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Published: August 6th 2007
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An Amazingly Productive Day in the Country’s Capital
It’s kinda funny to us that you at home have a view of our lives that is distorted by the fact that we only tell you the interesting things. I have to assume that you must think life on the road is pretty exciting all the time and that we are constantly wowed by everything we see and do. In actuality at least 40%!o(MISSING)f every day involves mundane tasks that aren’t worth telling you about.
So with that in mind I will tell you about our one and only day in the capital of Australia, Canberra. As a quick example of how we bring smiles to the faces of our Australian hosts, I will diverge here to talk about the pronunciation of Canberra. Upon initially seeing the work I have always said and continue to slip up and say: Can-BEAR-a. This always brings a smile to the Aussies’ faces…especially when I realize I said it wrong and try to say it again. They say it: CAN-ber-a. Subtle difference, but enough to prove you are a foreigner. This, of course, along with all the other differences like: petrol =
gas, gas = propane, SUV = ute (really more a car/truck like an old El Camino), the list goes on and on.
Back to the day, we started our morning with some breakfast at good old McDonalds. Sometimes quick and easy make all the difference in the world. With brekky in our stomachs we headed off to the Aussie National Museum. On the way we got to see some of the actual city.
Canberra is a pretty cool city despite its small size. It was designed by a guy from Chicago in the early 1900’s and is similar to D.C. in that it is full of traffic circles and waterways. Unlike Washington it is pretty easy to navigate and not all that crowded. Also the parliament building is a complete departure from the architecture of government buildings in the states. Instead of being classical like the capitol in D.C., the relatively new parliament building is wildly modern and very different. It’s nice to see something different from what I would consider normal.
The National Museum was really cool and gave great insight into Australian culture. The museum starts with a three part movie shown in a rotating
theater that rotates 45 degrees for each new segment. The film shows a bit about the people, land and culture of Australia in a very artistic and almost irreverent style which leaves you constantly guessing and does a great job of stressing the ever present differences between different groups of Aussies.
From there you go through exhibits on all sorts of part of Aussie culture from the land to the Aborigines to word derivation for all the crazy Aussie words. Kel and I both found the section on plants and animals that were imported into Australia interesting in how they can end up spreading wildly and having unexpected impacts. We’ve done similar things in the states (think kudzu) but some of the consequences in Australia have been much more evident. For instance, red foxes were accidentally imported and have expanded to almost 80% of the country. With no natural predator, the foxes have caused a ton of damage and there is almost no way to stop them. In a less damaging but equally bad for the environment example, bunnies have expanded to 70% of Australia. They have caused such a nuisance that at one point a fence was put
across the whole country in an attempt to keep them from spreading. Big surprise, it didn’t work. Wily rabbits, they are.
After the museum we went in search of an internet café. We had booked a hotel with a room that had internet but it barely worked. We needed to do some serious planning which involved serious internet time. So, we headed to a part of town that the Lonely Planet said had internet. As we were going we came to an intersection where we needed to take a left at the light. All along I’ve been assuming that left turn on red is legal in Australia just like right turn on red is legal in the states. I stopped and waited until the traffic was clear and then went ahead and turned. As I got onto the next road I looked up and noticed a cop trying to pull me over. As usual my heart did that horrible sinking feeling as I pulled over to the curb. The cop walked over to the car, like all cops do, and asked in an incredulous tone, “May I ask why you ran the red light?” I responded with, “Ahhhh….I thought
that left turn on red was legal in Australia?” He was really nice and let us go after telling us that we were completely mistaken about the law. What made me feel really bad was the fact that he was right behind me when I made the turn. He sounded really sad when he told us that we had turned right in front of him and that a whole crowd of people were watching to see what he’d do. Ooops!
We drove on to find a parking spot in the middle of downtown. After wandering around for a little while looking for the internet café we had to stop and ask for help. It turns out that the store we stopped in was the exact address of the internet café listed in the Lonely Planet and that no internet café had been located there in anyone’s memory. They recommended that we try Starbucks around the corner. Unfortunately Starbucks was charging a ridiculous $8 for 15 minutes of internet but one of the ladies working there told us, quietly, to head around the corner to a pancake place that had free Wi-Fi (wireless internet).
With new advice in mind
Artsy Fartsy
I didn't have enough pics of Canberra so here are some more pics from Melbourne. we trekked around the corner and got some pancakes while Kel started the large quantity of planning that needed to be accomplished. I had figured that we’d spend an hour or two getting the internet stuff done but instead we spent the next 4 and a half hours sitting in the Pancake Parlor. While it was painful for me to sit and read in a booth for four hours, it was a ton of work for Kel.
Kel managed to book the next couple of months worth of travel and major hotel bookings. She booked the following:
Flight from Sydney to Auckland, NZ
Flight from Christchurch, NZ to Brisbane, Australia
Flight from Cairns, Australia to Honk Kong
Flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok
A rental car in New Zealand
A rental car for our return to Australia
A hotel in Auckland
And last but not least a hotel in Hong Kong
A very productive day I would say but not incredibly interesting. While most of our days are pretty cool and pretty exciting, they can’t all be. While I’m sure it wasn’t all that interesting for you to read about, I wanted you to see a more
Artsy Fartsy
I didn't have enough pics of Canberra so here are some more pics from Melbourne. accurate glimpse into the planning that it takes to accomplish something this big.
Well, enough from this end. Hope you are all well at home!
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