Blogs from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 13

We met a family in Thailand who were from Australia and we got chatting to a couple of them who were called Robyn and Lyn. Lyn was from Canberra and she kindly offered to put us up for a couple of nights. So whilst in Melbourne we gave her a ring and asked if was still ok to stay with her. We got the Greyhound bus from Melbourne and arrived in Canberra in the early evening - an hour late might I add! Lyn was there waiting for us and drove us back to her house. She had her niece Kyla staying with her who had just returned from living in London for a year teaching. So we got chatting and it turns out that she had been teaching at Minet Primary in Hayes and then ... read more

Hi All, Sorry about this, but I had not realised I had published the last blog incorrectly. I am at the airpor,t off again, but only for the day and had time whilst waiting for my flight to check after speaking to Jan last night who said to me, when will you finish the blog 27B. Anyway my apologies, but 27B is completed and there will be another for Christmas Island, as soon as I can get around to typing it. Andy... read more

Blog Day 794 It was Tuesday already and it was back to work, I was walking around the flat at 5.30 in a complete daze, trying to find this and that. I took Caroline her cup of tea and left it on her bedside Cabinet at 06:15 and she managed to grunt at me. We were sitting at our desks at 07.15 and we were not the first ones in, how sad is that? By the time we got to Thursday afternoon, the conundrum had been solved, the conundrum that was left at the end of my last blog. Over Christmas Caroline had said to me, she wonders who was going to be the first one to fly out of the two of us in the New Year. Well believe it or not, we both had ... read more

Well blog readers, on Wednesday 1st December, was the first official day of Australian summer time, and yep it was raining. In fact it has rained virtually constantly since last Sunday. When we came to Canberra back in January 2010, we noted that the dams were 47% full or there about and today as I set this blog out on Saturday the 4th December they are 100% full which is the first time in 30 years, so said the Television last night. Back in the UK we would get the odd spell of a Water shortage, throughout their 2 days of summer, but we never really appreciated just how precious this H20 stuff really is, certainly until we understood how it affected the growing of crops at our favourite farm, which was in drought for ... read more

We had a few hours more hours to spend in Canberra before catching the plane to Adelaide. We took in the Royal Rose Garden, the Old Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial. While learned quite a bit about the structure and history of the Australian government and Australia's participation in World Wars I and II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Actually got pretty tired walking around so left for the airport early. When we landed in Adelaide we found out the time there is 1/2 hour earlier than in Canberra! Had never heard of time changes other than in 1 hour increments. We found our lodgings uneventfully--a first!... read more

Today was a work day for Mike so Maureen was on her own (except for her little cricket friend in the hotel room). After walking to the post office I decided to take the plunge and drive myself to the National Museum of Australia. I spent most of my time in the "Original Australians" area learning about the culture and history of the Aboriginals. Their treatment was sadly similar to that of the American Indians. It was disturbing to learn how the indigenous children were often taken from their families as a sort of assimilation into white society with the "intention" of giving them a better life. In reality they were never accepted and were often treated very poorly. It was moving, however, to see their recent progress with the Australian government apologizing for the past, ... read more