To Canberra and Back

My posts recapping my trip to the Northern Territory have been postponed since I had my weekend trip to Canberra coming up really fast after I got back to Sydney. On Saturday, I was off to Kings Cross central station to catch the Greyhound Bus to Canberra where I made plans to meet my penpal Melissa! I was really excited, as it had been 12 years since we first met when I came to Australia on my last trip. I was trying to remember when we first became penpals, and I think it was back in 1996 or so, quite a long time ago now, hard to believe!

Patrick and I decided to catch the 6am bus to Canberra. It meant getting up at 4:30am which was a bit painful, but we would arrive in Canberra 9:15am, which was a good time of day. I slept most of the bus ride, the seats were nice and comfy, and I realized when I woke up how high up we had travelled, cuz my ears were plugged. It was partly due to the fact that I was getting over a cold, but you could see the terrain was much more hilly.

Melissa arrived at the station to meet me and Patrick right on time. She came with her boyfriend Eamon, and her brother Ben. I never met Ben before, but I knew all about Mel`s family from years of correspondance, so it was cool to meet another member of the family! Ben was going to be our unofficially private tour guide for the morning! Apparently he had past experience, and knew a lot about the city, so we felt like VIPs ;). First we drove around the different landmarks, Canberra has plenty as it is a pre-planned city. All of the parks and housing districts are picture-perfect! We drove around all of the different embassies, then made way up to the War Memorial, definitely one of Canberra`s highlights! Anzac Day was celebrated recently here in Australia, so there were still wreaths and poppies all around the tomb of the unknown solider and along the walls of the honor. I must say, the War Memorial in Canberra is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen! On the top platform where the wall of honor is, opens into a courtyard which looks down to the main street lined with flowered parks and other memories commemorating other battles of the past, and it continues all the way down to the other side of the city centre where you see the parliament buildings. Inside the tomb of the soldier, I was told that in the cathedral ceiling, there`s a small pin-prick of a window, which on November 11, the sun shines in directly above casting light onto the tomb. It`s all beautifully planned. After looking around outside, I toured the inner exhibits, featuring WWI, WWII, and aviation exhibit, and other battles that were of great importance in Australia. I realized I didn`t know very much about Australia`s role during the war.

After the war memorial, we had lunch at a little cafe, where we had chicken sandwiches, then made way to Mel and Eamon`s house. They have a beautiful little 2-bedroom house with a nice backyard on the northern edge of the city. That`s when we met Fred. Fred is Mel`s 8 month old shihtzu, and is he ever a cutie with bundles of energy! We had a really fun time just watching him run around.  As soon as he comes inside, he`s jumping in your lap trying to give you a lick-attack lol. We also discovered that he likes socks! Patrick was being a tease and would dangle foot in front of Fred, who`d then work at trying to pull it off.

That evening, we sent to the Canberra NRL stadium and watched the Melbourne Storms versus the Canberra Raiders. It was an interesting game, as the big news in Australia right now is how the Melbourne team lost their reputation when it was discovered their players were being over-paid, above the legal salary-cap. There was still quite a few Storm fans though, and in the end, they did win. It was great to see my first NRL rugby game!

On Sunday, I took the opportunity to sleep in a bit. When we finally all got up, we made our way to the Canberra craft and antique markets. It was a really nice sunny day and the markets were very busy! We took a couple hours to look around, and ended up buying a glass-bead handmade necklace as a souvenir as well as an amazing glass of homemade apple cider! Patrick bought homemade bread and a date-loaf. Afterwards, we drove around to see some more sites, including the huge radio tower at the top of the mountain to get a birdseye view of the city. Before getting ready for our ride back to Sydney, we had a late lunch at a jazz-cafe which was really nice! I had homemade minestrone soup, one I hope to be able to remake it was just that good, along with some different homemade dips (carrot and dill, beetroot, and hummus).

All in all it was a great weekend getaway, and it was so great to see and catch up with Mel again! I mentioned that if she ever comes up to Canada, to definitely give me a call :)

Time to watch the end of the hockey game... looks like game 1 may not be going to the Habs, oh well. Pictures will come soon..!