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Published: October 29th 2011
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The Queen and Prince Philip go 'walkabout'
we were there on the left but didn't quite make it into this photo Tuesday 25th October – and the morning did not dawn well – it was spitting with rain and more rain was forecast during the day. Worse still it was still very chilly – so much so that I got out the electric fan heater and put it on. I was so cold my fingers had gone numb!! We planned to spend the day in Canberra so after breakfast we loaded up our rain gear, put on our fleeces and set off at about 9:15am.
We were aware that The Queen would be in Australia for the CHOSM (Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting) which was taking place soon in Perth and then gradually we learned that she would be staying in Canberra for a few days. We never imagined that we would get a chance to see her and Prince Philip in Aus so with us being so close it seemed too good an opportunity to miss (although neither of us are particularly ‘Royalists). We knew we would have to “make it up as we went along” as the Queen was due at the Australian War Memorial at 10:30 for an official engagement. The journey into the Australian Capital was excellent
with a good road system that makes Yass an ideal “dormitory” town. Many people living in Yass work in Canberra. We didn’t know what traffic restrictions or what level of security might be in force so we just made our way towards the area of the city where we knew the War Memorial to be. To our absolute amazement, we were able to drive easily to within about four hundred meters and also found a parking place nearby. It wasn’t that things were quiet – people and parked cars were everywhere – but we just sailed comfortably through and, as time was on our side, we decided to “see what we could see”. Dressed in our anoraks and armed with our brollies, we walked to where the royal cavalcade was due to arrive and stood with an excellent, uninterrupted view. We were approached by a young fellow, dressed as if he was a country squire in tweed jacket and trousers, who was distributing flags. He recognised our English accents and we got chatting. He was a member of the Australian Monarchist League and was delighted that the Queen was visiting Canberra and was doing his best to make it a
joyous occasion. He had also been involved in her visit to Brisbane.
Just a few minutes later, but with the rain now a little more persistent, the royal cars arrived and I was able to wave my flag furiously while Graham took photos of the Queen as she passed slowly by in the official car – a Range Rover. There were, seemingly, hundreds of young children all dressed up and carrying flowers and gifts hoping to be chosen to meet the Queen. We strolled casually to a point immediately opposite the main entrance to the War Memorial and realised that, when she re-emerged, we would be ideally placed to see her again. Not only that, but the “selected” children were now gathered just in front of us so a real “close-up” was possible. Alas, for every child selected there must have been dozens overlooked and they would have been bitterly disappointed. Some we saw were a bit tearful. As we had anticipated, with the rain now a real nuisance, HRH and Phillip came back down the steps, incidentally without umbrellas, straight towards us to meet the children and to receive flowers. Just like my last “royal encounter”, when I
was with dear Auntie Enid in Derby in 2009 for the Maundy Money presentations, I had a brilliant view and the Queen was only a few feet away. Both she and Philip were very well received and we were delighted that our chance visit to the War Memorial had been so successful. We watched her make her way along the line of young children with a cheery smile and a brief comment for all of them. Phillip wasn’t to be outdone either as he chatted away merrily as they strolled slowly along.
After they were driven off we strolled back to our car where we had a cuppa while the traffic dispersed. Twenty minutes later we made our way to The National Museum of Australia on the Acton Peninsula which juts out into Lake Burley Griffin. Again we were able to park nearby and happily spent the next four hours or so touring the magnificent museum, which included having a bit of lunch. The museum was excellent with many different sections to explore. The first 20 minutes or so was spent in a revolving cinema which gave a hasty, sometimes confusing preview of what we might see. After the
first screen show, the whole seating area automatically moved round to another and then another – four in all – and each was made up of a number of smaller screens all showing different things at the same time. It was impossible to take in everything being shown but at least we had a flavour of what to expect. Everything was impressive but we were most impressed by the Aboriginal section which explained the affects of European immigration since Cook’s voyages and how the affects continued with, first the exploration and then the on-going agricultural and industrial development of Australia - it was brilliantly done. We ended our visit with a tour of a fantastic, temporary Chinese art exhibition. It’s only now, with the progress in international acceptance that China has made in recent years, that the paintings and sculptures – old and new – have been displayed world-wide and, in our view, they easily compare with the European masters that we are so used to.
At about 3:30pm we began our journey back to Yass and, with sat-nav helping, we easily found our way out of the city. No parking fees, ample parking spaces, no museum entry fees,
no traffic hold-ups and no congestion charges – wouldn’t it be lovely if all capital cities could be as easy and cheap to negotiate? Back in Yass we visited the Woolies store to top up on groceries. Sadly the wet weather showed no signs of relenting so another evening walk looked un-likely. It was also still cold so the fire went on again and we settled in for our evening meal and caught the latest stage of Australian X Factor on TV whilst reflecting on yet another most amazing day.
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