Day 114 to 116

Days 114, 115 & 116 Canberra

Sunrise Renmark

Ever the chick magnet

Well I have been a bit remiss in my blogging. We have spent the last 2 days driving to get to Canberra. Last I blogged we were in Renmark. We had our BBQ and watched the local birdlife on the river. We are beside the Murray River and it is just beautiful. The following day we had breakfast sitting outside on the deck chairs. As we were finishing off, a mother duck with her 6 ducklings came ambling up and asked for crumbs. She was gorgeous. The ducklings would come right up and we ended up feeding them 2

Selfy at Renmark

Weir at Renmark

slices of bread before they had enough and wondered off to the river for a drink. We upped pegs and headed East. This was always going to be a long days drive and we were on the road by 9:30. We headed off to Mildura as our first check point. We passed through a lot of small towns. This area is famous for its fruit and I had expected it to be a lusher than what it was. The ground was very scrubby and full of mulga. It is nothing like the Bridgetown or Donnybrook of WA, very flat and dry looking.

Lunch break

Cows on the road

We drove through Mildura and headed on. Hay was our next landmark and we blew through there as well and headed on. Our stopover was at Narrandera. We pulled in there at about 5:30 and set up camp. It had been a long day with 8 hours on the road, but it had broken the back of the drive. We were both very tired and tomorrow we would be in Canberra. Today we also saw our first black cows just like the road sign

Narrandera

Changing scenery

said and they were all over the road, hundreds of the buggers were just wondering along with no one around. Trucks pushing their way through, I hope they get taken off at night as they would be a nightmare for drivers as you would not see them.

Our expedition headed for Canberra, we had to go through Gundagai and of course pat the dog. We drove into Gundagai to have lunch and it was a lovely town. We had lunch with Dad and Dave and

Roads in Gundagai

Lunch with Dad Dave Mum and Mabel

Mum and Mabel statues looking on. The town is on the side of a hill so it was a bit daunting with the van. Back on the highway and 5 miles from town was the dog sitting on his tucker box. A quick photo opportunity and away we went, into the mountains. Poor old Trude was working hard today with all the hills steep both up and down 40kmh going up 120kmh going down hill! But as the true lady she is, she handled it all so well. At our stopover last night, we spoke with a couple who had just come from

Maureen with dog on the Tucker box

The Beasst at Parliment House

there and told us that it was very busy and many of the park sites were full. So onto the internet to look up the options. We rang a few but all the Canberra ones were full. Our neighbours said they stayed in Queanbeyan 12kms away from Canberra Central. We gave it a ring and they had a site for us, so decision made. We drove through Canberra and into Queanbeyan. Navigation was a bit scratchy as there was no map that detailed how to drive through Canberra into NSW and Queanbeyan. Fortunately I had written a

Looking towards Old Parliment House

Maureen at entrance

few directions down and armed with those we negotiated Canberra and found our way to the camp site. Right on the river and only a small place of about 30 or 40 sites.

We had been in touch with friends Angela and Grant Tomlinson and their two kids Marcus and Lucy, both of whom Maureen had taught, the kids, not the parents. They were at Parliament ^th time it has rained for us in the whole last 4 months!

Tapestry in Great Hall

Maureen with Tapestry

House watching Question Time and we agreed to meet at Jamie’s Italian Restaurant for dinner. Sounded good, agreed but had no idea where it was or how to get there. Once again it was onto the internet. Jamie Oliver’s Italian Restaurant was found and once again we scratched a few directions and we headed off, once again, we found our way there and had a delightful dinner. It was good to catch up with friends from

Original Painting

Main Foyer

home and chat. Whilst we were there, it rained. It did not seem too bad or heavy and soon passed. As it turned out, back at the camp site, it bucketed down and the site was flooded. Campers were swimming around and water was sheeting off everywhere! Maureen had hung out our washing just before we left so it was soaking! This has been only about the 4

Where Parliment sits

Courtyard

Today, we went into Parliament House. We parked under the building and unloaded the Beast. We then drove up the ramp, into the lift and into Parliament House. I must say, the staff were wonderful. They checked it out at security, got some simple advice from a guide and away we went. We went to the café and had some lunch as the tour we were going on started at 1. The café was great and we were ^nd December.

Press conference

Where the Senate sits

soon under way. The tour guide was Mike who comes from Denmark originally gave us a guided tour. We went into the Great Hall which lived up to its name. We then went to both Houses, Senate and Legislative Assembly who have all gone home for the week. We had wanted to go to question time but they do not sit again until the 2

We did the tour and then we were left on our own. I must admit that I always thought the building

Gough Whitlams portrait

Maureen's new ring

would be big, but it is just lovely. They have a copy of the Magna Carte here, 1 of only 2 originals outside of England. They have some lovely art work on the walls. We went up to the top and they have this big grassed area on the roof below the flag pole. There is just too much to list here. Needless to say we left at 5 pm on the dot with them closing the doors behind us, literally! I must admit, we did leave our mark at Parliament House. As we were rushing to get into the lift to go out, I misjudged the pole in front of

Maureen and her new BFF

Our copy of the Magna Carte

me and bang! There is one granite pole that tangled with the Beast and has the scars to prove it! We hurried into the lift before security came to arrest us. There were so many interesting things to see like all the portraits of past Prime Ministers. I know we go on about the swapping and changing of PM lately but it went on a lot in the beginning when you see how many were in for a year, then out, then back again for year. Gough Whitlam has this really abstracty portrait of him because he refused to have a sitting so they got this weird one instead. There is also the shortest serving PM, no not height but time. After Harold Holt died, as deputy PM, he stepped in and 5 days later his party

On the roof

Me under the flag

swapped him out, but he was still PM.

In the great hall there is this massive Tapestry of one of Arthur Boyd’s paintings of a forest scene. It is huge and covers one wall. Maureen was fascinated by it. When the tapestry group were doing the work, Haley’s Comet was in the sky and they included that into the design. The tapestry hangs over a set of doors that if you open them you go into a long passageway that leads directly to the PMs office and in fact if you open them up and the front doors, he can sit at his desk and see all the way through the building and down to the old Parliament House and straight at the War Memorial. The flag on top of the flag pole I 10m x 6m and it still looks too small.

Dinner with us and Alf

Dinner with us and Marg

After defacing Parliament House and reloading the Beast back into Trude, we headed back to base. Maureen had spotted a car with Mandurah plates a few spots down from us and went to say hello. Turns out Marg and Alf were from Falcon and they had a chat. Maureen said we had intended to walk down town for dinner and they recommended the Leagues club there, so we took that in and decided we would have a look. We walked into town and Maureen dropped into the supermarket for some bread and we went over to the Leagues club and went in. it is like a small casino with the gambling areas and a restaurant to one side. We sat down and ordered our tea and in walked Marg and Alf. They had decided to follow their own advice and came there too. We sat together and had a good chat. They are both retired and know a few common friends such as Pat Klaus so we chatted on until they were literally putting up chairs on tables, very subtle hint. We left about 11 and walked home together, a very nice night.