Yes! we Canberra

1) James moved to Canberra 

2) I have never been to Canberra 

3)  I made it through semester one and needed to get away from the University of Melbourne

I snapped up cheep flights to and from Canberra, and it worked out perfectly that the day after my exam was also Jamesmas. So it was practically perfect. I had an early flight, but it meant that I had the whole day to get to see Canberra. I was wrapped up in my winter woolies so the cold wouldn’t get to me (3˚ colder than Melbourne… surely I could deal with that!).

After arriving and trying to direct the Taxi to where James was meeting me, I was ready to enjoy what there is in our national capital! We started with my way, Canberra’s equivalent to myki. To obtain student price transport the lady needed a letterhead to say that I was a full time student. She was very lovely, and said that I could bring my letter in at a later date, to which I replied, “I don’t anticipate being here again any time soon”. So ready to travel Canberra, James showed me his house in Gungahlin.

Next we took the bus to Parkes, and we visited the National Library of Australia. We looked around an exhibition, in which we saw the Olympic torches from the Melbourne and Sydney Olympics, a musical map of the London underground, an old medieval book, a book of Marie- Antoinette’s criminal trial, books on flora and fauna, maps and globes and many other things. We didn’t see any normal library books though…

The National Library of Australia

Olympic torches

The musical London underground

a Medieval book

Procés Criminel de Marie-Antoinette

Dreaming of home, WW1

World map

Globe of the world

After the National Library, we wandered towards the Australian National Gallery, but we distracted by a big white building in the distance. It was the Old Parliament house building. It was only $1 to get in, and it was more awesome than I thought it would be. We walked through the Senate and then the House of Representatives. We wandered though all the rooms, sat in seats in party rooms and sitting rooms, pretended to be the media during a parliamentary sitting, put on a costume, watched a really smart school group answer heaps of questions about democracy… James said that New Parliament House is not as cool, so we never went there.

Some building in Canberra... Treasury?

Strolling the wintery streets 

The Senate

Hanging coats like Politicians

Australia's first PM, Sir Edmund Barton 

King George V

The House of Representatives 

James playing with the typwriter

Playing media in the House of Representatives

Mr Speaker

Lounging in the Speakers chair.

James and George V

We were (I was) really tired afterwards (I was even hesitant to walk all the way across the grass to Old Parliament House). So we went home, via Coles, and picked up ingredients for a late lunch of nachos and a birthday treat for James packet mix chocolate mousse- it had the least amount of ingredients to add! We made nachos and mousse and watched Anonymous, A Knights Tale and HIMYM. I also had a nap during Anonymous so James turned it off and watched A knights Tale. We got ready to go out for James birthday (I was hesitant to get out of my pyjamas), and left for a pre-drink beforehand in Civic. Our pre-drink was at Honkytonks, a really cool bar in the centre part of Canberra. After ordering wine, I saw that they had mulled cider and mulled wine, perfect for Canberra weather.

Civic

After Honkytonks we strolled to ANU for dumplings, where some of James friends were already waiting for him. James couldn’t be bothered finding out if it was BYO before we left, so after we got there and found out that it was, him and Dristie went to the bottle shop, and I trusted in James to get me an OK bottle of wine (above $10, but under $15) was my parameter. They scored a pretty good bottle on sale for $20, so I was actually pretty happy with that! James went crazy with the dumpling order, so 5 of us feasted on pork dumplings, beef dumplings, fried dumplings, other dumplings and some steamed greens and garlic. I was so full from the nachos and mousse, so I struggled to eat much. After dumplings, a few of us trooped on into the night at Uni Bar. The footy was on downstairs, so we watched Carlton loose to West Coast over a shot of Sambucca. We migrated upstairs to the dance floor, and we went (I went) crazy. I requested the DJ to play One Direction and he told me that his dignity was at stake… then he played call me maybe… We moved on after a while, but we should have stayed. We ended up at a bar/pub that smelt like an over-heated, over-chlorinated pool… gross. After Finally being able to leave the pub for home (“not without Mikey!) we had a stop off at Maccas for a post drinking snack, and took the cab all the way back to Gungahlin.

Disco balls as Uni Bar

the boys

The next morning didn’t start ‘til 10am. We didn’t really go much, which was nice and relaxing. We planed a walk around the lake at Belconnen, but that never happened. We took the bus to Belconnen, and I saw the foyer of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, where James works. Then we walked up to the restaurant for James’ colleagues’ farewell luncheon. After lunch was the bikie pub Pot Belly. After the pub, James and I walked a little of the lake, and decided to go back to Gungahlin and cook some fish and chips before heading out again.

Belconnen Lake

The Canberra sky in Gungahlin

The night began back at Honkytonks, where mulled cider kept me warm outside. Next up was Knightsbridge Penthouse. It was very full inside but we worked our way out to the backyard and sat in the cold. A few wines flowed, we played with the lamppost, and we shivered ourselves away. After getting sick of the cold, we moved on to the book room at O’Malley’s, were we read a book called “straight” by ‘Dick’. The boys found it very amusing, because someone had physically whited out the rest of Dick’s name so that it read as ‘Straight Dick’.

Freezing at Honytonks with mulled cider 

Lightposts at Knightsbridge Penthouse

being literary at O'Malley's

A game of table tennis to finish the night

The next morning was tough, and there was still some places to visit. After two nights of drinking and not enough sleeping, I was surprised that I wasn’t living off the red bull that James put in my handbag. We started off at the Australian National Gallery (which turned out to actually be the Australian Portrait Gallery). I loved seeing the painting of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. Then we went to the actual the Australian National Gallery where we visited the exhibition on Eugene von Guérard. It was spectacular. The landscapes were really lovely, vibrant and realistic. Being in this Gallery reminded me of being in all the galleries I went to in Europe, especially Musée d’Orsay in Paris. We view the Sidney Nolan section, too, and read the story of Ned Kelly in his paintings. We were having lunch at 1, so we didn’t get as much time in there as we liked, but what we saw was really amazing.

Lunch was a Brodburger… and it was pretty good. James attempted (feebly) to eat the Brodburger deluxe. 

Shamefully failing. 

After filling ourselves up, we went to the National War Memorial, and paid our respects to all those who fought, and who are still fighting. The Memorial was amazing. The diorama’s really deepened my understanding of the conditions in the trenches, and the danger that surround the soldiers. We didn’t have time to see everything, but we got through WW1, and then it was time for me to go to the airport.

von Guérard (I couldn't take photos, so this is from the abc.net)

von Guérard (abc.net)

National War Memorial

The eternal flame

The flight was cruisey. I was exhausted so I slept most of the 40minutes. I woke up for some in-flight snacks, and then when we landed. James was out partying again, I was sad not to be going out in Canberra for the third night in a row, but gosh, I needed to sleep after the nights I had! 

xx