Parliamentary my dear Watson

Had a very busy day yesterday and packed in a hell of a lot of sightseeing so absolutely knackered today. We travelled into town and spent the morning on a tour of Parliament House. We call it a tour but it was basically a frog march by a very bossy lady. To get in you have to pass through a bag scanner and metal detector as it is the seat of the Victorian government, and once in the building you have to wear one of the most ridiculous fluorescent pink badges to highlight the fact that you’re a visitor and have no real good reason for being there! As mentioned before the guide was a little dictator like and obviously in a rush to get off to the staff Christmas party and this year’s cheeky snog under the mistletoe. Having said this though we did learn a lot from her and the tour was very interesting and the building impressive too. We got the chance to sit in the speakers chairs and lord it over everyone as parliament was on a break for the Christmas period.

Next door to Parliament House is Fitzroy gardens. We didn’t know much about this place until we stumbled upon it and decided to go for a wander. Inside the gardens there is a model Tudor village, which isn’t really Tudor and in all honesty a bit rubbish. Equally as strange is the fairy tree, which is covered in fairy and animal carvings. But Fitzroy gardens was saving it’s best till last. Just as we were about to leave we came across Cap’n Cooks house. Someone had paid for his childhood house to be brought to Australia and rebuilt stone by stone. It was a brilliant place to go around and although small was packed full of stuff. Well worth the visit.

We then had to rush back home for an event we’d found whilst scouting the local papers called Carols in the Park. There was a big stage with lots of choirs and singers singing carols as the audience lazed about on picnic blankets basking in the last rays of the day. Even Santa dropped by to say hi. Alex nearly wet himself in excitement. As we’re both away from home for Christmas and the seasons are topsy-turvy it was nice to help us get into the Christmassy spirit and a good end to a long day.

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• Parliament House tours are available whenever parliament isn’t sitting. Best of all they are 100% free!

• Fitzroy gardens might just surprise you as it did us, well worth a visit. Do make sure you adhere to the rules though and don’t offer so much as a crumb to those pesky possums.

• As we’ve said before local papers are a goldmine of information, even a quick scan can lead to doing all sorts of things.

• As it’s summer during Christmas for us Northerners its a little hard to get into the Yuletide spirit. Carol singsongs and similar things help no-end so watch out for them!