Blogs from Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 8

The Old Parliament House (see previous entry), an understated but impressive building, had served as the home of the Federal Government from 1927 to 1988, when the new Parliament was completed. By that time more than 3,000 people were packed into a building only meant for a few hundred to work in. I bet they were thrilled with their new premises – no more sitting on each others’ laps! Inside the Parliament we went through the two Chambers- Upper (Senate) and Lower (House of Representatives), which were very imposing but decorated with lighter red and green than I had realised. I had expected them to be like the Melbourne ones, following the strong British Parliament colours, but they were more subdued and had eucalyptus leaves throughout the carpet instead of oak leaves. Then we saw the ... read more

Thursday 6th February, 2014. Canberra, ACT, Australia After breakfast we caught a bus (we plumped for the all day ticket) to the National Library of Australia where they had an exhibition called Mapping Our World. We managed to get some tickets for entry in one hours time. We passed this hour by visiting the Library's Treasures Gallery. This gallery holds all kinds of treasures including early maps and atlases, books, manuscripts, paintings, drawings and photographs. Some of the more notable exhibits include Captain Cook's handwritten journal documenting the voyage of the Endeavour, Australia's earliest existing printed document which is a playbill avertising an evening's entertainment at Sydney's first theatre, The Gallipoli Letter which is a 28 page letter written by journalist Keith Murdoch which helped establish the notion of Gallipoi as both a disaster and... read more

Well what can i say about Canberra???? Canberra is the capital city of Australia with a population of 367,000, it is Australias largest inland city and the eighth largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280km south-west of Sydney, and 660km north-east of Melbourne. A resident of canberra is known as a Canberran. The site of canberra was selected for the location of the nations capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australi's two largest cities. It is unusual among australian cities', being an entirely planned city outside of any state, similar to the American federal district of Columbia. As the seat of the government of Australia, Canberra is the site of Parliament House, High Court and numerous government departments and agencies. ... read more

I am always sad when I leave my mother in Ireland and again some tears were shed as we made our way to Singapore and then to home. I was surprised at the extent of development in Singapore but Helen had told me about the efficient public transport system- SMRT- and (as usual) she was right - it was the most efficient of all systems we had encountered across over 10 major cities ( although Washington Dc was pretty god as well) - we got a two day pass for $S 16 and had a smart card style access to trains, light rail and buses across the City- very good coverage. We visited the Jerong Bird Show, the National Orchid Garden, Sentosa Island and Mount baker National Park and look out, the Gardens at the Bay, ... read more

Hi All Just to update you - I have converted my Travel Blog from Private to Public as several people could not register with their email addresses. Not all addresses are accepted for some reason. Anyway - now public. This time next Sunday I will be in the air on the way to Singapore. Charlie... read more