Day Trip to Canberra: The Nation's Capital

 Since we arrived in Oz I have wanted to visit Canberra.  Why, most Aussie's might ask (they think it's the most boring place in the world)?  For one, it is the capital of Oz!  I love visiting the capitals of other places and always try to hit them up when visiting a new country, state or province.  Second, none of my friends who've traveled here have made it out there.  I wanted to see some of the less popular tourist destinations to add some unique stories to my trip.

Joel made a big stink about sharing the car, so yesterday morning I hoped on the bus ($55 round trip, probably cheaper then gas in Brutis) and had a nice air conditioned, three hour drive out.  Was probably better I didn't drive because I could take a nap and not stress about Brutis misbehaving.  However not having a car to store things in made me have to once again rely on a backpack to carry my stuff.  Here I am safely in Canberra with my pack and old faithful Lonely Planet guide. 

My original plan was to buy a local bus ticket for the day to get to all the sights.  But lucky for me the coach was heading to the National Gallery with some art lovers and took me too, dropping me off close to where I wanted to start.  Score and savings of bus fare!  The National Gallery is an art museum of sorts.  I went in and took a quick peek, got bored, and continued onward.

Aboriginal art

I walked up the Federation Mall towards the Old Parliament House.  This was built in 1927 and was used till the new one was finally complete in 1988.  Some background information on the city: in 1908 it was decided Canberra would be the capital as a compromise between rival cities Sydney and Melbourne.  Prior to this not much was going on here besides farming.  It was a planned city, built for government (and built by an American might I add).  Very similar layout to DC if you've been.  In 1913 it was given the name "Canberra" which means "the gathering place".  Once Parliament House was opened in 1927 the government moved in from it's previous site in Melbourne and opened shop. 

Old Parliament House.  It now houses the Museum of Australian Democracy

This is the Australian Coat of Arms.  It features a kangaroo and an emu.  They chose these animals not just because they can be found all over Oz, but because neither one can walk backwards, only forwards.  Australia wants their government to only move forward, hence their anthem "Advance Australia Fair".

 

From Old Parliament House you look north along the mall and see the National War Memorial.  These three places, along with the new Parliament Building, all line up with each other.  Sorry, not the greatest photo.

 

 

Heading south of Old Parliament is the new, current Parliament.  It's a bit strange looking compared to most government buildings.  It's actually built into a hill and from the front is supposedly the shape of a boomerang.  There's a giant flagpole on the roof.  It's inside and outside were designed with elements of Australia's landscape in mind.

Front entry

There are free guided tours so I decided to check it out.

House of Representatives.  Where current PM Julia Guillard hangs out.  It's this color green to represent the gum trees.

Interesting central hall

The Senate.  It's this color to represent the red earth at the countries core.

You can take an elevator up to the roof to check out views of the city.  Now you can better see that the roof is covered in grass!

From here I decided to walk to the War Memorial at the other side of the Mall.  There is a lake in the middle, Lake Burley Griffin, so I had to walk all the way around.  Got my exercise for the day!  The lake is man made, damned of from the Molongo River.  There is a giant jet fountain in the center, a memorial to Captain James Cook.  It pumps water up to 147 meters.  Pretty awesome! 

At the opposite end of the lake is the National Carillon.

To the west is the Telstra Tower, Canberra's lookout tower.  They have to join every other city and Oz and have one too!

I walked all the way around the lake, which ended up taking an hour in the hot sun.  Now here's the view of the mall looking south.

Now a walk down ANZAC Parade to the War Memorial Museum.  This is basically a carry over of the Mall.  It's lined with memorials from all the different wars Oz was involved in and all the soldiers etc who lost their lives in war.  At the end is the War Memorial.  I love looking through WWI and II memorabilia for whatever reason, so this was a must see for me.

Inside the courtyard of the museum.  Straight ahead is the eternal flame and in the dome is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Dome above

WWI Roll of Honor, lined with poppies

The museum was pretty interesting and I stayed for about and hour and a half.  I loved looking at the old artifacts and propaganda.  Interesting to learn about how the war affected Australia, as in school I've only learned about the North American and European side.  Tons of soldiers were taken into prisoner of war camps in WWII and most never returned.

All in all, I quite enjoyed Canberra.  It's not a huge city (pop 350 000) but it was easy to get around and quite pleasant looking.  Pretty well all the museums here are free and it's very pedestrian friendly.  One day was definitely enough here.  If you enjoy history and museums, this will be an enjoyable stop.

Milsons Point and The Harbour Bridge

Much cooler day today, only twenty two degrees.  After a leisurely sleep in I took a ferry out to Milson's Point.  I walked around Lavender Bay and checked out Wendy Whiteley's Secret Garden.  This was a derelict park for awhile, filled with remnants of old train cars.  Local artist Wendy Whiteley took it's clean up on as a personal project, turning it into a nicely landscaped garden, and it is now a relaxing spot for locals to sit and enjoy the view.

 From here I walked back to Milsons Point, the start of the norther approach to the Harbour Bridge.

This park sits on land where homes were demolished in the 1920s to make way for the bridge

 Onto the bridge.  Talk about building a bridge to connect Sydney's north and south sides began in 1815, however nothing got further then that till the 1910s.  There was a competition held between several design companies to decide what the bridge would look like.  In the end the "coat hanger" design won.  Building of the bridge didn't begin till 1923 and was completed in 1932 and employed many Sydneysiders during the Great Depression.  It was built to hold six lanes of traffic, tram and train lines and pedestrian pathways on both sides.  On March 19, 1932 the bridge was officially opened.  There was a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate.  The ribbon was to be cut by the NSW premier, however before he got a chance a random military guy rode in on horse and slashed it with a sword.  The ribbon was retied and the premier cut it again as planned.  In 1998 the BridgeClimb was opened and in 1993 New Years Eve fireworks began being shot off the bridge.  Other fun facts- Crocodile Dundee actor Paul Hogan worked as a painter on the bridge before becoming famous.  Can you imagine how long it takes to refresh the paint on this baby?

Little windy up here.  My self photo didn't turn out as well as planned.

Thanks random stranger for a bit better shot.

There are many of these locks along the bridge.  Couples will put them here to cement their love.

 

Speaking of bridges, I will be back at this one in ten days!

High Level Bridge, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

A Day at Bondi

I finally had a beach day at world famous Bondi!  I've been wanting to do this since we've got here but everytime I'd planned to go it's rained.  Today was supposed to be hot so I got up early to hit the beach before the sun got too strong.  I was at the beach before ten, rented an umbrella and set up camp. Going early and on a weekday is probably the best time to be at Bondi.  It wasn't too busy when I got there and I got a prime spot near the water, but after eleven thirty it was packed!

I'd been to see Bondi before but not actually enjoyed it's beach and I have to say it was pretty awesome.  And I even went in the water all the way!  It was really hot (42 degrees) and it felt so good to be in the cool water and have the waves crashing around me.

Bondi Bathers Pavillion

You can see the Iceberg Pool in the distance

There is a long wall between the beach and parkade that has been turned into an art wall.  It features memorials to the Bali bombings in 2002 in which many Aussies were killed.

The suburb of Bondi is not that impressive.  The main street is lined with palm trees and features some old buildings and colorful stores fronts, but once you get past that the neighborhood's not that exciting.  Sounds like there are some fancy homes in this area as well, but I didn't see any on the ride from the beach to the junction.  There are tons of young backpackers from all over the world who stay here.  When I first came to Sydney this is where everyone assumed I would be living.

Main strip of Bondi.  The apartments to the right are supposed to be "the best apartments in the world".  An Aussie would say that.

About twelve thirty the sun was getting too strong so I took the (airconditioned) bus and train home.  I got started on some packing (one suitcase packed to fifty pounds) and got most things ready for our garage sale on Saturday.

It's almost eleven pm now and it's still over thirty degrees outside.  We carried our mattress downstairs to sleep in front of the AC tonight because it's unbearably hot upstairs.  Who doesn't put an air conditioning unit upstairs where the hot air rises too???  The idiot who designed our place apparently.  Just another mark on the list of stupid ways built things.

My Paid Vacation

Freedom has never tasted so sweet!  Great start to my "holiday"by a beautiful day at the beach.  We went down to Bronte beach with Christina and Josh and were lucky enough to find a shady area.  Still love this beach- the water is a nice color and the sand white.  It isn't as soft as the Caribbean but one of my favorites in Oz.  It was super busy today.  We had to drive around for twenty minutes looking for parking and had a long walk from the car to the beach.

On the walk back to the car we walked past a cool ceremony, Waverly Cemetary.  It sits on a cliff and looks right over the water.  Tons of old graves (1877) with intricately designed tomb stones.  There are many prominent people buried here, such as a former Oz PM and some US civil war veterans.  Recently it was used for filming in the upcoming "Great Gatsby" movie.

 Yesterday I went to meet with Elaine for brunch then headed to the Rocks again.  I had to meet with someone who bought my fall coat on gumtree (score!) and wondered through an area I've not yet explored.  So many hidden little areas here.

 

Random installation art. 

On the way back to the train in Circular Quay I stopped at Customs House.  Formally a customs point, it is now part of the NSW library.  They have a miniature mock up of Sydney displayed under glass floor.  My pics didn't turn out well but it was pretty cool.

 

There's Circular Quay!

View from the second level

I started going through some stuff last night to start packing and came across all my mail.  I didn't realize I had received so much!  Thanks to all my penpals xoxo.