Canberra, ACT - The Nation's Capital

Hey Blog Fans!

Well today we landed in Canberra (derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'meeting place'), Australia's capital city. I always love hearing about the story of the birth of this city, with it being so artificial and planned. They decided on the Yass-Camberra region as the area for the new federal capital, as it was in the middle of Melbourne and Sydney (and they couldn't decide on neither Melbourne nor Sydney as the new capital). Then in 1912 they held an international competition for someone to design the city, which was won by Walter Burley Griffin of Illinois, USA. He envisioned a capital with three corners; one for parliament, one for military establishments, and the other for commerce. A lake fashioned from the Molongo River would lie across the middle, and opposite the top corner of the triangle would be an avenue for the War Memorial. Unfortunately, Burley Griffin came to loggerheads with his bosses over the development of the city and did not renew his contact, leaving his city to be eventually finished without his influence.

Today we cruised in and hopped off at our accommodation. Our 'hostel' is a bit of a dive really - the room is nice enough but the kitchen is fou, and from the outside it looks like a cheap hotel (it actually has HOTEL in squares down the side of it!). We set out to have a mooch around the shopping area near our hostel, rang and booked Wake Up Hostel in Sydney, then caught the bus a short way to the Australian War Memorial. This building is situated at the top of an extremely grand avenue called Anzac Parade (very whitehouse-esque), and is a fitting tribute to those who died at war. Just out of interest, I scanned the honours list for WW2 and found at least 24 Pages amongst the thousands of names. And that was just WW2 - there was another list just as big for WW1, and then the Korean War, Vietnam War, and all the other post WW2 conflicts. Kinda brings it home to you.

Along Anzac Parade there were several memorials for all the post WW2 conflicts such as Vietnam, Korea, Greece, an others commemorating the different services like the serving nurses, RAAF, the Australian Navy and so forth. All of these were immensely thoughtful, symbolic and inspiring - all with different parts of their designs having meanings or representing something.

Next we walked through the Commonwealth Gardens and along Lake Burley Griffin (named after old Walter) to the National Capital Exhibition. This centre is an educational project which documents Canberra's beginning and development. Amongst its displays was a theatrette showing a short film of comments from Australian people about the city. This was highly amusing - especially the ones who slated the place! ("I've never been there... I'll never go!", "It's boring!"). There was also a model of the city incorporated with a laser show which highlighted all the main buildings, parks and other attractions for you.

Outside the National Capital Exhibition stands a large fountain of water sprayed upwards by about 30-40m, called the Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet. It's pretty cool, but it had a grey tinge to it today and I'm not sure that's normal.

Anyway, Me and Claire going to venture back into 'Smokey Joes Dodgy Motel' momentarily and utilise our pizza bases that we've just bought from 'Supabarn'. The plan for tomorrow is to visit the New and Old Parliament Houses, stroll down Adelaide Avenue and take a look at the embassy buildings, and then pack in a gallery or museum or two if we have time. We leave for Sydney on Wednesday, and then set off for home the following Monday, arriving on Wednesday 6th April. I can't believe we fly into Osaka, Japan a week today - that is immensely scary - let alone be home in 9 days. Anyhoo, the point of the matter is we only have tomorrow and Wednesday morning in Canberra so we're making the most of our time here.

Our plans for Sydney are the Harbour Bridge Climb (www.bridgeclimb.com.au) and the Sky Tower on Thursday, the Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk (finishing at Coogee Fish and Chip Shop as recommended by Becky!), Luna Park, and muchos present and souvenir shopping! And hopefully whatever else we can fit in that we didn't do last time. It's sad that it's getting so close to the end now, but I'm really excited about coming home to see everyone too. It's a strange time!