Canberra
Trip Start
Unknown
1
18
37
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Monday, December 27, 2010
Canberra 27th -30th December 2010
I arrived to a sun drenched Canberra. The YHA Central was great, with decent facilities and offered a local guided walk that they had only just started the previous week, which was proving very popular. We walked through the park to a Bonsai exhibition, then passed several small war memorials/art dedicated to fallen soldiers and to other contries that Australia has collaborated with in wars. We then called in on the oldest pub in Canberra, built around the 1930's! I then walked around possibly the most impressive war memorial/museum in the world. It was breathtaking and very touching, featuring the names of most of those lost in both the first and second world wars (running into hundreds of thousands) which descimated the population at the time and there is still ill feeling today about how the British used their empire around the globe to fight its battles, without caring what happened to the men or women, and putting them in situations that they would not allow their own citizens to face. This seems to be a thread running through my journey after my visit to Kanchenaburi in Thailand.
The next day, I went cycling with some German girls and had a great day out. We visited a few local buildings of importance, including Parliament House, where we tied up the cycles and walked around the corridors of power and ate our lunch on the grass roof! We then cycled around a couple of the large lakes in the centre of Canberra. It has a really weird rural feel to it, filled with water and trees, with only a few buildings puncturing the skyline. Would probably be difficult to navigate - the bus driver told me that "when you feel like you are going in circles in Cenberra, you probably really are!". However as my stay was only a couple of days, it was pleasant and enjoyable, and spent with company. I then hopped on the train (after my usual interesting conversation with the bus driver) again for Sydney.
