Canberra

Day 1 - Eliza's mum met us and took us on a tour of Canberra, including a trip up Mt Ainslie for a view across Canberra. She then dropped us off in town to meet Eliza. In the vening we went out to dinner at their local chinese with Eliza's brother and his family. It was a lovely evenng. Quite interesting because it was a BYO style restaurant where you take your own wine. On our way home we went up Mt Ainslie again for a night view of the town... and we saw a possum.

Day 2 - After a leisurely wake up, we headed off to a town called Berrima - a historic village, made famous by its jail. We mooched in and out of shops, had a meal in a pub - where Eliza's boyfriend (who met us there) surprised her with a birthday cake. We ended our trip by going into an old house(very English) called Harper's Mansion - with a walk in maze, and we didn't get lost. On our way back we stopped at Gouldbourn for hot chocolate in Paragon cafe. Quite famous I believe!

day 3 - The selwyn mountains - o luck with kangaroo spotting yesterday, so today was the day we had to see some - and we did!!! We drove along the snowy mountain highway, stopping at Adaminaby (with a big fish) for a cup of tea and some dips. Gradually as the journey progressed we came across snow! Patchy at first, then heaps. We arrived at Selwyn Snow fields where we hired a toboggan and snow tubes - awesome fun. We got plenty of free go's too. A beautiful day with very deep blue sky... and then for the long drive home.

Day 4 - last day at Eliza's. Gorgeous breakfast of pancakes and milky coffee. We then headed into the Civic center for a spot of shopping while Eliza went to uni. When we met up again, Eliza took us to the war memorial museum. The walls are made of tiny 1cm mosaic tiles. It was then packing time and good bye. Such a great time, and I was very sad to ay bye. However, onwards to Bruce, and a stay with Claire where we had a relaxing eveing with curry for dinner.

Day 5 - set off for a cultural day in Canberra. Claire dropped us off before she went ot work. We covered the National Art gallery with some very cool aboriginal pieces, Old parliament, state library for lunch and then a walk around lake burley griffin. On our way round we stopped in at regatta point where there was a very interesting exhibition on the making of Canberra. We saw heaps of wildlife, providing plenty of photo stops. We went on past Captain Cooks fountain, Blundells cottage and finally the corillion - a very cool building. We finished the day with dinner and games - Perudo and Buzz.

Day 6 - for once, a lie in! After breakfast we headed off to the zoo for the morning. Some really cool wildlife, plus all your normal animals, however we did wake up a wombat - how cute! In the evening we went to the cinema. This was one of the highlights - It's called a Dendy cinema, where we wathced Harry Potter - but it was a cinema with a difference. It had reclining chairs, waiter service at a time we chose - they delivered us a meal, bottle of wine... why don't we have anything like this in England???

Day 7 - final day in Canberra, shiobhon drove us to Ginenderra village where we had a wonder round some shops. We then met Claire for lunch, and finally finished the afternoon with a tour round new parliament, the Australian institute of sport and a posh meal at Axis in the National museum.