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Published: October 23rd 2007
Another one rides the bus...
And another comes on, and another comes on...another one rides the bus! Hey, he's gonna sit by you - another one rides the bus!So at some point in between monorail-ing and visiting Darling Harbour, we decided to take a little trip to Canberra , the capital city of Australia. Danae had a good friend in the city, studying at the Australian National University (ANU).
We awoke bright and early on Friday the 24th to catch our bus to Canberra. Rule #1 of booking buses: never let the blonde do the booking. We arrived at Sydney Central for our 7AM bus, only to find that there was no 7AM bus. When we called the bus company we found out that there was a mix-up and the 7AM bus was TO Sydney. We had made bookings in reverse. I pleaded ignorance in my Canadian accent, and she agreed to switch our reservations. So we headed back to the hostel since our REAL bus wasn't until 9AM. In the meantime, we made pancakes 😊
The Bus The bus ride was a pleasant 3-hour trek through New South Wales, into the Australian Capital Territory. Like Washington, DC, Canberra isn't in a state but in it's own territory.
When we arrived in Canberra, we hopped in a cab to Sarah's (Danae's
Danae points to Dafne's new socks
I needed to do laundry, but didn't have time. So I just bought some random Aussie socks at Sydney Central Station. I think they're quite stylin' friend) house. We quickly unloaded our stuff there, then headed off to Parliament!
Old Parliament House Alright, so Australia's not that old, and the 'old' parliament house was actually quite nice. And let me tell you, it's totally worth the $2 (or something as ridiculously low as that) they charge for admission. There's actually heaps of stuff to do! Especially if, like Danae and myself, you love taking random funny pictures. Unfortunately, we had to do a much too rushed trip through the building, since Sarah was waiting for us at the new Parliament building.
Fancy New Parliament House Old parliament may be pretty, but NEW parliament house is, really, quite spectacular. The aura as you walk up...man, it's something else. We met Sarah in the marble foyer, the most expensive room in all of Australia. She got us special VIP access cards since she works in the building, and then took us on an exciting tour. Unfortunately, since it was a Friday afternoon, the chances of seeing an actual politician were quite slim. And I'd so hoped to run into John Howard (the Prime Minister). He has funny eyebrows...
Sarah took us to all the highlights
of the building, such as the Great Hall and, of course, the House of Commons. We also went up on the roof for a nice view overtop Canberra. And we got to see all the offices of the Official Opposition, since that was where Sarah works. We were in a rush, so I didn't get the chance to pose in front of Kevin Rudd's (Leader of the Opp) door. But we did see the door of Kim Beazley, the FORMER leader of the Labour Party and Opposition. There's a Kim Beazley Lecture Hall at Murdoch, too. Oooh, aaah...
Invading ANU Our tour was cut short because Sarah had to run off to class. So the three of us headed to ANU, and Danae and I plonked ourselves in a computer lab. It was quite an anal school, we actually needed a student card to get into AND OUT OF the computer labs! Luckily some friendly students helped me out when I needed to use the toilets...
Some views of Canberra After she was done class, Sarah took us to the top of a hill just outside Canberra so we could see the city from above. It was interesting,
the entire city was planned and even the river was man-made. But for all it's bad rap (most people would tell you to give this city a miss) I found it very pretty. And the parliament houses were both totally worth the 3 hour trip. I was definitely glad we'd made the trek out to the C-berra.
Party in the Nation's Capital! So Sarah had been involved in student elections, and the campaign period apparently ended the day we arrived. So everyone in her group was having this big celebration party. And Danae and I tagged along as the random outsiders. It was good fun, we even had some lines to help us fit in ("the sexuality officer is a man, and the Chaser is good" - couldn't agree more with the second!). At some point, we moved to the party to a local bar which was good fun. I don't have any pictures from the night, we decided not to bring cameras since we figured someone else would. But no one did. So no photos. But it was good fun.
Brunch and the Departure Saturday morning, we went out for brunch with one of Sarah's friends. We
went to downtown Canberra which was quite quaint. After brunch we sadly had to go back to the bus terminal and catch our bus back to Sydney. But it was a great trip.
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Dana
non-member comment
Lovely...
Daf, sounds like you had a wonderful time in Canberra with the whole political adventures you took. Too bad about the debate hahaha but hey you got to fix it here in Melbs with the nerd crew at Monash :) And whhhhhy would you let Danae book the bus, you should know better LOL.