Good to Go

It made a pleasant change to wake up to clear bright blue skis this morning after all the rain in Sydney. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Sydney but it was a little soggy and we would have enjoyed it much more had the weather had been fine. I would have liked to have walked barefoot on Bondi beach and visited Manley island, but never mind. I always say I will never return to a city once I have visited it, but Phil says “never say never” so knows maybe one day. Anyway, I diverse, back to Canberra we go. We had a little drive around late yesterday to get our bearings but didn’t get time to get a feel for the place because we were tired after the drive from Sydney and wanted to get an early night. But as I said, the weather was lovely and we were keen to get in the car. The complimentary breakfast was good, the restaurant was busy and I think they were slightly understaffed but we were soon fed and watered and out the door. Phil had to sort out the internet connection because we had a few things that needed sorting so it was nearly 11 o’clock before we left the hotel. We headed to the city hill because we wanted to see Parliament House and do the cultural Parliament square walk which I’d seen in the Lonely Planet book.

In retrospect, it was probably wasn’t the best idea to walk 5 or 6 kms in the midday heat, but determined not to be beaten, we persevered. We started out at the focus of the triangle, Parliament House on Capital Hill. Phil had especially wanted to see the art gallery but because we were late starting out, the queues were gigantic. Phil doesn’t do queues so in the end we didn’t get to see the art, and again, because of the crowds, we also didn’t get to see inside any of the attractions. Still, no worries, it was a lovely walk for a while along the Lake Burley Griffin and we saw the grand high commission buildings, the Old Parliament House, the National Library and the High Court of Australia plus a few more monumental buildings along the way.

It was baking hot by the time we got back to the car and we decided to head to the Black Mountain Tower. It was a gentle drive up the mountain and it was well worth the 7 dollar fee to go up to the outside viewing area. Formidable views across the city of Canberra and I was glad we went. Phil was keen to go to the National Museum of Australia but I was thirsty and hungry. We were tempted to go the Hyatt for lunch but in the end we went back to our hotel for lunch in the beer garden because the menu was good and it was inexpensive. We’d have probably paid more for lunch at The Hyatt than we’ve paid for our room at Olims so probably a wise choice.

Phil had the house special steak and I had fish and chips. I was sorely tempted to go for the chicken and avocado salad but I can never choose anything healthy when I’m famished. Still neither of us was unhappy with our choice and both enjoyed our lunch. The idea was to get back in the car and go and visit the museum but it was really hot by this time so we decided to ditch the guidebook and walk into the civic area of Canberra. It wasn’t far away, only a 10 minute walk and we were soon in the Canberra Centre. It was quiet and some of the shops weren’t open. The plan wasn’t to shop, but to sit outside a café and do some people watching. Trouble was, there weren’t many people to watch, the place was fairly deserted. I questioned the concierge about this when we got back and he said that most of the locals, head either out to Sydney or to the coast.

I think the many hours of driving have caught up with Phil and he took to the double bed with his book as soon as we got back to the hotel. It was too warm for him even to sit on the balcony. Hark at us pair, we moan about the lousy weather and as soon as it comes hot, we complain! Typical Brits, I hear you say to yourself! I read in the Australian Daily Telegraph today that the bad weather is all down to the cyclone. The headline read “Drought and Floods”. The cyclone has swirled the country hitting the west quite hard and causing many floods. Apparently there has hardly been any rainfall over the winter in Oz so the floods have made the farmers very happy.

Canberra is a city with wide sprawling roads and is fairly spread out. I like it; it’s gentle and so much more relaxed compared to Sydney & Melbourne. Without going into all the history stuff (mainly because I don’t know it) to me, Canberra feels like its a place to showcase Australia History, architecture and symbolises her identity and aspirations as a modern nation. I’m sure there are loads of things that we have missed but after only a 2 day visit, I feel that I’ve got the gist of the place.

This morning Phil phoned JetStar and brought forward our flight from Melbourne to Brisbane. On our original schedule we were booked to fly to Brisbane on the 10th Jan but now we are flying out on the 4th January instead. Or at least we think we are, we haven’t received the email confirmation even though Phil has phoned twice to chase. It’s costing more than we wanted to pay, but we’ve decided it’s worth it. Six weeks in Victoria has been a couple of weeks too long and we feel it’s time to leave town. Phil had been looking at flights so we can visit our friends on the gold coast but it’s worked out slightly cheaper to fly to Brisbane and then hire a car and drive the 3 hour journey to see them. I suggested we hire a campervan but Phil isn’t keen and actually I guess it will be fairly expensive. I think Phil remembers the last time we hired a campervan and it was a bad experience, or nightmare from hell as Phil would recall!

Tomorrow we leave Canberra and are heading back towards Melbourne, driving for a few hours on the highway and then getting back on the coastal road. We’re may do it over a couple of days with only one overnighter. I’m not sure; we’ll go with the flow I guess. I’m pretty certain if it’s boiling hot when we get to the coast road then the temptation will be to book a motel and head to the beach. We’ll see. The only fly in the ointment with that idea is that Phil has been sniffing all day and I suspect he is coming down with a cold. Not great when we have such a long road ahead. Other than that, we’re good to go.