Having spent a couple of days back in Sydney shopping, washing, running errands and generally getting Joanna ready for a return to work, we are now off to Canberra.
Chris has always been interested in visiting and with an invitation to stay with Paige who once worked with him in London on the way, the trip was planned.
We thought we’d take the coastal road and a slightly more direct route back to vary the journey and began by picking up a hire car from No Birds, our go to hire place in Sydney. We turned on goggle maps to find our way out of the city and started by going round in circles, largely because it looked like we were being directed into a parking garage, only to find this was the entrance to the Eastern Distributor tunnel that we needed!
We took the slow road, along the coast, through national forest, stopping at Bald Hill Lookout where there was a bit of a drama as a pair of tandem hang gliders had collided with the cliff and were being rescued, but that didn’t stop others waiting for their turn.
Next was the Sea Cliff Bridge, opened in 2005 as the previous road was regularly damaged by rockfalls, and the new bridge stands safely away from the cliff. A footpath runs its length and we walked a short way to take a picture.
We weren’t going to stop in Wollongong, but I caught sight of a lighthouse and we went to investigate and actually found two lighthouses! We were also lured by the ice cream van and amazed by the choice of flavouring you could have your ice cream covered in. It had to be done, we went for chocolate and nut, with the melted chocolate setting quickly on the cold ice cream to make a crunchy coating like a choc ice – yummo!
Kiama also has a lighthouse, but it’s main claim to fame is the blowhole where the waves enter a rocky tunnel and send a plume of spray up into the air.
We stopped in a little cafe for a sandwich and a drink, and I had Kombucha, a soft drink made from fermented black tea found everywhere in Australia although barely heard of at home. It reminded me of Kvass, a similar fermented drink we had in Russia last year and thought how nice it was to find tasty soft drinks that are not full of fruit and sugar. It also has a variety of health claims, but I just chose it for the taste!
We turned inland and at one point I turned my head and saw a huge group of kangaroos under a tree in the shade. We turned round and went back and got one picture of them from a distance then tried to get a bit closer and got another before a lorry came down the road and honked its horn, dispersing the roos that went bouncing across the grass.
Kangaroos are less popular at our next destination. Paige lives with her husband Rod and children Kit and Abigail on Kittabee Farm where she grows vegetables and keeps chickens and bees, while Tigger the dog keeps the roos at bay! We chatted over tea and scones then took a tour round the farm and heard all the trials and tribulations of such an undertaking. We played French cricket, chatted some more over a delicious dinner and some wine and stayed the night in their guest cabin which was very comfy.
After breakfast, we drove an hour or so to Canberra and were lucky enough to be able to check in to Forrest Motel even though it was early.
We walked from here, through a swathe of parkland towards Parliament House.
On the way we found a map explaining the design of the city, with the central parliament and concentric roads radiating outwards bisected by avenues leading to the major cities. The city was designed by Walter Burley Griffin, a landscape architect from Chicago who won the international competition and construction began in 1913 although not in earnest until 1958 due to two world wars and the depression.
The new Parliament was built in 1988 and is pretty imposing.
Inside, the marble columns represent a eucalyptus forest …
… and there is a great hall with a tapestry at the end with a hidden cockatoo between the trees.
There are also blue and red chambers for the House of Representatives and the Senate and a copy of the Magna Carta.
There was a good view from the roof, but it was obstructed by scaffolding to repair the skylights although we caught a glimpse of the 140m high Captain Cook water jet in the 11km wide Lake Burley Griffin. We headed down Federation towards the Old Parliament building.
This now houses a museum where we had a sandwich on the terrace.
We could just see Lake Burley Griffin then Anzac Parade beyond leading to the War Memorial and Mount Ainslie behind.
There was also the remains of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy which has been here on and off since 1972.
We took a turn round the National Gallery and saw the series of paintings by Sidney Nolan telling the life and times of the famous bushranger Ned Kelly who was best-known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour. Here he is defiant, killing a constable, in the final shootout with police and at his trial.
There was quite a bit of Aboriginal art too, but I found the paintings from the Hermannsburg School more interesting. Albert Namatjira then several other Aboriginal artists developed richly detailed, Western art-influenced watercolours of the outback which were quite different from the abstract designs and symbols of traditional Aboriginal art.
The afternoon had clouded over as we looked over the lake to the National Carillion which had been playing earlier.
We walked back to the hotel along a different route and were stuck by how much of a showcase Canberra is, with wide avenues of impersonal buildings, reminiscent of an British Garden City, and while it is walkable, we clocked up 7 miles sightseeing.
There are also lots of kangaroos and emus!
In the evening we wandered down to Manuka, a local neighbourhood with a buzz of restaurants including Belluci where we had great pasta and pizza.
After breakfast in Manuka, we drove round the Embassy area, where countries were encouraged to build their embassies in their national style and here is a selection of the most interesting.
Then we headed to the Australian War Memorial which is rather more than just a memorial, in fact it is a museum to Australia’s contribution to both world wars and more recent conflicts. It manages to inform and commemorate without glorifying war which is no mean feat and presents everything in a very accessible manner.
We had grand ideas to climbing Mount Ainslie but in the end, drove to the top instead and saw the Captain Cook water jet spurting up from the lake, with Parliament in the distance to the left and the Civic centre of Canberra to the right.
We took the main highway back to Sydney, stopping just once at Goulburn to see the Big Merino, a 15m concrete ram called Rambo by the locals, and containing a gift shop.
You can even climb to the top and look out through the Merino’s eyes to view the local area, although the best view I could see was the local Caltex garage!
The drive via the main highway was just a couple of hours and before long we were back in Sydney.
It was good to see Canberra which may be the capital by design but the heart of Australia seems to beat far closer to Sydney Harbour.
Off Travelling Together 