Canberra

Day 196 (January 10, 2019) - Canberra, Australia

After spending a week in Sydney, we caught a bus to Canberra to visit Tami. Australians typically joke that there's nothing to do in Canberra. Even Tami, when I told her we'd be visiting her for about a week, joked: "8 days in Canberra. Yikes!" Canberra really isn't that bad, it's kind of like a smaller version of Washington, DC. It's Australia's national capital, and it's a sprawling planned city with lots of museums, restaurants, and outdoor activities (like hiking, canoeing, rowing, etc.). I had been to Canberra 15 years ago during the summer break, to both Nick's and Tami's houses, and I didn't think poorly of the city (which I think is different than saying I thought nice things about it). However, Tami was determined to leave us with a good impression of Canberra, so she set off planning what we could do there before we even arrived. She and her husband Tim even hosted us and served as our tour guides for our entire stay, so we got an insider's look at the city. I think Mark and I can both say that Canberra is a very nice city to live in, especially for families with kids. However, I don't think either of us would want to live there at this stage of our lives, as there are much more happening cities in the world. But thanks for showing us around Tami, we had a great time!


Looking through all of our pictures from Canberra, I was surprised at how much we did. Pretty much every day Tami had one or more activities planned for us. It was great that we had so much to do, because otherwise we probably would have sat and watched Netflix all day. 

Arriving at the bus station in Canberra, Tami picked us up and proceeded to take us to the most famous site in Canberra: the Woden Shopping Centre. Apparently Tami's sister jokes that all roads in Canberra lead to Woden, and here Tami took us there on our way to her place from the bus station because she had some errands to run. I guess it was a nice shopping complex. 

The next day, I'm not sure what we did all day, but for dinner we had a barbecue at the National Arboretum of Canberra. Apparently the whole area was swept by a huge bush fire nearly 20 years ago, effectively providing a space for the arboretum to be built. The property is filled with somewhat evenly spaced young trees, making the area recognizable from nearly anywhere in Canberra. Perhaps in another 20 years it'll start looking like a forested area again.

The landscape of the arboretum: evenly spaced young trees visible from most anywhere in Canberra.

One of the grassy areas of the arboretum. The fin-style building in the picture has a very similar to the design of the Sydney Opera House. I guess if a design style works, you go with it.

At the top of the highest hill at the arboretum, there is a three dimensional sculpture that spells out "wide brown land" when viewed from a particular direction. It's actually kind of cool to see, because it doesn't look like much when viewed from most angles. I had no idea what is was when walking around it until I got to the view point, when the three dimensional cursive writing came into focus. Apparently "wide brown land" is how Australia is described in the famous Australian poem My Country. 

"Wide brown land" sculpture at the National Arboretum Canberra.

The next day, Tami took us to Parliament House, the High Court of Australia, and the National Portrait Gallery. I had been to the Parliament House before, but this time we went on one of the free tours. The tour was quite interesting, since the tour guide was really into promoting the political system of Australia. He taught us why the chamber is shaped the way it is - to promote discussion - and that it is mandatory for every Australian citizen to vote. If only all citizens of the US were required (and allowed) to vote, we'd be in a much better situation than we are now. The Parliament House has some symbolic features built into it that are quite interesting. For example, visitors are allowed to take a lift to the roof, where there is a public area to hang out in. Allowing people to be located above the parliament members symbolizes that the people are above parliament. When parliament is in session, visitors are also allowed to view the proceedings on a walk-in basis. Compare that to the US, where you need an invitation from your congressperson to attend any session.

Parliament House in Canberra

The roof of Parliament House

Visiting the High Court of Australia was interesting. There weren't many visitors there, so we had the tour guides nearly all to ourselves. There are two main types of hearings at the High Court: (1) constitutional issues, and (2) everything else, and the number of justices hearing the case depends on the type of case it is. Some of the High Court justices still wear wigs, but it seemed the younger ones didn't do so anymore. The setup of the court rooms also had some associated symbolism. The bench where the justices sit is nearly at the same level as the litigators and the public seating, symbolizing that the justices are nearly at the same level as the people. Compare this to the US, where all judges/justices sit very high, to increase their importance and show who's boss.

The High Court of Australia

One of the court rooms at the High Court. See how low the justices' bench is.

We also went to the National Portrait Gallery, where portraits of prominent Australians are displayed. It was actually quite interesting to see, since each portrait was displayed alongside a detailed description of what that person's accomplishments were. Not being Australian, we didn't know who many of these people were, but we learned quite a bit. For example, the portrait below is Professor Derek Denton, who explained the mechanism of thirst. The portrait itself is very cool, mimicking a view of the professor writing science-y things on a glass window, as if explaining something to a student.

Professor Derek Denton at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra

The next day, Tami's husband Tim took us to the Australian War Memorial. This is a giant museum that has informational displays from a multitude of wars/conflicts, including WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, etc. We spent several hours there, but barely scratched the surface. The building itself is very picturesque and had nice views to Parliament House.

The courtyard of the Australian War Memorial.

View to Parliament House from the Australian War Memorial 

The following day, Tami took us on two different hikes just outside of Canberra. One was the Yankee Hat Mountain Walk, and the other was the Booroomba Rocks Walk. We had gotten rid of our hiking gear, including hiking boots, socks, and pants, after finishing our New Zealand trip, so luckily neither of these hikes was very strenuous. The drive to the Yankee Hat walk was awesome, since part of it was along a gravel road lined with seemingly hundreds of kangaroos. Mark finally got to see a kangaroo (or several hundred) in the wild. The Yankee Hat walk went to some aboriginal rock paintings dating back possibly 800 years. It was a nice scenic walk.

Yankee Hat Walk

Tami and Mark on the Yankee Hat Walk

Meeting some kangaroo friends on the Yankee Hat Walk

Aboriginal rock art on the Yankee Hat Walk dating back possibly 800 years

After the Yankee Hat Walk, we drove to the Booroomba Rocks walk, which was a short uphill track that lead to a rocky cliff area. If you look real close you can see Canberra in the background.

Booroomba Rocks with Canberra in the far background

Tami and Mark chilling out at Booroomba Rocks

The next day we did a lot. We went to the Mount Ainslie outlook, had lunch at Tami's friend's vegan restaurant, went to the James Turrell Skyspace (a semi-indoor sculpture with sensory deprivation chamber), and finished with a walk around the lake in central Canberra.

To get to the Mount Ainslie outlook, we could have hiked there from the Australian War Memorial. That was actually the original plan, but we got lazy and Tami drove us to the top. It was a somewhat cloudy day, but the view was still great. 

View of Canberra from the Mount Ainslie outlook

The James Turrell Skyspace in Canberra was an interesting art installation. The installation was somewhat underground, but there was an inner chamber with a hole in the ceiling, where daylight looks different depending on the time of day. There is even a suggested optimum viewing time near sunrise and sunset where the lighting is supposed to be at its most beautiful.

Outside of the James Turrell Skyspace

Inside the James Turrell Skyspace (the nub is the inner chamber with the hole in the roof)

The hole in the ceiling of the James Turrell Skyspace over the course of a sunset

The walk around the lake was also very nice. The first image of this post is from this walk, and is a picture of the National Carillon (a 55-bell tower gifted to Australia by the UK to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Canberra). There were lots of people walking or jogging around the lake when we went just after sunset. 

National Carillon, from a distance

The next day Tim graciously took us on a tour of the wine region just outside Canberra. I offered to drive there if he drove back, but for some reason he didn't take me up on it. Unfortunately it was a Tuesday when we went, and most of the wineries were not open. However, we found three that were, and they provided a sufficient amount of tasty wine to make the trip more than worthwhile. I can't remember the name of the first two wineries we went to, but the last one was by far the best. It was called the Lerida Estate, and it must have been a slow day, because the person doing the pours and describing the wines to us gave us good sized pours and went through the entire list of wines (probably about 15 or so). If we ever go back to Canberra for wine tastings, we have to go back to Lerida Estate.

Lerida Estate winery just outside Canberra

Tim and Mark leading the charge to the Lerida Estate winery

One of the days we rented a couple kayaks and a paddle board and went out on the lake in Canberra. It was a bit windy, and Mark struggled with the paddle board a bit, so he moved to a kayak with Tami's dad after a little bit. I had a paddle board, and Tim was in his own kayak (after starting out in a two-person kayak). We were out on the lake for maybe an hour, which was just enough time to have some fun without getting exhausted. Afterwards we had a picnic dinner at the fish 'n chip shop on the lake. Everyone else in Canberra also had the picnic idea, since the place was completely packed.

Picnicking at the lake in Canberra

Paddle-boarding and kayaking

At Tami's place, we spent some time watching movies and playing some board games. Tami introduced us to the classic Australian movie The Castle. It's about a country family that refuses to sell their home to an airport that is trying to expand. It's an interesting watch, if only for it's status as an Australian classic. The most famous line from the movie is "Tell him he's dreamin'," the main character's response to anyone's asking price. We also watched a movie called Wolf Creek about an Australian serial killer that murders three backpackers that have car trouble at a meteor impact site in Western Australia called Wolf Creek Crater. Apparently it's based on true events, but significantly dramatized, as nobody knows what really happened to the victims. Still, it was a good intro to Australia movie culture. As for board games, we were going to try playing Pandemic, but it seemed it would take several days to wrap our heads around the rules, so starting the game at 10pm wasn't going to go well. So, we switched to Ticket to Ride, which was much more manageable and fun.

The last night we stayed at Tami's, we participated in the Tim Tam Slam. There is a famous type of cookie in Australia called Tim Tams, which are basically chocolate cookie sandwiches covered in chocolate. The Tim Tam Slam involves biting off two opposite corners of the cookie and then drinking a glass of milk through your "straw" as quickly as possible. You are left with a soggy cookie that is supposed to be delicious. To me, it was a little soggy, which grossed me out, but I still ate it. At least we checked off another bit of Australia culture.

Tami showing us how the Tim Tam Slam is done.

Tim Tam Slam! It goes without saying that I (Travis) won.

Thanks Tami, Tim, Abbie, and Patrick for an excellent stay! You're of course welcome to stay with us wherever we ultimately end up in the world!

Thanks for a great stay in Canberra!