The bush on the way to the Outback

There are some crazy things way out here. The first stop on our grand adventure was a castle. We were cruising out in the general direction of the desert and saw a sign for a tourist destination called Kryal Castle. Nikki, Tom, and Tina all wanted to swing in. I did not. Australia isn't exactly a castle kind of place, so I figured a total tourist trap. I didn't count on this wack-job place.
The lobby was the typical tackiness you would figure; some dude in old medieval clothes and some silly throne looking things. From that point is where it got real creepy. First of all, there was no one there but us, and there was a strange music playing in the background, it was straight out of some slasher flick. They had some applicable things like a wax museum dedicated to torture, which I can understand being, you
know, medieval and all but that is where this place went off the deep end. There was a gun collection, and medical supply collection (complete with wax display of a gyno exam). Then we walk on to find some real strange puppet machines that just shook strangely and played bizarre music.

Around the corner from that was a taxidermy display. The final kook was walking up this tower and finding a demented version of sleeping beauty that had its eyes all burned out. This was the strangest place I have ever been in my life. The cheesiness just oozed out of the joint. After laughing ourselves nearly to death we rolled on down the road.
Next stop was Sovereign hill. This was another cheeseball tourist trap, but this one was cool. It is an Aussie version of an old west miner's camp. What made it cool is that they not only had all the old machinery but it was in use. The huge mining equipment was built in the 1800's and they were still cranking away. Some dude was showing how they melted gold down to form the bars and he did a little show about it. there was another guy that made hard candy like the old days, that was also pretty cool. And because this place was actually a mining camp it was realistic.. unlike the crazy castle. A bit overpriced but definitely worth the look.