Canberra

One straight line from the War memorial down ANZAC Parade to the old Parliament house and the new one (with the triangle on top)
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Sydney is definitely the first city of Australia when it comes to international perception. When arriving in Melbourne I soon realised - and was told - that there's some sort of rivalry between those two cities going back almost to the time when the first settlers arrived... And it continues among the tourists. You either love Sydney OR Melbourne - I definitely belong to the Melbourne supporters.

That is where Canberra comes in. When the colonies (now the states) became the federation Australia neither Sydney nor Melbourne would allow the other city to become the capital and each wanted it for itself - of course... So it was decided to build a new city as Australia's capital. A design contest was won by an architect (with major help from his wife who remained unmentioned...) basing the outline of the city on circles. Construction started in 1913. About 400'000 people live there - and according to Lonely Planet the share of government employees has dropped below the 50% mark nowadays...

a capital way out of the way

Doesn't it look a bit like Zurich?
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Canberra's setting in the landscape resembles very much Zurich with hills surrounding it and a lake in the centre (though artificial here). The city makes a deserted impression on me. At night it's just dead. During the day there is some life in the shopping area and at the major sights due to bus-loads of schoolchildren on a visit to their capital.

There is one thing I definitely don't understand concerning Canberra. Even a hundred years after its foundation it's still way out of most of the traffic network. To get from Melbourne to Canberra by train I first took a train to Albury which actually stopped in Wangaratta because the final part of the track is in too bad a condition for trains. So we had to change to a bus. There were two full buses going to Albury (population approx 70'000) and my - almost empty - bus fortunately direct to Melbourne. There is no train track between Albury and Canberra anyway... The major Highway between Melbourne and Sydney bypasses Canberra by about 100 km as does the railway track. Seeing that I'm not surprised that Canberra is struggling to become a decent capital. However, it's not only the building of a new capital that lacks in concept, foresight and vision, it's something I'd almost call typically Australian. So often there were some good ideas in the beginning but badly thought out. This is in stark contrast to Singapore where I often had to say "well done", "well thought out".

There is a good live music scene - here at the Phoenix on Monday night.
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Apart from the deadness in the streets and the difficulties to get there it's actually a cool city with quite a few things to do and see as well as an own character different and not imitating Sydney or Melbourne. Maybe because of defiance? The best option to get around is by bike since distances between the places are not so pedestrianfriendly - the upside of this, however, is that there's a lot of green space in the centre that I often missed in other Australian cities..

Not many tourists make it here. Somehow it lacks the attraction such as glamour (Sydney - Opera House), the natural beauty (Cairns - Barrier Reef, beaches),

There is an Aboriginal "Embassy" just outside the old parliament house (not in use anymore (the parliament house :-) )but popular with tourists, since the new one is based on a good idea but an awful finishing)
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the multi-culti thing (Melbourne), the remoteness (Alice Springs).  However, for me the major attraction is that it's a purpose built and designed city what makes it quite unique. I would go there again :-)