It was a 4 hour bus ride to Canberra. My first impressions walking through the city were that it was really quiet. The YHA hostel there was nice and had a swimming pool and dry sauna. I had an early dinner then met a girl who wanted to go out for a drink. We asked reception if there was anything to do in Canberra on a Tuesday evening and they said karaoke at a local bar is the only thing going on. We went to the bar and it was closed for the holidays! Canberra seems to be a University town and whilst there were no students about due to it being summer holidays, it was very quiet at night. We went to an Irish bar that was mentioned in guidebooks but again that was quiet so we just hung out on the roof with people from the hostel.
Weds 4th and Thurs 5th January – I had a lie in on Wednesday and chilled out all day. In the late afternoon I went to the Canberra museum and gallery which was small and not very good, but at least it was free so I didn’t spend too long there. On Thursday I woke up early and took the bus to the Telstra Tower in Black Mountain which has nice views over the city.
From there I walked to the botanic gardens which were nothing special. I walked over to Capital Hill to see Parliament House as well as Old Parliament House on the way. I did a guided tour at Parliament House which was good, but I did end up falling asleep when we sat down in the House of Senate! Afterwards I took a long walk around Lake Burghley Griffin which was beautiful and had a nice walking track. In the evening I swam in the hostel swimming pool and used the sauna which was very relaxing and a treat after such a long day!
Fri 6th January - As the hostel charged for storing luggage a girl in my room offered to let me keep my bags there whilst I went out for the day and waited for my night bus to Melbourne, so that was handy. I took a bus to the Mint and looked at the Australian coin-making process. When I got back to town I walked over to the ANZAC memorial which is noted as a big tourist attraction in the city. This was a lovely building and the walk down ANZAC Parade was particularly nice as it had a lot of memorials along the way to commemorate the lives of Australians and Kiwis who’d died in the Vietnam and World Wars. I walked along the edge of Lake Burghley Griffin again to see the Captain Cook Memorial Jet (which is a large jet of water in the middle of the lake that is turned on for a few hours a day), and then walked to the National Museum of Australia. This was really big and had lots of interesting exhibits but unfortunately I only had 40 minutes until closing time, and I was quite tired so didn’t fully appreciate the museum. In the evening I had a few hours to wait at the hostel until my midnight bus to Melbourne. Although there wasn’t much to see and do in Canberra, I’m glad I went and saw the capital.
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