Friday, 18 October 2013

Day 15 - A Capital Day!

Friday, October 18th

Bush fires were still burning in New South Wales but the wind in this area had decreased considerably by this morning. Most of the destruction caused by fires, so far, has been in the Blue Mountains at the top of the map below - in the Springwood area.  After checking that the route was clear of road closures due to fires, we left at 7 AM for Canberra (otherwise known as ACT - Australian Capital Territory).

It was a 2.5 hour drive through beautiful country where we observed kangaroos, many kinds of parrots and wombats along the road. We learned about local birds, animals and forest regeneration as Kate pointed out everything she observed on the drive. We also noted the brown haze to the north - smoke from the many fires burning in the area west of Sydney. We drove through Morton National Park on our trip, passing Sassafras to Tarago on twisting roads which, I'm sure, is the reason, we saw so much wildlife.


Our first stop in Canberra was the military college campus where Rob did his training. After coffee and a tour we drove to the top of a hill on the property that offered a great view of the city.
     

Next on the itinerary was the new parliament building built adjacent to the old parliament. It is a magnificent structure with lots to see. Here's the Australian Coat of Arms on the front of the building. The kangaroo and emu were chosen because they are 2 animals that don't walk backwards. They can, but it is very difficult for them. They symbolize that Australian parliament intends to keep moving forward.


Parliament House is celebrating its 25th year anniversary with an exhibition of 25 Australian art treasures trailing throughout the building. I enjoyed the treasures via the trail posed by Squawk the Cockatoo - write-ups and questions intended for children. Once a teacher always a teacher! I often found myself following groups of students around some of the areas as I enjoyed the commentary by their guides.
         

Kate and Tina on the roof of the new Parliament House with the old white parliament buildings, lake, Memorial Drive and the Hall of the Unknown Soldier way in the background.

After lunch we visited the war memorial - a HUGE building dedicated to the soldiers who served, or lost their lives, in one of the many wars or during peace-keeping missions over the last, and this, century. Seeing the the large number of places in the world where Australian soldiers have served was a sobering experience. I have not yet visited the war memorial in Ottawa - I need to do that. The building has a research centre where Kate was able to find and take home a copy of her grandfather's record of service and experience as a prisoner of war.

At 3 o'clock we realized we had 2 hours before closing to visit the National Museum of Australia - not nearly enough time to see it all, so we split up and each did our own thing. I chose to spend most of my time in the First Australians gallery which traces the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their spirituality, diversity, identity and survival. I did also get to experience the Circa multimedia rotating theatre and the Visions theatre and ended my visit in the 'Garden of Australian Dreams' which is way too ultra-modern for me to describe! (Even the guide who found me alone there had trouble.) The last photo here is a representative portion of the 'garden' - just very strange!
         

It was a very full day. We found a pub for a pre-dinner drink and then an Italian restaurant for dinner before our drive home in the dark. Kate took on the chauffeuring responsibility and did a great job of dodging wombats and kangaroos on the road. We saw many who'd been hit. One kangaroo we came across just kept jumping ahead of us in our lane, instead of going off to the side of the road. Rob told us this is common behaviour for them! We were driving through smog through the last half of our journey. The bush fires are moving south.

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