Canberra -- Australian Capital Territory (Canberra)

Member Name: travelnotes

Product:	Canberra
Date:	18/08/00 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It is the capital of Australia.

Disadvantages: You wouldn't think so.

I was told that anyone who spent more than a week in the diplomatic meeting place would find themselves attending the House of Representative for entertainment.

There was a lack of evening traffic heading into Canberra from the Hume Highway turn-off. Lorries pounded across from Sydney to Perth, but the branch to Canberra bore little fruit for the hitch-hiker. A taxi stopped and offered to take me in to the capital for ten dollars.

"It'd normally cost ya eighty, but I'm coming back from Sydney airport so I'll take you in for ten bucks, no worries."

It was getting dark, I was in the middle of nowhere, so I didn't even bother to barter on the price.

"It's not uncommon to see a 'roo in the suburbs," the taxi-driver informed me.

This sounded like a reply to the fabled crocodiles in the streets of Darwin.

The emblem on the New Parliament House is of a kangaroo and an emu, and the Chamber of Representatives has been colour-schemed to resemble the shaded greens of the eucalyptus.

The guide produced a picking from a tree on her way to work that morning. Did she peel off a part of nature daily?

Whatever the stories, Canberra is constantly viewed through trees and from nature's open spaces; a real bush capital built for government and ambassadors, where man is not a part of the city but part of the natural environment.

For a capital in the parkland, it is fitting to see so many joggers around Lake Burley Griffin (named after the American architect who dreamed up the plan for the plain that was once a sheep station).

Founded in 1913, Canberry means meeting place in Aboriginal. Neither Sydney nor Melbourne were willing for the other to preside over the country's affairs, so Canberra was formulated as the diplomatic meeting place.

In the cool shade of a stone foyer, I read a prominent notice: "This memorial commemorates those
Australian men and women who died in war. Please respect the feelings of those who come to this place to reflect quietly and to remember."

I studied a bomb-throwing sculpture by Lyndon Dadswell, while tourists shouted at each other near by.

Inside the dome, large stain-glassed windows and wall murals paid homage to the combatants. A defiant soldier stood on his webbing; facing down the wide, tree-lined Anzac Parade. An Australian removed his hat in respect, almost in worship, to the other beings who gave their lives.

The battles that they fought and died in were written on the walls forever, and for all to see. The Last Post sounded to signal the 4:45 close of the Australian War Memorial.

Believe it or not, there is another side to the civil-served parkland serenity.

In a night-time city that looks closed (lacking an after-work High Street ambivalence), the Private Bin threw reputation to the trees for a drunken, dancing surge towards dawn.

The establishment closed at 4am during the week, and the breakfast-approaching hour of 7am at weekends.

Around the corner, the "Beaujolais" promised: "If you're still here, we stay open." But at 9pm on a Wednesday, no-one reclined in the comfortable, black leather seats to watch the music video, or themselves in the mirrors.

Canberra does have it's distractions and it's a wonderful respite from the buzz of Sydney or Melbourne, but there's no need to plan for more than a couple of days here; unless you like the idea of visiting the House of Representative for entertainment.

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