Canberra

Canberra was laid out in a bygone era, when the car was king, and the prospect of walking anywhere inconceivable. As a result Canberra is a series of concentric ring-roads and radial spurs, connecting the municipal buildings in the centre to the several large suburbs. In between is green space and an ornamental lake – I'm sure the town planners envisaged a city with the feel of living in the country. What they got was Milton Keens with MPs.

The principle reason for visiting Canberra was to catch up with our Trans-Siberia buddy, Narelle, who is visiting her parents before returning to London. Most Australians seem bemused as to why you'd go there, but two nights of free accommodation is better than a kick in the arse. Narelle's parents live in the suburb of Woden. They provided us with a very warm welcome, and more importantly after 7 months of travelling, the chance to veg on the sofa and catch up on series 5 of Desperate House wives.

The next day we decided that maybe we should take in some of Canberra's tourist attractions. This consisted of a tour of parliament house given by an Oompa-Loompa masquerading as a university student. She jumped up and down, and spewed unnecessary enthusiasm as she guided us through Canberra's colourful history via the building's architecture.


















After the tour, we sat in first on the House of Representatives, and then the Senate. Both houses were almost deserted; the Commons were debating (if one man talking to an empty room can be classed as a debate) the ratification of the new Red Crystal symbol; while in the Senate, the opposition were presenting a series of nonsense arguments against the stimulus package.


Rather than go out to sample buzzing Canberra on a Tuesday night, we decided unanimously to stay in, make our own pizza, and watch crap TV. Perfect. After 2 days of living the unemployed-living with-your-parents life, it was time to hit the road again for the 500 mile drive to Mildura – gateway to the outback.

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