Australia's Capital

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After waking up with just a slight hangover I soon got myself moving as I had a busy day ahead. I left the car in the garage for a few hours and went out to get some essentials from town. The car company gave me a cool box but I thought with the baking heat we have been having some ice blocks would be a good idea. I also got a picnic blanket, which doubles up nicely as a cover for all the stuff in my gigantic boot. The most essential purchase was a portable CD player with car kit and a handful of CD’s. All stocked up for my impending adventure I pick the car up and head off on my own. This is the first time in three months I have done some traveling on my own and so far it has been really good.

I successfully weaved my way through Sydney’s array of flyovers, tunnels and complex road networks and soon found myself on the motorway to Canberra.
Now you would have thought that the motorway that connects Australia’s biggest city with its Capital city would be quite a busy road. No so, it was quieter than the M5 at 3am.
The car rental company may have given me everything I needed but they forgot one thing, a brick to put on the accelerator. This should enable you to doze off quite nicely on the huge stretches of straight road!!
It was actually a really nice and very easy drive and I’m looking forward to more of it.
I got to Canberra in the middle of the afternoon and got to the hostel I though I’d be staying in. It turned out to be far to far out of town so I drove to the very centre of town and found one really easily. For a Capital city it is very quiet. The roads are so easy to drive on that negotiating my way around the Capital by car was really easy.

I stayed in a brand new YHA. It’s a massive place but being brand new was very clean. By the time I got sorted it was dark so I headed out to see the city by night. I soon found it was nothing like Sydney. Sydney was bright, brash and welcoming. Canberra is dark, small and not very impressive by night.

I did a 6km walk that took me along the side of a very dark Lake Burley Griffin, across the bridge and over to Parliament House. It really wasn’t very impressive by night so I continued back over the bridge at the other end of town back through the very unlit park and back to the hostel.

This morning I was up at 7.30am as the car had to be moved by 8.30am as the traffic wardens are apparently ticket happy. Once the car was moved and I had a nice hot breakfast of eggs and bacon I set out to cram as much into my day as I could. To save time and my legs I actually managed to work the bus system out. It wasn’t hard as the bus system is virtually non existent. A policeman at Parliament Hill later told me that the only way to get around Canberra was by taxi or on foot as the buses were so bad.

First stop was Capital Hill, home to the new Parliament House. By day it looked far more impressive. It opened just 18 years ago and took 10,000 people 8 years to build and can house over 7,000 people when the parliament is in session.
This morning however at 9am it was like a ghost town. I was completely on my own as I walked up to this giant building. Despite its ostentatious appearance I was greeted at the door by a security guard and taken through an airport style security system before being greeted again in the very grand entrance hall. From here I took an hours tour of the building. As parliament was not in session today I had full access to the whole building, which was really interesting. Once the tour was over I went and stood on the grass roof. The only green grass in Australia as its permanently watered despite a national water shortage. Well I guess it is the government building so if anyone can bend the hosepipe ban its them.

Next stop was the Royal Mint. Located just over 3km away and with no buss service it was a very hot mid morning walk. Arriving slightly warmer than a cat in a microwave I was again greeted by a security guard and checked over. I’m sure there must be some way of getting some money out of this place. It doesn’t look that secure!!

I took a self-guided tour of the mint, which shows you all the coins being made. I left with a small memento, which unfortunately I had to buy rather than smuggle out!!
The trip back to the hostel was about 10km and luckily there was a bus going in that direction. Once back at the hostel it was time for one very quick cup of tea and then off in the car to the Botanic Gardens across the other side of town. The gardens were the starting point to the climb to the top of Black Mountain, the site of the Telstra Communications Tower. While the track snaked through the Botanic Gardens it was really easy going, once it passed out of the gardens it turned into a 40 minute scrabble up rock and scrub to the summit. Once in the town a short lift journey took me to the viewing platform for some lovely views of the city. From here it was really clear just how small the city really is, and how vast the countryside around it is.

On the way back down the tower I met a couple from Queenstown on holiday. They had driven up the mountain and offered me a lift back down. So far everyone in Canberra has been much nicer than Sydney.
Once back in the car it was back across town to the Australian War Memorial, a very grand building standing in a direct line with Parliament House on the other side of the Lake. Apparently if all the doors are opened in New Parliament House, Old Parliament House and the War memorial the Prime Minister can sit in his office and see right through all the buildings, across the lake and right into the War Memorial.

Just up behind the War Memorial is Mount Ainslie, which gave some great sunset views over the city.

Well I dare anyone to try and cram any more into one day. I’ve just planned the next section of my journey and intend to do very little else today as I’m up bright and early to start all over again tomorrow……

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