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Published: April 14th 2015
EPIC
Great place to stay in Canberra, close to everything at a reasonable price.
The rain ensured that we would wake up to a surprise; we were sitting in the only puddle in the parking area! Never mind, careful steps on tip-toe and the unit was moved.
We arrived at the Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) just after 1000, only to find that a Folk Festival had been held during the weekend and the tents and stages were still being dismantled. A phone call to the manager informed us that the grounds wouldn’t be opened to caravans until after 1300.
Several other caravans joined us in the adjoining carpark during the morning, camping here being cheaper and more convenient to the city centre than commercial parks.
One couple, Doug & Nikki, were most friendly and we spent some time talking to them. Doug is a teacher, Nikki a specialist nurse in orthopaedics. They came from a different direction than us and encountered heavy hail as well as rain last night.
As we had a couple of hours to kill, we unhitched the van and left it in their care whilst we went off to refuel, the warning light had been on for some
EPIC
We had several Western Australians camped near us including John & Ann next door. time and Rags was worried we might run out at an inopportune time. We also took the opportunity to drop into the Information Centre nearby to find out what was happening in Canberra in the next few days.
On our return, the caravan was sitting there by itself, a note attached to it telling us the grounds were open and that someone nearby was watching the van until we returned.
But then the heavens opened and the rain started! We drove into the park looking for where to park the caravan. We found it and Doug and Nikki eventually, but not before driving into dead-end alleys.
Setting up camp wasn’t easy with the rain increasing. The deluge of rain meant everything was fast becoming muddy and horrible! The first site next to Nikki and Doug was too small and not very flat. By the time we found one and had set up we were both soaked and a little grumpy. Judy saved the day by cooking a hot noodle dish to present to Rags when he came in cold and wet after setting up outside, and after this and putting on dry clothes all was well again.
National Museum of Australia
The most noticeable design feature of the Museum is the gigantic sculptural loop at the entrance. We have booked here for 7 days, something we have rarely done before, as we feel there is plenty to do and see here in Canberra, as well as slowing us down a bit.
Rags rang a mechanic recommended by a local uni tutor Judy knows and requested a quote to supply and fit a new caravan brake controller and a couple of other electrical fittings he wanted. The quote he gave us later was nearly $1K and when this was questioned he was rather non-committal. Rags mistrusted him and we rang another auto electrician we found on the Net.
This one seemed to know what he was talking about and even though he was over 25kms away we drove there to discuss the job. The two electricians there looked at what we had and what we wanted, discussed alternatives, showed Rags circuit diagrams and what they would be fitting and why. It all added up to be similar to what he knew and had researched so an appointment for the job was set for Thursday. The quote was about $250 less than the former quote.
A hot Thai chicken curry that Judy prepared, together with the
The Garden of Australian Dreams' at Aust Nat Museum
This design is based on a slice of central Australia. A concrete surface depicts a highly coloured, stylised 'map' of the area; take one step and you travel the equivalent of 100 kilometres across the real landmass of the country.
The words on the undulating surface of the map identify place and country – 'home' is repeated in 100 different languages. The lines that crisscross the map include surveyors' reference marks, road maps, the dingo fence, and Indigenous nation and language boundaries.
Great area for the kids to let of some energy! warmth of the air-con. made for a pleasant start to the evening. This was spent as most nights are, with Judy working and Rags writing the blog and going through the photos.
Wednesday 8th April 2015
A very slow start to the day as Judy had managed to get a dental appointment for 1000 at a nearby surgery to replace a filling she lost the other day. We were a little surprised at how easy it was to get in on such short notice but when we got the account we could see why they didn’t need too many customers. It cost $390 for a replacement filling which took about 30 minutes to do.
Both of us were a little disgruntled when we drove away but these things happen and we weren’t going to dwell on it too much. Off to the Australian National Museum where we spent the next 5 hours looking at exhibitions such as life in Australia during World War 1, which covered a variety of events and lives in Australia during this time. The first panel we saw was about May Gibbs and her Gum Nut babies! We
Saw Doctor's Wagon
This is a 'Saw Doctor's Wagon' created by Harold Wright. It was used to travel around rural Victoria, to small towns and properties in the Wangaratta/Albury-Wodonga region, where Wright would sharpen saws and other tools and fix other items as requested. also explored a timeline of the development of Australia from the early Aboriginal days to the present, Australian Landmarks (which included Rottnest). One innovative display was a multimedia experience presented in a novel rotating theatre, which told the story of Australia's history. All of these were extremely well done, and we especially enjoyed and appreciated the displays of then common articles and events of our childhood. Both of us could see this as a fantastic excursion experience if we were still working as teachers.
On our return to the campsite we put through a load of wash through the machine, both of us running low on socks and underwear. We put up the awning and ran rope underneath it so the van looked like a laundry from the outside.
Doug and Nikki joined us for some nibbles and pre-dinner drinks, this becoming somewhat extended to the point that when they left we were happy just to eat some leftovers and to watch TV. As it had become quite cold we had the airconditioner on all evening and afterwards crept into bed to continue watching.
Thursday 9th April 2015
Off early this
John Gale, father of Canberra
We found this statue on our walk around Queanbeyan. morning to Queanbeyan to get the Jeep’s electrics fixed! After dropping it off at about 0830 we drove the loan car to the nearby Riverside Caravan Park to catch up with Les & Kay as we had arranged. We were early but even so Kay had cooked pumpkin scones for morning tea, just because Rags had jokingly said that's what he expected.
Les wasn’t there, he had taken his car to Repco’s as his gearbox had run dry and it had been serviced by his local agency. His van a similar size to ours and he was using a Pajero to tow it.
After a tasty morning tea of scones, jam and cream with a nice coffee, Les returned and we all set off to explore the town. It was a busy place with all the major supermarkets as well as little shops and Op shops. The ladies had a good time, the guys resigned to waiting around.
On returning to the caravan park Rags rang to see if the car was ready and on hearing that it would take another 2 hours we drove off in the old Commodore loan car to the Outlet stores about
5kms out of town.
Here the ladies had a huge range of opportunities to window shop and fossick around. When we finally left they didn’t leave empty-handed but still only had a pair of shoes each and top for Kay.
The car was finally finished, several hundred dollars more than expected, but at least we should now have a safer unit with good braking, lights, and the auxiliary batteries charging. The work done by the original mob in Darwin left a lot to be desired!
Back at the van another load of wash was put through the machine and the electrics from the car tested. We are disappointed that the fridge still doesn’t work on 12 volts, but at least we know it’s not due to the car. We’ll have to take up the matter with the Dometic dealer.
Friday 10th April 2015 Rags has worked out why the fridge wasn’t working, and by adding a wire to the circuit he now has it working as it should. The Dometic diagrams and instructions aren’t very clear but now the fridge works on 240v, 12v and gas in that
Soldier
Commemorative images made of mosaic tiles in the memorial building. order of preference. Not only that, it switches over automatically so Rags doesn’t have to get down on his hands and knees to switch it over as he had to do with the old van.
We were at the War Memorial at 1030 just after it opened. We were fortunate to be in time for a tour of the World War 2 area as we had no idea where to begin! This museum was far more extensive than we had imagined and we spent the rest of the day exploring it, looking at the displays of Australia’s involvement in conflict from the early days of settlement when we were involved in the Boer war in South Africa, through to the present days in Afghanistan.
The horror of all these wars, whether in Europe, Africa, Korea, Malaysia, Iraq or Afghanistan is certainly brought home to you through the creative displays and at times we both felt the emotions of losing so many young men in the wars. The Memorial serves to commemorate the sacrifice of Australians who died in war. It helps Australians to remember, interpret and understand the Australian experience of war and its ongoing impact on Australia
and her people.
We stayed right to the end, because at the end of the day the Memorial farewells visitors with its moving Last Post Ceremony. The ceremony begins with the singing of the Australian National Anthem. Visitors and family of the soldier chosen to be honoured that day, lay wreaths and floral tributes beside the Pool of Reflection. The Roll of Honour lists the names of more than 102,000 Australians who gave their lives in war. At each ceremony the story behind one of these names is told. The ceremony ends with the sounding of the Last Post. We waited with Les and Kay who we had kept running into throughout the day. They leave tomorrow so we most probably won't see them again.
Back at the caravan park we joined with a friendly group of mainly fellow West Aussies for a drink and chat. This lasted for a couple of hours and we had only just arrived back at the van and begun to clear away our earlier shopping and clean washing when there was a knock on the door. Bob Nankiville, a third cousin once removed, was there. He saw on Facebook that we were
in Canberra and rode through the camp on his 3 wheeler electric bike earlier in the day and saw the car. He then came around to meet us. Nice guy and we admired his detective skills in finding us. A pleasant couple of ours passed as we chatted and enjoyed a wine or two.
Saturday 11th April 2015
A Farmer’s Market is held in the EPIC park on Saturday mornings commencing at 0700. We were a little later than that but even so we managed to buy enough fruit and vegetables, plus some meat, to last us for several days. Nothing was overly cheap but the atmosphere was such that we got onto the spirit and enjoyed ourselves.
Today the visit was Parliament House, a magnificent structure completed in 1988. Both of us have been to Canberra before but the whole structure was not complete at either visit.
We wandered around this magnificent building which integrates works of art into its design for over 3 hours, visiting the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the halls attached to them and seeing the displays of portraits of past Prime Ministers. One
thing that was particularly interesting was a video of the conception and building of this building which gave us an insight into the many symbols integrated into the building and helped us know what to look for! After walking on the roof and admiring the view, we left and made our way down to Lake Burley Griffin.
A walk along the banks in front of Parliament House was most pleasant, the weather being still and comfortably warm. We looked at the plaques of all the Australians of the Year displayed along here, questioning the selection criteria used to choose them when we know some later were imprisoned for different crimes.
The rest of the afternoon was spent back at the van, taking it easy for once. Some time after 1800 John, our neighbour, invited us in for drinks with the same group we were with last night. This continued until 2000 after which we returned to the van and some soup we had prepared earlier in our Thermomix.
Sunday 12th April 2015 Another market visit this morning but this time both of us enjoyed the stalls and the exhibits at the
U.S.A. Memorial
This memorial set on one of the radii from Parliament House was donated by the Americans. The locals have nicknamed it the "chicken on a stick" memorial. Old Bus Depot Markets. These are held every Sunday in the suburb of Kingston. The venue is an old bus depot with a huge tin shed being the main feature as well as having the nearby old Kingston Powerhouse here, which is now the Canberra Glassworks.
The former had the usual stalls as well as a large eating area and another area, which specialised in home crafts, jewellery making and art works. Judy thought the range and creative ideas were better than the usual markets and included upcycled coffee pods, home coloured yarn, knitting, art works etc.
The Glassworks is set up for artists to make all sorts of designs in glass, as well as running classes for people who wish to try their hand at the craft. From an upstairs balcony we could watch two people being shown the intricacies of shaping molten glass into a paperweight.
The area across the road from the markets is quite new, with blocks of expensive looking apartments on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin or besides man-made canals. This is known as the Kingston Foreshore. Cafes, bars and small businesses lined the bottom floor, with the living units above
The Old Bus Depot
This record paraphernalia was one of the more unusual stalls. them. As it was a beautiful, cloud-free morning with little wind it was very pleasant to be there, with a cold wind blowing across the lake it may have been a different matter!
We drove into the city centre from there and after ascertaining where Judy was to meet a uni tutor who lives in Canberra in an hour’s time; we stopped at a café advertising dim sum lunches.
This was an upmarket café, with a big kitchen attached, and we had some interesting dishes to try. It had little resemblance to any Asian dim sum café we had ever been to but it was interesting.
Whilst Judy had a hot Belgian chocolate with her friend, Rags wandered around the huge Canberra Centre, managing to get himself totally lost when he exited at a different spot to where he had entered. Eventually he found the café where he had left Judy and using that as a marker he continued exploring. Of course, Judy insisted on visiting Canberra Centre to see it for herself! On the bottom floor we found Aldi's so left with only a few groceries.
As we left to return to our van we
found that the sky had clouded over and the rain had commenced. As Judy had to do some work, Rags joined her and soon had the blog up to date.
Monday 13th April 2015 This morning we went to the Australian Mint to see how our coins are made. We both thought we'd been here before but changed our minds when we saw the building! The Mint was set up with the Public in mind there being plenty of viewing places, informative displays on coin history, interactive touch screens as well as guides who explained what was being done.
We saw how the blank, circular pieces were brought into the process by a robotic lifter, how the coins were passed through a checking area and then stamped into coins. These coins were then packaged into small containers and then put into boxes before being stored. All this was done robotically.
In another part of the Mint, individuals were actually stamping out coins quite slowly (the other section churning out millions per day). These were the coins rated as “fine”, to be sold to collectors. Each coin is stamped at least 4
Australian Mint
These blanks about to be made into $1 coins times, checked for flaws, then cleaned and polished before being sealed in plastic for storage. As with everything we've seen in Canberra it was all well presented and innovative.
From here we set our GPS to the shortest route to Queanbeyan as Rags wanted to collect some cash as we had paid for our trailer plug a second time and Tauntons had agreed to refund this amount (as they should - using our plug and charging us for it!) Setting the GPS for the shortest route meant it took us through some interesting back streets and we noticed how wonderfully treed they were. We saw a sign to another lookout over Canberra, the Red Hill Lookout, on the way so this was a small diversion. Sign boards here explained that British 'Garden city' principles had inspired the residential planning of Canberra from the early 1920's. "Modest but well-designed single-storey houses were built on large allotments in generous garden settings, with wide verges and large shady trees."
A quick stop on the way back at the Outlet stores saw Rags with a new pair of jeans; he'd decided that he was tired of losing things through the holey pocket
in his other pair!
Bob Nankivell had told us it was worth driving through Duntroon, the Army military college so we only drove into the base for a short distance, not certain whether we should be there at all. After being stopped to allow a contingent of men, all armed with what looked like automatic rifles, to cross in front of us before they assembled in a side road, we turned around and left the base.
Black Mountain, with the Telstra Tower was our next destination, and here we had uninterrupted views over Canberra. The attractiveness of the city was obvious from this vantage. Many photos were taken before we continued on to our campsite. We know when enough sightseeing is enough! Rags says he is Canberra'd out although Judy could find more she'd like to do here...
The evening commenced with the usual pre-dinner get-together with our new-found W.A. friends, before retiring for to our respective vans for dinner. We enjoyed John and Ann’s company and hope to keep in touch.
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Mum
non-member comment
Canberra
Hi Judy and Rags. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this Blog tonight. It sounds like you really enjoyed Canberra !! The Old Bus Depot sounds like the type of place I would be quite happy to investigate !! Glad to hear that you have had the work done on the car and van.Money you probably didn't want to spend but well worth it. Who looked after your Tooth Jude? Ned Kelly ? Or one of his Rellies ? What a rip off !! Thanks for the Birthday call. I received a lot of cards and a lot of Phone calls. I just feel a lot older now !! No real news from me, so i'm off to bed. Looking forward to your next Blog, love Mum.xx