I am Write!

The day for the Canberra trip started off badly, with me getting up at 6.30 AM, and the bus scheduled to leave at 7.15!! Though I had put my alarm for 5.30, it didn't ring, due to some technical glitches, into which i don't want to get into. I rushed through my getting ready, grabbed some cornflakes, made a bunch of cheese sandwiches for the journey (I wasn't scheduled to come back till 9 in the night), and made a dash for gate 1, Anzac Parade, Uni. campus. As I entered the Uni. main walk, the clock was showing 7.10, and my heart pacing fast with the nbd that I've missed the bus :P. As soon as I reached the gate, I was glad to see the bus there, and when I got my name off the list, I realised that about 5 more people were still to arrive!!

Entering the bus, I could see it was half empty (later on it was informed our group was of 24 people only!), I grabbed a seat near a Russian girl. Finally at 7.15, on the dot, we left the campus. Our guide was a local girl called Cath (I thought its short for Catherine) and the driver, Peter (who kept looking at the map, once we entered Canberra!!). The drive was supposed to be a 4 hour one, and we were given the pleasure of watching Shrek to kill the time. And even though I have seen Shrek umpteen times, I have always found it funny! So, it was a nice experience once again! We made a stop for breakfast at about 9.00 AM, at a petrol pump near Marulan. In Australia, and for that matter any other 'developed' country, the choices found on road are so limited, you just get to see McDonalads, KFCs, Hungry Jacks and Burger King kind of restraunts! The concept of dhabhas are totally alien to these highways :(. So, this petrol pump had the facilities of a Hungry Jack, and I made my way to get a vegie burger and fries. Must say, the vegie burger at Hungry Jack is much better than the one at McDonalds. We got onto the bus in about half an hour, and back to watching Shrek.

At about 11 AM, we reached our first destination, Mt. Ainslie. This mountain (I would call it a hill :) ) is just north of Canberra and gives an excellent view of the city. I managed to get some nice pictures here.

Next, we made our way from here to the Australian War Memorial.

This picture was taken right from right in front of the War Memorial.

The memorial had a great description of the the world wars, and the mention of all the Aussies who have died in service.

Also, there were many 3-d models of the battles that Australian infantry took part in.

These models, with the written description made the battles come alive. Though I must say, I did feel cheated on the content they had on the airforce and the navy battles. Also, the lower level of the memorial, which had the mention of Australia in non-world war scenes was very restricted. Though, I liked the mention of all the armies that Australia has worked with.

One can see the Indian Flag right behind the Turkish one.

After seeing through the memorial, I made my way out to grab some lunch. The cheese sandwiches did get my stomach full. It was now that I got to shoot some pics that weren't related to the trip, the kind of street life that I am liking to my taste :).

I managed to get a couple before I was caught!!

The girl sitting was the one next to whom I was in the bus. The standing girl is supposed to be a friend of the sitting one. I did get a nice smile from her though! They then came down to ask whether I took a picture, and then gave me their email so that I could mail it to them :) That was kinda good.

Next on the route was the National Museum of Australia. This museum is not a contemprary kind of museum where you have things of the past. Australia, not having a long past (just 200 years), makes this museum different. The main themes are land, people and culture. Different depictions made the visit fun.

Different kinds of Post Boxes have been used in Australia, but all are red!

Running before the schedule, we had a chance to see the different embassies and consulates. We stopped at the Indian High Commission and the German Embassy.

Notice the fact that High Commission is written in the same way in hindi.

Next, due to extra time on hand, we made un scheduled stop Lake Burley Griffin. This lake, runs right through the city, is a man made lake, and named after designer of the city, Walter Burley Griffin. The lake has a 35 km shoreline, and it is a pleasure if you get a chance to walk by it. I did get a chance to shoot some pigeons by the lake.

Also, in this lake stands a lonely fountain, the Captain Thomas Cook fountain, in the memory of the dicoveror of this land.

After the taking of pictures, we made our way to the final stop, the Parliament House. We had a guided tour of the place. Going through the Lower House, or the House of Representatives, and the Upper House, the Senate, I realised there was little difference between the houses here, and the parliament at Westminister, London! Both have the greens and the reds in their houses. What I felt was a good thing was that over the house were the galleries for the public to watch. 3 galleries for the public, one for the press, and right above the public area, was the children area, sound proofed by glass. The children inside could listen to the discussion in the house via a one-way speaker system. A well planned place.

The highlight of the building was the roof. The concept of the building is that it is built around the Capital Hill, with the roof still being grass. The idea being that 'people can walk over their representatives' :)). An amazing view is what you get from the roof. Also on showcase at the Parliament were the potraits of all the past PMs of the country, the potrait of Queen Elizabeth II, when she came to Australia, in 1955, and the first constitution of the country, signed by Queen Victoria, by her own hand !!

Finally, we made our way back to the bus, and packed up to leave the capital land of Australia. We were to kill time by watching the movie "Pirates of the Carribean", a good movie. We made our dinner stop at Marulan, at about 6.30 PM, and I once again had a vegie burger with fries. Finally we reached back at about 9 PM and I walked the remaining distance on my own!

-aashish