After arriving in Melbourne we met the final six members of our group, who had not joined us for Tasmania. There was a walking orientation tour of the city followed by another welcome dinner. Melbourne is a city of about 4 million but the central area is compact and laid out in a grid that is fairly easy to navigate. Besides the main streets there is a series of lane ways, which are narrow pedestrian alleys filled with small shops and restaurants. Our dinner was held in one of these and one of our dinner choices was kangaroo. It was delicious.

Our tour of Melbourne began with a private tour of the Melbourne Gaol . It's cells were designed for silence and isolation in a manner similar to the Separate Prison at Port Arthur. One of its main claims to fame is the fact that the famous Bush Ranger Ned Kelly was imprisoned and hanged here. Some of the cells contained exhibits about individual prisoners, and although some were quite worthy of their punishments others, especially women and children served lengthy sentences because they were poor and homeless.

We also visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, built by Irish settlers. It served not only as a place of worship but also as a center for their social activities and as a symbol of their resistance against the British.

Another stop was at the War Memorial. It was originally built as a memorial after the First World War, but has been enlarged as a memorial for all subsequent wars. Because the Armistice was signed at 11 am on November 11th, the building is designed so that at beam of sunlight moves across the memorial plaque at exactly 11 am on November 11 each year . But there is also an electric light that will simulate that movement, and the guard activated the light and short memorial moment for us. It was very moving. The Australians continue to appreciate the fact that the US came to their aid during the Second World War, after Churchhill had refused British aid, say that he could only fight one war at a time.

We also stopped at Victoria Market, a huge market selling everything you can imagine and a few that you had never thought of. So much stuff and so little space in my luggage that so so close to the maximum weight allowance. I showed remarkable restraint in my purchases.

After the tour we were on our own, and Mimi and I decided to visit the Hopetoun Tearooms. It is a small place and we had to wait for a table, but the time was well spent in looking at the amazing pastries in the window. It was hard to make a choice, but since Wayne, our trip leader had praised the Cream Lamington, it was an obvious choice. What is not to like about a sponge cake, coated in chocolate, rolled in coconut and filled with whipped cream? It tasted as good as it looked, and was the perfect ending to a wonderful lunch.

The day ended with the group gathering to watch the All Blacks (New Zealand) play the Wallabys (Australia) in Rugby. I learned a lot about the game which is very exciting. Happily, the All Blacks won, so Wayne was very happy. Although he lives in Australia, he is Kiwi by birth and his team loyalty is still there.