheet, as if we were real criminals being locked up. I was Edith and I was being held for stalking, Raga was  Rob, his charge was driving under the influence of alcohol. Like I said all pretty hokey but fun! We spent a good hour or more there, alternately fascinated and horrified at the smallness of the prison cells, the eerie display of the death masks of each prisoner  who was housed in each cell, the model of the scaffolding or guillotine, the long gory descriptive stories of each prisoner and then of course the life of the notorious Australian gangster Ned Kelly. The graffiti inscribed on the walls and doors are original, by the hundreds of prisoners who were kept there, and it was colorful to say the least. Then a stint of shopping at the gift store - you notice how we always have to exit thru the gift store to get out of any of these touristy things? Of course Raga had to buy real handcuffs!!! I won't even go into that.....

Then we took the tram to Federation Square, and walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens. And we walked, and we walked, and walked and finally got there. Each time we stopped to look at the map, it seemed like all we had was another few hundred feet....but oh, that map was so misleading! The gardens were beautiful, reminded us a lot of the Olympic Rain Forests in Washington State. Lush foliage, huge leaved trees, all kinds of interesting herbs and flowers...we must have walked around the entire gardens for 2 hours. At one time Raga accosted a groundskeeper and grilled him on composting methods and earthworms, what they did etc etc. After a leisurely afternoon there we walked back to Flinders Street Station, grabbed a quick bite, then back to the hotel.

A short nap to revive our poor tired feet and we were ready to head out again. We did a spot of grocery shopping at Woolworths - a few snacks, fruits etc for our day trip to Penguin Island the next day, had dinner - some really good Thai food at “Your Thai”, and then some big time shopping at an Asian supermarket. What, you might ask, would we want to buy at an Asian market? Well....the answer to that is, all the ingredients needed to make bubble tea/pearl tea/boba at home. Those in India may not know what that is, but its a popular drink in most US cities where there are many Asians living. Seattle and DC have the best bubble tea. Its pearl sized tapioca, that has been soaked in sugar syrup till it swells up nice and big and juicy, topped with milk tea flavored with your favorite flavor. That could be fruit based, or taro, or green tea or coconut - you name it, they have it - then you drink it all thru this fat straw and the bubble or soaked tapioca is sucked thru the straw.... I know the whole thing sounds terrible, but its fabulous and ever since we came back to India we have been looking for it, but no such luck! So we have decided to make our own!!! I told Raga he was crazy but he persevered and got everything we need. We went back to the hotel happy and looking forward now to bubble tea in Hyderabad!