How to not make fun of Canberra

Last weekend, we made a trip to Canberra to see fellow expats Jon and Heather. Canberra seems to be an almost universal object of ridicule, but we had a great time. We present, therefore, what is perhaps the first blog post about a visit to Canberra that doesn't make fun of it (this required omitting some pictures of Canberra nightlife).*

In Canberra

Our first major stop was the Parliament building. The national government doesn't meet on Fridays, but we were able to wander around inside and go on the roof. The roof has a lawn and a space-age flagpole. We were filled with Australian e457 visa-holder pride:

From the roof, one has a nice view of other tourists, and of the Australian War Memorial off in the distance:

As well as museums, embassies, and some of the autumnal foliage:

Since native Australian trees don't change color ('colour'), the pretty reds and yellows are all non-native trees. We were told that Canberrans feel guilty about liking them.

The Parliament building itself looks best at dusk:

Canberra is built around an artificial lake called Lake Burley Griffin. Later in our trip, we took a stroll. Here's a bit of lakeside:

Just beyond this, there was a stand where one could rent a Segway or buy ice-cream. We just bought ice-cream.

Outside of Canberra


On Saturday, Heather and Jon took us out to a park a bit outside of the city. Almost as soon as we were within the park boundaries, we spotted our first large-ish wildlife:

These are emus. If there was ever any doubt that birds are descended from dinosaurs, emus should settle that (as should the sounds that cockatoos make - their raptor shriek is heard throughout Canberra).

We hiked up to a spot called 'Gibraltar Rocks' that J&H had discovered recently. Really gorgeous. There was a steep climb up:

With great views on top. Here we are:

Rain clouds were drifting around, but we (pretty much) stayed dry. The clouds made for some dramatic scenery, though:

This is looking back at the Rocks during our descent, framed by a full rainbow.

But the most dramatic part of the hike was going through a large herd (herd? flock? gaggle? tribe?... 'mob,' Naomi says) of kangaroos on the way down. They were cute, until we started feeling like they were staring us down:

So we picked up some sticks, just in case:

Through sheer strength of will, we forged through, and came upon this bucolic scene:

Roo and picnic table, together in peace.

We'll be back.

________________
*This isn't making fun of Canberra. 

Two small trips: Wombats, Chestnuts, and The Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin

Despite the many good things about Melbourne, we found ourselves itching to get out of the city recently. This led to a couple trips.

To Wombat State Forest (and back again)

Naomi had an extra day off for the Easter weekend (which is a bigger deal here than in the US). We rented a couple motorcycles, and explored some of the Outback:

No, not really.

What we actually did: Weeks ahead of time, we spent hours researching parks that looked low-key and not likely to be crowded, reserved a cabin, and rented an economy sized hatchback Nissan from a place we've used a few times before. Driving slightly under the speed limit on well-marked roads, we made our way to our destination in a couple of hours:

Wombat State Forest, we found, was indeed nice and low-key. It's a community-run forest, which means that it doesn't really have maintained trails or signs to scenic look-outs. One just pokes along and finds what one finds.

We found:

A cool bridge.

Some pretty trees (not growing wild, but still nice).

A few nice streams. The area, apparently, has 80% of Australia's mineral springs (eat that, New South Wales!). The ones we saw mostly looked like trickles of rusty water, so we didn't photograph any of them. But this pond was very pleasant.

We spent the night at a cute cabin on a former farm, right on the edge of the forest. It was cold (by Australian standards), and a bit rainy. The rain gave us a gorgeous sunset:

And the cold gave Colin an excuse to play with the fireplace:

Not only did he get to play with keeping the fire going, but we also got to roast some chestnuts that we bought from along the road on the way in. Chestnuts aren't normally that exciting, but they hit the spot:

Warmed up by the fire, we poked our heads outside:

On our way back to Melbourne the next day, we made a couple small stops. One stop to take in a bit more of WSF (as those in the know call it):

And another stop to stretch our legs near Werribbee Gorge:

Did we see any wombats at any of these places?

No, sadly. Depending on what one counts as 'close to seeing a wombat,' the closest we came to seeing a wombat was either:

seeing a wallaby crossing the road (click on the picture for a larger view),

or else:

seeing a wombat-shaped sign for the town of Blackwood. Yes, we did take a quick look around Blackwood, but it appeared to contain no wombats.

Williamstown

Our other recent adventure, a couple weekends ago, was a day trip led by our friends Susan and Sym (of Thanksgiving vegetarian turkey fame). We went on a bike ride to Williamstown, just across the bay from Melbourne.

The town itself is cute, and has a good view of the city across the water:

The most exciting bit, though, was getting to see the Steve Irwin, which is part of the Sea Shepherd fleet. It docks at Melbourne during the winter, since whaling happens only in the (southern hemisphere's) summer.

Here is Naomi almost escaping the picture Colin was taking, with the Irwin in the background:

Good times.

Our next adventure will be to Canberra. Stay tuned...

Oh, and for Northern Hemisphere residents who felt envious over the past few months at our sunny pictures: we've acclimated now, so that the Australian autumn is feeling cold to us (even though it's been in the 60's-70's (F)). So when winter hits, the weather envy will go the opposite direction. As Schopenhauer claimed, justice is always done...