Canberra - City of Government Buildings!

Converted theatre to church

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Thursday 16 November 2006- Temperatures have risen to a more normal mid 20 degrees C and forecast to rise further. On the way to Canberra we came across the small town of Gundagai after which a famous song was written – “The Road to Gundagai” and I could not resist buying a CD with in on when in Canberra! It is a delightful town with many old buildings– well old for a “new” country like Australia – and well worth a visit. We had lunch in an old cinema which has been converted to a non-denominational church housing an arts and craft centre.

We arrived in Canberra late afternoon and as is becoming our habit we had a quick look around in the evening, eating at a steakhouse. On the following two days we visited the existing Parliament Building and also the old one. Both were fascinating in their own way but the old one probably has the most to offer with much wider access as it is no longer a functioning building. It has many excellent audio visual displays and we were unable to take it all in. However, the new building gains in one respect in that it houses one of only four originals of Magna Carta, which apparently was found in a school in Somerset, England and bought by the Australian Government in the 1950s.

Aerial view of Canberra

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The National Museum of Australia would need more than one visit to do it credit. Entry to this and the new Parliament are free and only 2 Aus dollars for the old Parliament Building. It was all very cultural but very enjoyable. We had heard that it was not a very interesting place when compared with other cities in the country but we disagree. A good time to see the sights is on a Saturday morning as the city is very quiet. During the week it is the seat of Government and buzzes but at the weekend they must go somewhere else! It was a very good stop and very good for our health as on one day we walked almost 20,000 paces which is a lot for us!

We also went to the top of the Telstra Tower which provides great views of the city. You can see the whole city and it comes home to you how compact and quite small it is.