Canberra

---

Canberra was a nice quick stop. We were here for just under twenty-four hours, but we were still able to pack in most of the major attractions. Canberra, the nation’s capital, was a planned city, and it is very easy to tell. The streets are wide and the road layout is geometric, very appealing to the urban planner in me, but not very interesting in terms of getting a feel for the city. This was what we were expecting though. What we weren’t expecting was the downtown area to be as untidy as it was. It wasn’t dirty by any means, it's probably similar to most cities, but it certainly wasn’t as well kept up as Brisbane, which I thought was surprising for a “fake” government city. We first visited the National Museum of Australia, where we wanted to bone up on Australian history. It was very interesting and I felt like a much less ignorant tourist having visited it. My favourite part was the exhibit on ethnotramps, which are wild species spread with the help of humans. My favourite was the European Wild Rabbit, which was introduced by Brits that wanted to hunt them. Within 60 years the rabbits had spread across almost the entire continent. Rabbit fences were even being constructed in Western Australia. When it became evident that the rabbits were going to penetrate the areas that the fence was intending to protect prior to its completion, they aborted and moved to constructing fences that contained smaller areas. The rabbits ended up winning. Those hunters that introduced them must have felt like real idiots. It was nice to see the rabbits stick it to them.

After the museum we went to Old Parliament House to get our picture taken with Sir Joseph Cook, the Australian Prime Minister in 1913. He was also related to my great grandmother in some way. Dad is sketchy on the facts, but apparently there is close relation. We definitely looked like idiots getting our picture taken with a painting. We then took a tour of the Australian Institute of Sport, which was pretty cool to see. The Institute was formed after the 1976 Olympics, where Australia only received three medals. 76% of the medalists since have gone through the Institute and Australia’s Olympic performance has dramatically improved. It seems like something that Canada should consider doing to help reverse the trend that has developed in the last few Olympics. There is quite a commitment on the part of the athlete, as well. For example, a twelve year-old gymnast will have 35 hours of practice each week, in addition to their primary school classes. Also, Petria Thomas, a decorated Aussie swimmer, was estimated to have swam 40,000 km in her eight years at the Institute. She is a crazy lady. We then finished our off our Canberra day at the Australian War Museum. The visit here was very poignant. I learned a lot about Australian military history, which I know very little about. We’re now off to Sydney where we’ll be staying for the next three days.

---

Photos

Australia’s In the Midst of a Drought?
Getting wet outside of the Australian War Memorial.

Posing With “Uncle Joe”
And I mean that with all due respect. It's the guys posing with a portrait of Rt Hon Sir Joseph Cook, Aussie PM in 1913, and distant relative.

Australian Parliament Building
The current Parliament Building in Canberra.

Kangaroo Zone
Yep, we’re definitely not in Canada anymore, or anywhere else in the world for that matter.