A busy day in Canberra today and not just for us. The Queen was in town and even though it was a Sunday, sleepy Canberra was abuzz.
The busy day for us included Cockington Gardens, a cruise past some of the embassies, a tour of Parliament House, a look at the old one too, the Carillon, lunch at La Porchetta, checked out the view from the Telstra Tower on Black Mountain and finally the War Museum. Oh and we bumped into the Queen along the way too.
First stop was Cockington Gardens, where the small things count. The place is full of miniatures. Some are replicas of real buildings and others are examples of a particular style.
There is an enormous amount of work that has gone into each one and the work is ongoing. Continuous repairs would need to be done on the buildings, but the gardens are a massive workload. The grass is a special breed that has small leaves so it looks correct next to the buildings and needs to be mowed twice a week to maintain the look.
All the plants too are special dwarf varieties that need constant attention. There’s even a small ivy variety growing on the side of some of the buildings. Plenty to see!
Many of the models are working and, since there is a button to push, are capable of holding the attention of my two sugar coated munchkins.
Our next plan was to have a drive around past some of the embassies, just to check em out. We’d done a little of that when we got stuck at a set of lights … then the lights went orange and the Queens motorcade came thru! By the time we figured out what was happening she flew past, resplendent in a nice yellow number. I wasn’t quick enough on the camera to get a decent shot.
Next stop, Parliament House.
We had a quick run around in there (and on the roof). Checked out the green and red rooms and most of the artworks scattered about the place. Getting a little close to lunchtime now so our bellies started doing the navigating.
We were quite lucky that all the pollies were elsewhere, we just about had the place to ourselves.
A drive-by of the Carillon, just in time to hear it being played, set the scene for lunch. La Porchetta served up a couple of pizzas that refueled us all quite well.
On the way back into town we took a side trip up Black Mountain and went up the Telstra Tower to check out the view and wash down lunch with a cappuccino.
Even though it was a lovely sunny day in Canberra it managed to be pretty windy up the tower. I’m sure its always windy up here …
Last stop of the day was the War Memorial.
We stayed there until they kicked us out at closing time and could have easily spent another few hours there. Heaps to see. Plenty of light and sound shows that chew up the time, but are really worth watching … so you do.
Leaving us in no doubt that it was time to leave they started playing the bagpipes. In the hall of memory the sound was crisp, clear and a touch eerie. A very solemn experience.
Moving again tomorrow … but we’ve still got a few things to see here!
So we’re not sure how far out from Canberra we’ll get, but we’ll end up somewhere …