Canberra Capers 2006

CANBERRA

10^{th – 11th} August 2006

The flight left Perth on time at 11.50pm.  We only just got there in time for the luggage to get on the plane though!  What a thought, three days with no change of knickers – phew…….The guy on the check-in counter wanted some ID for Shannon.  Of course, it was the last thing I’d thought of.  So he asked Shannon “who are you going to Canberra with?”  She looked quite puzzled and I was sure she was going to tell him she had no idea – that this strange woman had picked her up in the car park.  Luckily she twigged what he meant and answered OK.

We got into Melbourne at 5am and had two and a half hours to wait for our connecting flight…..boring……. The flight to Canberra was only something like about 35 minutes and it was well under half full.  Obviously not too many people see Canberra as a desirable weekend destination!

We picked the car up at the airport.  They upgraded us from the Getz to a Mitsubishi Lancer.  It was very nice to drive – which was just as well as we spent a LONG time driving around totally lost!

We couldn’t check in to our motel until 1pm so we went off and had a drive round the new Parliament House.  At least that’s easy to find.  There’s hardly a spot in Canberra where you can’t see it.  It really just looks like a large, modern building.  The pollies had all gone home for the weekend (nice work if you can get it – a long weekend EVERY weekend!) so we didn’t see a lot of point in going in.  We did, however, go and check out the old Parliament House.  It really has character and is much more interesting.  Shannon was given a Super Sleuth card which was a series of questions about exhibits with a badge as a prize at the end of it.  She had a lot of fun filling it in.  We were able to sit in the old House of Representatives and the Senate – we became opposition backbenchers for a little while!  We finished up with a photo of Shannon taken where Gough Whitlam’s famous “God Save the Queen…..” speech was made November 11^th 1975.

“God save the Queen because nothing will save the Governor General…..”

From there we went to the National Museum.  It’s very modern and Shannon was most taken with a replica skeleton of a giant wombat.  They even have a full size replica of the Federation Arch from Sydney.

We finally went to check into the motel.  It is located only a short distance from The Lodge – but isn’t quite so fancy!  It was quite old and fairly dilapidated looking from the outside but clean and comfortable.  It’s also quite close to the city without being in a really busy place.  We decided to take a drive and see if we could find a fairly large shopping centre to get something to eat (the local one only had a milk bar and an IGA).  Checking in the street directory there didn’t seem to be many large centres but we picked one that sounded “big” and set off.  We did eventually find it and it was a reasonable size but not as large as Whitfords.  They also charge 60c an hour to park in the shopping centre car park!  Going back to the motel was the problem – we got horribly lost!  I swear we passed through the same intersection at least three times (from three different directions!).  Michelle and Derek phoned a couple of times and were wetting themselves laughing.  We certainly did a Cook’s Tour of suburban Canberra.  Shannon was navigating me (and doing a good job – it was just that the roads on the map were nothing like the roads on the ground).  I asked her a question – no answer – pulled into a side street and there’s my navigator, fast asleep with her mouth open!  I finally navigated us back to the motel just before dark.  We were both quite tired by that time and Shannon was a little weepy but she was fine again by the time we went to bed.  We watched a little bit of TV before putting out the lights. 

They had an advert on for Monday evening’s “Today Tonight” (Canberra version).  It’s about speed cameras and how wrong they can be.  They clocked a solid brick wall doing 7kph!  No wonder we were lost – the roads probably move constantly also!

12^th August 2006

We headed off for the snow this morning bright and early.  Thankfully we managed to get there without getting lost again……how lost can you get on one straight road?  We stopped just the other side of Cooma and rented snow boots for both of us and ski pants and parka for Shannon.  We also rented a toboggan.  The guys there gave us directions and advice to go to Perisher Valley.  We got all the way to the Kosiuscko National Park entrance only to be told that we couldn’t go in because we didn’t have snow chains in the car.  We didn’t actually need them as it was blacktop the whole way but it’s law that you have to have them in the car anyway unless you’re in a 4WD.  Apparently the weather at that particular spot can change without warning.  I can’t understand why the guys didn’t try to rent us some.  On the way back I notice chains for hire just about everywhere for $20 a day.  Of course, by that time I knew what the hell they were for!  The lady in the pay booth advised us to go back to Thredbo as no chains were required to get in there.  Half an hour later we finally made it to the snow.  Unfortunately toboggans are banned there.  What a shame.  There’s a dedicated toboggan area at Perisher.  Parking was at a premium but Michelle’s parking luck has obviously rubbed off on Shannon and we found the only empty bay in the car park on the main street.  I lugged that dratted toboggan around with us everywhere as we didn’t find out until we actually got to the snow area that we couldn’t use it.  I couldn’t be bothered going back to the car as the snow boots are actually quite cumbersome.  Shannon took her first step onto the snow and went A-over!  Shame I didn’t have the camera ready so she had to do a re-enactment. 

The snow was a bit hard packed as there were a lot of people walking, skiing, snowboarding over it but she managed to still make a miniature snowman

Her snowballs were more like ice balls though and it was just as well she didn’t throw them as she’d probably have killed someone!  We took photos at a giant snowman (obviously a professional job especially for photos) then Shannon found a mound (probably the remains of yesterday’s giant snowman) and had a ball sliding down – first on her rear end then on her tummy.  Tummy-first if she’s been wearing black and white she would have looked like a refugee from “March of the Penguins”. 

We left to head back to Canberra just after 2pm as it’s a long drive back and we planned to stop for lunch in Cooma.  It’s incredible how few eating places, other than expensive restaurants, there seems to be over here.  Luckily I’d noticed a few likely places in Cooma on the way through.  I actually got breathalysed driving through Cooma – my Diet Coke didn’t show up though!

Thanks to an almost total lack of street names on signs – they may use arrow and Fishwyck but don’t tell you what the road is called – great if you know the suburb you want but useless if you’re trying to follow street names – we got a little lost again.  We accidentally found the shops down the road from the motel so we avoided the endless drive again!  We had a really nice pizza at the Italian Pizzeria in this little shopping centre, agreed that it wasn’t quite a good as Michelle’s and went back to the motel.  It was a long day of driving but worth it, particularly for Shannon.  On the way home we decided unanimously that we wouldn’t swap Perth for Canberra under any circumstances.  In fact, apart from seeing Old Parliament House etc we couldn’t see why anyone would want to come back.  We both got into bed and watched “Crocodile Dundee” on TV.  Eventually I dozed off.  The next thing I remember is Shannon saying “are you still watching this or shall I turn it off?” and it was 11.15pm!  She’d been sitting in bed doing her diary and then puzzles.  Just as well we didn’t have to be up early the next morning.

13^th August, 2006

We eventually surfaced about 8am and headed to the Australian War Memorial first.  We actually got there without getting lost.  We must be improving.  It’s an incredible place and the displays are really great.  It’s a mixture of great sadness and pride to go through there.

It was good that the first memorial we came to was Simpson and his donkey, which Shannon immediately recognized. 

The dioramas of various World War 1 battlefields and Gallipoli are extremely well done and they had a lifesize model (stuffed horse I’m sure) of a mounted Light Horseman.  I hadn’t realised that the 10^th Light Horse were all from Western Australia.  There was a similar model (with a definitely stuffed camel) of a soldier from the Australian Camel Corps. There’s a room dedicated to VC winners from all wars and the special show at the moment was 1916. 

With one of the original Gallipoli landing boats

The chapel with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is beautiful and it’s quite difficult not to become emotional.  It’s a little ironic that from the front of the Memorial you look down the broad expanse of Anzac Parade to Parliament House where John Howard is doing his bit to add more names to the Rolls of Honour surrounding the eternal flame.  We could have spent a lot longer there as there was so much to see but I think the two hours that we did spend were quite enough for Shannon.  Any longer and she would have lost interest.

From there we went to Questacon, which is just like a giant Sci-Tech. One of the displays is “face your Fears”.  There’s a Free Fall 6m high.  They give you overalls to prevent friction burns and you climb the tower.  You swing out, holding a bar, over a vertical drop that curves out into a slide.  You body doesn’t touch the slide until you get to the curve.  Even some adults were chickening out when they got to the edge.  I couldn’t get Shannon off it!  We even went back for a few more goes before closing time! 

The other “fear” was a guillotine where the blade stops short of your neck but Shannon wouldn’t put her head in that one!  There’s a section that is Check your Sporting Skills.  There was balancing, driving a race car, snowboarding, walking (how fast can you walk?) and how fast you could throw a ball at a target.  They also have an Earthquake House.  It’s like an ordinary kitchen and you sit down on chairs.  The room starts to move very, very slightly – really more of a funny feeling than a movement.  Gradually it builds up to really shaking.  The cupboards fly open, the fridge door swings open and cracks appear in the walls.  It starts to shake quite violently and make a lot of noise.  Now this was something Shannon didn’t like and found quite scary.  Just as well it wasn’t real!  We were at Questacon until closing time and still probably didn’t see absolutely everything.

14^th August, 2006

What should have been a simple drive to the airport (even though it was peak traffic) didn’t eventuate.  We got lost again.  I took a wrong turn and we found ourselves on the

Monaro Highway

heading in the opposite direction.  It’s nigh on impossible to turn round on a major highway.  I finally took the next off ramp and just heading in the general direction of where I figured the airport was.  Saw a sign saying “City” so followed that.  We finally saw Parliament House and headed for that.  Shannon found us on the map and guided me back to the right road.  We finally found the airport and at least it meant I didn’t leave too much petrol in the car.  I’d paid in advance for the tank of petrol so it was in my interest to bring it back as empty as possible.  I’m glad I opted to pay in advance at $1.32 a litre as most of the service stations were charging $1.49.  Canberra Airport is much smaller than Perth.  When we arrived we didn’t even walk down a tunnel, we had to go down the steps and walk across the tarmac.  With this in mind I don’t know why we found boarding the flight to Sydney so surprising!  We went through the departure gate and down a passage and some steps and out onto the tarmac again.  No plane in sight.  “Just follow the path” says a guy – and there, in the middle of the tarmac, all by itself is this dinky little plane.  I’ve been on Qantaslink before but not one this small!  12 rows of 4 seats, two on either side of the one central aisle and two flight attendants. 

Homeward Bound - Sydney

When we got to Sydney we went down steps to the tarmac again but onto a bus this time to take us to the terminal. 

We got on the flight to Perth and sat there, and sat there, and sat there………Eventually the captain announced that there was a “baggage handling issue” and we’d get going as soon as possible.  Another 15 minutes came and went and we’re still sitting there.  Then another announcement that “the baggage has been located and removed”.  The next thing some official looking bods come down the aisle and back again escorting a passenger between them.  He’s boarded the plane directly in front of us.  The flight attendants then went along checking overhead lockers that the luggage in them belonged to the person sitting below.  The there was an announcement that, for security reasons, a passenger had been removed and that his luggage had been located and also removed.  Apologies for the delay but they couldn’t be more specific earlier so as not to panic him!  So we had our very own security scare!  I must say they handled it extremely well.  We have no idea what he’s done or why he was taken off.  We took off about 45 minutes late and had to change course, which meant we flew back over Canberra.  All that hassle of being lost could have been avoided – we could just have been catapulted up to meet the plane from the Telstra Tower had we known.

Our observations of Canberra:

• We only saw one ATM – apparently they don’t have such luxuries in the suburbs.
• We saw one cinema (when we were lost trying to get to the airport)
• Large shopping centres appear to be few and far between and when you do find one you have to buy a parking ticket.
• Fast food eg McDonalds, Hungry Jacks etc are scarce – of course this isn’t really a problem but worth mentioning.  We never saw a KFC at all except in Cooma, which is actually in NSW.
• I never saw a “Food Hall” or similar – plenty of expensive looking restaurants but virtually nowhere that looked like you could get a decent, cheap meal for a child.  Thank goodness for the cafeteria in Questacon!
• There are roundabouts everywhere and a lot of dual carriageways with cloverleaf systems which mean that often when you want to turn left you have to turn right first – terrific if you happen to be three lanes over to the left!
• The lack of street names is infuriating.  They seem to be there when you don’t need them and non-existent when you do.

In closing:

I have to say that Shannon is great to go away with.  She’s sensible, helpful and certainly not demanding.  People commented on her good manners and she did a brilliant job of reading directions and the street director for me – even if we DID get lost a fair bit.  Blame the roads!!!!!!  She did really well for her first long trip without Mum and Dad.