Paranormal activity and all things old!

Both Mal and I had the weekend off together - the first in the 8 weeks we have been here...so given the weather has been awesome we got out and about in Goulburn.

Last night we did the Goulburn Brewery and ghost hunting tour - has it converted us in to ghost hunters?  Short answer - No!  We had dinner first at the Brewery and tasted some of the beer brewed there which was very nice.  We chatted with the others who are very involved in paranormal activity while having dinner - the theory of ghosts and paranormal activity is all a lot more involved than I had ever thought.  Anyway then we headed off in the dark around the many parts of the Brewery - which wasn't always a brewery.  Infact it was once upon a time the first industrial complex in Australia and included the brewery itself, a maltings, a steam powered flour mill, cooperage, tobacco curing kiln, as well as a mews of stables and workers' cottages. 

They gave us little paranormal activity gauges to hold and mine kept going off - supposedly we talked with a ghost or two who answered us by setting off the lights on the gauge.  They also used a 'ghost box' - basically an altered radio which uses white noise which the ghosts can use to 'talk' to us...supposedly a ghost who called himself 'Tom' spoke to us and said that he didn't want to 'talk'.  We didn't feel any hairs standing up on our backs, hands on our shoulders or see any appartitions or 'orbs' although they showed us that they had captured some 'orbs' on their camera in one of the rooms we were in.   As you can tell we are both sceptics.  It was an interesting night however having a look around the buildings and hearing the history of the place and Goulburn itself.  Here is a photo of the place in the daylight that I took today.

We went to an antique show today at one of the historic homes in Goulburn called Riversdale.  They had antique cars and machinery and various market stalls set up.  We had a look through the house which was lovely - its an old colonial house built in the 1840s.  I really loved all the old dresses on display - a few of them would look just as trendy if worn today.

We then went and had a look around another heritage home called Garroorigang.  Its a home that was  originally built as a pub in the Victorian period. In 1868 the stables were converted to a school for the sons of gentlemen and the pub was converted in to a home for the headmaster.  It was then brought by the Hume family who still own it today and actually live in it and do guided tours through the property.  It has all of the original furniture and the stories behind it all is really interesting particularly when told by the family who grew up in the house and still live there.  The gardens were lovely - here's Mal enjoying his tea and cake!