DIARY OF A GHOST HUNTER

The Old George and Dragon Restaurant at East Maitland will hold a special place in my heart not only because I have had a number of special paranormal experiences there, but, I also met two wonderful people Jenni, the owner and Chef Gavin, the chef of course! The Restaurant occupies the former coaching inn named the George and Dragon (pictured) in Melbourne Street, East Maitland. Now called the Old George and Dragon, it is a boutique guesthouse with fine dining and a ye olde world signboard outside. The brick pub was named after a legendary soldier saint, a crusading knight who became the patron saint of England after slaying a dragon, possibly in Libya of all places. Or maybe, St George was just a convenient piece of propaganda, to raise morale during the bloody Crusades. Anyway, there's a tradition in this East Maitland pub that boxing legend Les Darcy (who once worked opposite as a blacksmith) trained in its former stables. "Our former hotel dates from 1

Last weekend I was given an opportunity to assist in a ghostly event at the Nurse's Museum at Prince Henry Hospital in South Eastern Sydney, NSW together with Oz Para Tech. First of all I have to express my amazement and delight at the total dedication of the volunteers to their custodianship of the site and to their spiritual residents. I was made very aware of my need for total respect - I wasnt sure who would make their wrath known more...the ghosties or the volunteers! The Little Bay area was first used as a makeshift camp during Sydney's smallpox outbreak in 1881-82, to isolate sufferers of the disease. At first, a "tent city" was established, but further smallpox outbreaks and a typhoid epidemic convinced the government to build a permanent hospital here to treat infectious diseases. Little Bay was an ideal location because it was isolated from settlements but still close enough to Sydney. The Coast Hospital was particularly valuable during