Blogs from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 50

Well, can you believe only nine days to go! Argh! Most things are organised (not my passport, but that's only a minor detail, right? ......Right???) Come on Amanda, get your oversized posterior into gear! (I'm not 100% certain if it is Mrs V but she does seems so cuddly and friendly). In case you are uninformed, the plan is Rome for 5 weeks, Salerno (on the Amalfi Coast) for 3 weeks, and Florence for 4. Italia here I come!... read more

We were all super tired after our bus journey...the junky up the back of the bus meant that we had to sleep with one eye open the whole way! Not happy!!! You could hardly see one ft in front of you when we arrived in Canberra...freezing and foggy! Not great! The story of Canberrra...the Capital is that it is really boring, nothing much to do or see and well its just full of bored civil servants and their equally bored children! As it turns out there is a little fun to be had but I can be forgiven for staying for only one night!!! We got breakfast then headed over to Ashleys dorm/hotel! Actual hotel, why didnt I go into hospitality!?! We chilled for a wee bit then Ash took us out for a walk round ... read more

Yes so as I last left you I was on my merry way to Oslo....said goodbye to sweet angel jackie....lined up in the cue for check in....it was surprisingly small...got to the counter and exchanged excited words with the lovely qantas woman and then.....it all went #!!!***??? This was the very sentence that made my smooth sailing travels somewhat DIFFERENT! " I am sorry dear it seems that your passport has expired." Tummy drops, the cold sweat runs across my brow....the sad thing....I had a intuitive feeling that was going to be the case. I had read the bloody expiry date backwards.... So I took a big breath...gathered my thoughts....and the AMAZING RACE ala Rayne Murray began. Somehow I had to try and get my passport sorted and then get on a later flight to Oslo. ... read more

We spent 4 days in the nations capital, Canberra. It has just over 300,000 people living there so is a lot smaller than Sydney, Melbourne and the like. In yesteryear when men were men and all that jazz Melbourne and Sydney were great rivals so it was decided to build a capital city in between them both: Canberra was built in the early twentieth century for the sole purpose of becoming the new nation's capital. Our Youth Hostel was the most expensive one we've stayed in so far: still only 15 round pounds a night though. It was well worth the money: it had a free pool table, nice TV room, was clean and generally looked modern. It also had on the Lower ground floor, a heated Swimming Pool and Jacuzzi- the perfect atmosphere for us ... read more

Between 2 slices of Sydney we had a Canberra filling, visiting the nation's man-made capital for the weekend. It was built between Melbourne and Sydney, the two towns that had been competing for the distinction of being Australia's most important city, and was loosely based on the design of Washington, D.C. We spent the afternoon at Cockington Green, an old country house with some amazing miniature models of buildings both from England and around the world, complete with lego-men sized people. So we saw Stonehenge, Angkor Wat, and even Machu Picchu, all on a single leisurely walk! That's the way to do it. The next day we took a guided tour around Parliament House, which is cut into the hill that looks over the city. It's cut into the hill because originally the site was chosen ... read more