Whisky in the Capital
Trip Start
Sep 22, 2011
1
60
83
Trip End
Aug 11, 2012
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Friday, March 16, 2012
The drive down to Canberra was a long and uneventful one, with the highlight being when we passed over the state boarder into ACT (Australian Capital Territory). The majority of the journey we had done before back in January when we were running away from the rain and heading over to Adelaide. The weather was much nicer this time around, but it still felt strange being back having now done a full circuit of Australia.
We were staying in Canberra with our friend Tom, whom we had met at our hostel whilst in Darwin. We met Tom at his flat, which was on the sixth floor on the outskirts of the CBD. It was a beautiful flat and huge. We also met Cam, who was a French girl and another one of Tom's travelling friends. By coincidence she had arrange to stay the weekend too. At 5 pm we headed out to the pub as some of Tom's work mates were having a do. This gave me, Alex and Cam a chance to chat and get to know each other. Tom joined us and we got chatting about how much we all love food and what we can all cook. With that we decided to head back to the flat so that Tom could make his amazing ratatouille. This was served with BBQ's lamb and it was really, really good. After dinner we all sat out on the balcony and had a few more beers, and wines, and gins, and whisky....! Why I ever thought "hmmm yes, I'll have a whisky", I'll never know. Still, at the time I remember it being very nice.
Why Whisky!! Friday morning started very slowly to allow me to crawl myself out of bed, but I was actually better than I had expected to be. A bottle of fizzy-good-make-feel-nice and I was slightly presentable. That afternoon me and Alex went for a walk around the city centre and out over the bridge to see Parliament House. It turned out to be a lot further away than we thought it was and by the time we reached the huge lawn in front of the building we got our photos, considered the huge black clouds on the horizon and started walking back towards the city. We had literally been inside the shopping centre 30 seconds before the heavens opened and there was a massive thunder storm. If we'd been caught on the bridge we would have been soaked as there was no where to hide. We had a wander around the shops and bought the ingredients for tonight's dinner. I was cooking stilton stuffed meatballs and Alex a cheesecake. It was actually really nice just to be able to cook these things and not worry that we only have one pan or one hob to use. We had missed cooking properly. Back at the flat I had a nap whilst Alex made her cake. Whilst I was asleep Cam and Tom got back and it turns out that they weren't quite as lucky with the rain, they were on the bridge when it hit. They were a little soggy by the time they got home. That evening the meatballs went down very well and we all had a chilled evening after a few too many last night. Me and Alex are also up early tomorrow morning to travel back to Melbourne.
Overall Canberra doesn't really have much going for it in that it's just a purpose built city. The CBD has some good pubs and bars, but appart from that there's only really the shopping centre and Parliament House to keep you entertained. I'm glad we came, but I'm even more glad that we had Tom to stay with. Apparently there is a lot more to see and do in the outskirts and in the hills surrounding the city, but for this you would need more time and definitely a car. I think now though Me and Alex just want to get back to Melbourne. We still have another eight hours of driving to get through yet, so for now, it's off to bed.
Good bye from ACT
Love
Us Two
xx
