SUNDAY, MARCH 1ST
It was a lovely day, not too warm and with a slight breeze. What better time to go for a walk?
Google maps indicated that getting to the the Mount Ainslie Summit Hiking path was more than doable, and Google reviews talked about the paved pathways and a few stairs.
An hour’s walk through town took us past street art and through a couple of community parks.
Google was just a wee bit misleading. The hour-long walk only got us to the summit path entrance, at which point, Google suddenly showed another almost 2 hours to the lookout itself.
Looking at that route on the map, it seemed that there should be a shortcut. Ted pulled up the AllTrails app, and it confirmed that there was one.
What AllTrails did not say was that while the shorter route might be physically shorter, it would involve climbing about 250 ft of elevation, the equivalent of 25 storeys, over rocks and roots – something we’d decided we’d never do again after hiking Mount Victoria in New Zealand.
Also, it would still take us almost 2 hours, including a near panic attack as I tried to find sure footing on the steep stretches, and several stops to sit on logs so that Ted could lower his heart rate and we could both catch our breath.
Naturally, neither of us had appropriate clothing or footwear – the anticipated route we’d prepped for was a flat easy walk with a few stairs!
One bonus: gorgeous Crimson Rosellas in their natural habitat.
When we finally reached paved pathway again, we were rewarded with incredible panoramic views of the city. We kept zooming in for even better views.
The direct line from the Australian War Memorial in the foreground to the national Parliament Building in the distance is by design. This is the “Capital Triangle”.
There was one level even higher available, so naturally we climbed the final stairs to get that view too.
There was drizzle in the air, so we decided to forego the 7km/4.3mi walk back to our hotel (we really did consider doing it) and called an Uber instead.
While we were waiting, Ted captured photos of some Pied Currawongs.
I prepped mixed green salad and Australian lamb “tacos” for dinner in our own place, and then settled in with a glass of Australian Sauvignon Blanc to rest weary legs.
“Leisure”. Right.
MONDAY, MARCH 2ND
It’s raining. Really pouring. All day.
The view from our balcony is incredibly green, except for the grey skies.
What a lovely opportunity to just stay in and read a good book. I managed to finish Jonas Jonasson’s darkly hilarious The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared , and get started on Alice Feeney’s Daisy Darker, lured into the latter by the cover blurb that read “A dysfunctional family meets Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None with a truly gasp-inducing twist.” It’s been a while since I’ve read a Christie-style thriller.
Garlic crusted roast beef, black rice, and red peppers for dinner, followed by coffee, Whittaker’s chocolate, and British game shows and Idol on the telly.
TUESDAY,MARCH 3RD
Another drizzly morning. If we were in the CBD, we might feel obligated by all the nearby activities to go out. Since we’re in a residential area, it’s really easy to just stay in and relax.
We’re undoubtedly missing out on much of what Canberra has to offer, but we’ll do the two things we specifically came here for, so all’s well.
We treated ourselves to the $25 Schnitzel Night special in the hotel’s Restaurant Two14, which included a glass of house wine or draught beer. In the same way that meat pies were ubiquitous in New Zealand, here in Australia everyone loves a “schnitty”. Since we’ve chosen only to have full housekeeping every third night of our stay, our $10/night food and beverage credit for the times we choose to make our own bed will cover dinner. That’s quite a nice deal!
I did a bit of research and discovered, much to my surprise, that schnitzel is a pub staple in Australia, with Adelaide, Melbourne, and Canberra each having slightly different regional takes on the dish – an “edible identity marker” – and actually being quite competitive about it! There is even a popular nation-wide food chain called Schnitz that was started in Melbourne by a Polish immigrant family.
Tonight we had tickets to Jimmy Carr’s standup show at The Royal Theatre in the National Convention Centre. We missed being able to get tickets to his tour date in Auckland last month, so were really glad to be able to catch the Canberra date of his Australian tour.
He’s one of our favourite British comedians, but he’s very restrained when he’s on BBC television. His live show is completely rude and wildly offensive. In fact, it begins with a “trigger warning” on a big screen before he even takes the stage: “if you’re easily offended, why the f*** did you buy tickets to this show?”
The only joke repeatable in front of our grandkids was about the swear jar he has in his home in England. Every time he swears he has to put a pound in it, and then once a month he and his family go out together… and buy a yacht.
Ted says I probably shouldn’t admit it, but I laughed (and groaned) throughout the entire almost two hour-long show, which flew by.
With the day’s rain unabated, we took an Uber to the theatre and another back after the show.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4TH
It was another “leisurely” 15,000 step day. We’ve totally conquered the concept of relaxation.
With temperatures jumping to 30°C/86°F today there were thunderstorms in the forecast. We waited until the rain ended mid-morning and then walked to the National Capital Exhibition in Commonwealth Park.
Yesterday we saw huge flocks of pure white birds from our balcony. Today we realized what they were.
En route to the park, another memorial. I think that Australia must have more war memorials than anywhere else we’ve visited.
By the time we reached Commonwealth Park, we were ready to sit down for a bit.
The National Capital Exhibition centre has both a café and a restaurant, named, respectively, Walter and Marion, after the couple who designed Canberra’s master city plan. We sat at an outdoor table in Walter, overlooking the Molonglo River and Lake Burley-Griffin, the manmade lake bearing Walter and Marion’s surname, and enjoyed flat whites and warm sultana scones.
The exhibition building doubles as both the Visitor Centre and a Museum featuring the evolution of Canberra as Australia’s capital. There was a school field trip there at the same time as we were, since the exhibits cover history, geography, architecture, and politics in an interesting and interactive format.
I was surprised to learn that it took seven whole years of debate before finally choosing Canberra as the capital of the Australian federation. That was put into perspective though by the fact that it took almost two decades – and Queen Victoria’s input – before Ottawa (then Bytown) was chosen as Canada’s capital, over Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, and Quebec City.
One of the most amusing facts about Australia’s parameters for choosing their capital was the anti-Sydney sentiment. Section 125 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act required that the capital be “distant no less than one hundred miles from Sydney.” I guess Sydney really is Australia’s equivalent of Toronto.
The scale model of the present day city allowed us to find our hotel!
In the park outside the centre we heard a familiar sound: thousands of flying foxes roosting in the trees!
Ted would happily have spent hours just admiring and photographing the bats. I tried not to go batty by absorbing the calm of the river waters instead.
When Ted rejoined me, we walked along the waterfront, where we got a wonderful view of the National Carillon on Queen Elizabeth II Island.
Our goal was the Captain Cook Memorial.
The openwork globe has a fountain inside, effectively making the ocean areas water. Overlaid on the globe are Captain Cook’s expedition routes, each in a different colour.
His major landings are indicated by uniquely coloured stars, and around the circumference of the memorial is a “key” to interpreting each star.
In addition to the globe, in Lake Burley Griffin there is a second Cook memorial: the magnificent Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet which sprays water from the lake to a height of up to 152 m/499 feet. It was constructed in 1970 to commemorate the bicentenary of Captain James Cook’s first sighting of the east coast of Australia in 1770.
Our route back “home”, with a planned stop at the grocery store for more provisions, took us through Canberra Centre, where there were several interesting pieces of artwork that enlivened the area.
(copied from the nearby plaque)
AINSLIE’S SHEEP
It is well known that Canberra, the national capital, has been described as ‘a good sheep station spoiled”. In 1825 James Ainslie arrived here with 700 sheep to establish Duntroon station for Sydney merchant Robert Campbell. According to legend, James Ainslie was quite a character and a flashy dresser. There is an account of his embroidered waistcoat being taken by a bushranger. But Ainslie was no mere dandy. He ran the station efficiently, mustering his men for parade each morning. By 1834 the Duntroon flock had increased to 20,000. James Ainslie relurned to Scotland in 1835, but Canberra’s Mount Ainslie bears his name.
We were very grateful for the air conditioning – and cold beer – by the time we finally got back to the hotel.
As we finished dinner on our balcony, some Little Corellas flew by. They’re smaller (and quieter!) than cockatoos and have no crest.
It was a lovely day, and at least ended at a leisurely pace, drinking wine on our balcony with the bonus of a lovely sunset and the cockatoos taking a very noisy break on an adjacent rooftop before heading home to roost.
Our next two days will not be leisurely at all. Tomorrow we’ll spend most of the day at Australia’s National War Memorial, and Friday we’re taking a tour of Australia’s Parliament.
That will end our time in Canberra, having accomplished only a fraction of what I’d hoped, but feeling somewhat reenergized for our upcoming days in Sydney.
On a side note, our Prime Minister Mark Carney has been here in Canberra this week, cementing trade relations and mutual defence strategies between our two countries, which have so much in common.
We haven’t seen him.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 