Canberra Trip

Off to the Capitol we go!! Maria and Ian thought it would be good for us to see Canberra for a couple days, as it is an important part of the nation. It was a four hour drive from Avoca which went by fairly quickly and enjoyably. A big reason for this is the company I am with…Ian is an amazing driver, Maria is an excellent navigator and conversationalist and Katie is, well she’s just a fabulous backseat travel buddy. We actually have FUN while driving around Oz and get to chat or just look out the window and the ever-changing landscapes outside.

First stop in Canberra was the Visitor Centre, where we each picked out a brochure for an activity we wanted to do while there. Katie and I picked out The Mint, Botanical Gardens and walking around the City Centre. We started off the afternoon having a picnic lunch then we headed to the Parliament building. Just outside, the ground had granite stones that formed a pattern and represented the dirt of the outback. It was also of Aboriginal significance with its circular shape representing a welcome to the area.

We went through some metal detectors and entered the beautiful building. There were beams of green marble which represented gum tree forests of Australia, and white marble with black limestone floors in a unique pattern.

The marble was from Italy because they wanted the strongest material which had more longevity than the material from Australia. We explored a bit on our own and found the Magna Carter, which is similar to our U.S Constitution, then went on to the photographs of the House of Reps and Senate. Maria and I were commenting on how ‘real’ Aussies look, and decided it’s because there’s much less plastic surgery here than in America. We took advantage of the next guided tour and learned about the unique architectural aspects of the building. One of my favorite parts was how they had a skylight or window in every room and hallway of the building, and when you stand on one end of the hallway you can see outside because the windows and glass doors are aligned that way.

I’m glad we did the tour because we would have walked right past many of the features or paintings and not have known why they were significant. For instance, when I walked in the building I noticed how many clocks there were in just a few meters of sight. We learned there were 2,500 clocks inside the Parliament and they were essential due to their blinking red and green lights on the face of the clocks. When the Senate would be in session, the blinking light meant they had exactly four minutes to get back in the room and be seated. If they were a moment late, the doors shut and they were locked out, therefore not being able to vote on a bill. This mattered a lot to each party because there are so few people per state, therefore one or two extra people and their votes really matter.

I enjoyed learning about the many grand paintings inside the building, and what the content was. Many of them were original paintings of Senate in session or Parliament ceremonies and very detailed accounts of the time: ladies in fancy hats and gloves, a few members dozing off, the Queen speaking, and so on.

They had ownership of a massive painting from 1901 that displayed one of the first court sessions, and it originally belonged to a London museum but couldn’t adequately take care of the substantial piece of artwork.

The tour ended and we walked around admiring more of the interior, then went on the lift to the roof. You could see most of Canberra and all of the buildings, houses, trees and churches of the city centre. It looked and felt like a mid west state with the changing autumn leaves and brisk weather. Maria pointed out the church that was the same one in the painting of Canberra before the capitol buildings were built. From the roof, you could also see the Old Parliament building, which was strategically below the new building in elevation of the town.

After many pictures and taking in the views, we left the Parliament building and walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Since it is autumn, only some of the roses were still in bloom, but the grounds were still a beautiful piece of nature in the midst of the city. Canberra has the most cockatoos I’ve seen in any city of Australia, and they hang out along the roads of parks and in trees all around the city. After some more walking and observing the lifestyle of “important government people”, we headed back to the car and drove to our accommodation. We were staying at the Canberra Motor Village for one night, which is the place that kids and families will stay for sports tournaments or other events. 

It truly felt like a campground as we entered our little cabin that was perfect for a family with kids…so perfect for us!! J There were bunk beds, a bathroom, a kitchen and an open room for the parents. Oh, and most importantly, a HEATER. After unpacking some things, we headed out for dinner on the town. Although we originally were thinking pizza for dinner, we ended up walking around mini-China town and town and saw a bright, upbeat looking restaurant called Two Sisters. It was a family owned (by two sisters) place and quite small on the inside. There was a party of about 25 professional-looking people, and they took up a third of the seating area. As we looked around, we noted over six Buddhas around the interior of the place and decided it was a little overkill. There were over a dozen white, flower-pedal looking chandeliers that I recognized from IKEA.  We each ordered something to share with the table, so we ended up with Pad Thai, Garlic Chicken with spicy vegetables, Satay Chicken, fried rice and coconut soup. AMAZING meal and so full of fun flavours. I’ve noticed how much more I actually enjoy my food when it is slightly different than just a cheeseburger and fries. It takes more time to think about the flavours and textures of unique tasting food, and that has been highly enjoyable for me. For dessert we had fried ice cream because Katie had never tried it before. It was of course, delicious.

After dinner, we went to Woolworths (that I continue to call Woolsworth), and got some picnic food for tomorrow’s lunch. We got back to our little motor home and fell into a deep slumber thanks for the rain’s peaceful noise…well, it was probably the metal contracting from the heating and cooling of the outside, but it sounded like rain on a tin roof, so it put me right to sleep. I was grateful to have thick blankets because the temperature went down to –3 degrees C which is 26 degrees F. 

 

The next morning, we got up and showered. Well, Maria and Katie took apparently very hot showers and raved about the instantly warm water. It was my turn and I waited a minute for the water to run, and it just seemed to get colder. A while longer, and the water was still ice cold. Hmmm maybe I’m just being a baby and this is what the consider a pleasant temperature for a shower, I thought. I figured we just ran out of warm water in the tank, but Maria found out the pilot light had gone out. In Australia, they use an instantly heated water system, where they have coils that heat up the water as it runs through the faucet or shower head, so you never run out of warm water. I wonder why America doesn’t typically use that, especially in houses with many kids in it, and where warm water runs out fairly easily. Anyone know?

Our first stop of the day was the Australian Mint, where they make all the coins (not paper notes). Although we didn’t take a tour around this place, we learned so much from all the displays and being able to observe the process at work. It seems like it may be a somewhat boring place, but I thought it was fascinating. It boggles my mind how metal becomes suddenly worth a value due to a design being stamped on it. I really enjoyed how they showed the original sketches for the coin faces, and explained why they were or weren’t chosen for a particular coin.

In 1966 Australia switched from pence and shillings to dollars, cents and a decimal system overall. They had a long process of deciding upon which cent pieces should be for what value, and had to change the 50 cent piece to have angled edges because people got it easily confused with the 20 cent piece. We were able to peer down and observe the machines and robots at work, counting, weighing and sorting the millions of coins. In fact, if they wanted to, this Mint could produce 2.2 million coins every day. A fun part of visiting here is that I had an “aha” moment. They talked a lot about the coins being in absolutely perfect, new, flawless condition, and I realized that’s where the expression “in mint condition” must come from!

After Ian made his very own $1 coin, we headed off to our next destination: The National Archives. There was a room that described the process of finding your ancestry and records for family lineage, and talked about other people’s stories and findings which was really interesting. I’ve never put much thought into my ancestors or had interest for history, but I realized how neat it would be to find out about the people who are responsible for my existence. There was an Antarctica exhibit of scientists who went to the frozen pole to research different aspects of the area. It was a really interesting exhibit and very interactive, which I enjoyed a lot. My favorite part was listening to a tape recorder of ice breaking or a bunch of seals in the near distance.

Next we checked out the Canberra Glassworks, where you can see people creating blown glass. Although no one was demonstrating it when we got there, we had fun just looking at all the works on display. Quite impressive.

It was lunch time so we got our picnic food and headed to the park by a lake. Katie and I sat on the water’s edge and a black swan swam from across the lake and came within a meter of us. It was so elegant and poised, then all of a sudden made a really bizarre sound. It was opposite of what I’d expect from that animal. A flock of white birds surrounded us (and the food) so we finished up and headed to our next location. We briefly stopped at the Australian-American Memorial which was a gift from Queen Elizabeth to America after WWII and is a tall beam with an eagle on top of it. Next we went to the War Memorial Museum, mainly because there was a special exhibit of Nurses in war. It was so amazing to see the actual letters written from nurses addressed to the loved ones of soldiers about their health conditions. I thought about my sister and how I’m really glad she didn’t decide to go into military nursing because it is a whole different type of care.

Our last stop before leaving Canberra was the Botanical Gardens, where was a perfect way to end the afternoon. We took the 45 minute walk around the flora and I realized how much I’ll miss parts of Australia like eucalyptus forests and frangipani flowers.

It felt good to walk a little before sitting in the car for another 4 hours back to Avoca. We got back and said goodnight before 10 because we were pretty tired from the exciting and mentally stimulating trip! I’m so glad Maria thought of the idea to take us there, because most people who came here for uni never got a chance to visit the capitol.