Gosh, where to start regarding Canberra? Firstly an amendment to my last entry, Werri isn't that, it's Warri, but not to worry.
We met a couple at Warri who recommended we stay at Exhibition Park in Canberra which we have done. It's been host to the National Show Jumping championships all week, ending today, so there have been big-rigs and horses in abundance. Some of the vehicles they arrive in are YUGE... like semi-trailer size with stables in the back for 6 horses and accomodation in the front for the show jumping team. Looks to be a rather costly past time. Word around town is that the most decent prize was a new saddle. Now that's hardly going to help things any is it! Anyhoo, they've just about all cleared out now and we're enjoying the serenity and warmth of the afternoon sun before the cool of night sets in.
It was a bit of a shock to me to realise that my one and only other visit to Canberra occurred roughly 28 years ago. No wonder all I remember is the 'water jet in the lake', which I now know is the Captain Cook Memorial Jet. Since it's the only thing in the whole of Canberra that rang a bell I was pretty excited to finally see it as we drove past it yesterday. The rest of Canberra has been a wonderously eye-opening time for me. I think Mr Burley Griffin did a marvelous job of planning the layout of the city, especially the way Parliament house lines up with the War Memorial... between which is a hugely wide street called Rememberance Drive lined with beautiful maple trees. Looking up and down from either end or the middle is a most worthy sight.
The first morning here we woke up to 4 degrees in the van and frost on the grass outside, which is when it became my personal mission to find uggboots, beanie and gloves. Not so easy when all those items are 'Out of Season'. Personally I feel they're still very much in season, but anyhoo, managed to get all but the latter and I can feel it in my waters that since the temps are slowly rising each day, before long we'll be storing all this winter gear in the boot and complaining about the heat... so maybe I'll make do without the gloves.
Back to the First Morning Here... we decided, at the advice of the nice but slightly 'lacking in information' lady at the Information Centre, that we should leave the van here (Exhibition Park) and get the bus to town to see the National Gallery and city shopping district. Well, did we nearly freeze to death waiting for the bus Or What?? And did we nearly do the same waiting for the other buses we waited for and Hold the Phone, what are all those lovely Above Ground car parks with plenty of parking in them Nice Information Lady?
Day two to six... James (GPS) guides us to Our Destinations around Canberra in the comfort of our own Home Sweet Home. Once we had parking success on the first day there was no going back. It's convenient and quick, it's warm, it has a clean loo, it has changes of clothes for changes of weather (forgot the brolly? No worries! Need a sun hat? Here it is!), it has a place to rest in comfort and it has a fully supplied kitchen for lunch! And besides, parking it isn't really that hard (so far so good).
Alright, so, we did the National Gallery (me two times... the McCubbin exhibition one day and the permanant collection today), Portrait Gallery (a must see), city shopping district (shops as per anywhere really), dinner with my good friend Nic (most excellent company and delicious home made chicken pie - thanks Nic!), Floriade (excellent - great stalls, lots of tulips), War Memorial (excellent - need 4 days to do it all), Mount Ainslie (for spectacular views of Burley Griffin's wonderous city design), Farmers Market here at Exhibition Park (biggest in Southern Tablelands - but not as big as the one in Noosa according to Vicki), Parliament House (a highlight for me, if you don't count the galleries - you should see the big tapestry of Arthur Boyd's painting... took 15 people 2 and a half years to make - aside from that we had a fascinating 1 hour tour around the marvellously imposing building complete with an Australian flag the size of a double decker bus), a drive around the embassies (most of them built in the style of their country), Cockington Green (a beautiful garden where 'it's the little things that count'... ie. everything is in miniature, including the trees which were very cool), afternoon drinkies with camp-site neighbours Alister and Judy (Judy has a sister called Vicki and Alister's middle name is John) and lastly today the High Court of Australia (it's Mabo, it's the vibe... any The Castle fans out there?), the Old Bus Depot Markets and next to that the Glassworks (where one can see people making glass things).
All in all a full and satisfying time. I can highly recommend Canberra. It's much better when you aren't 10 and only interested in cap guns.
Tomorrow we are heading to Eden via Cooma. Here are some pics...
In Warri, my first attempt at 'en plein air' in oils 
Tulips
Us
Tip toe through the toolips...
Exhibition Park - we're 3rd vehicle from the left. Show Jumpers are practicing on the right.
View from Mount Ainslie... War Memorial at the bottom, then Rememberance Drive, and Parliament House at the top
Parliament House - with the big flag
A very knowledgeable man telling us all about how the Australian Parliament works, which to my surprise was totally fascinating
Vicki purchasing one carrot at the Farmers Market... 'oh, you can just have that' says the lady. A free carrot!! Obviously they're used to bulk sales.
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