Canberra

We moved out of Orange on Thursday - and it was still cold and wet - never mind a part from the weather the place was really good - a real out of the reach Aussie Town (City). We went through to Cowra and looked at the Japanese gardens which were lovely and ended up having a little extra excitement for our money when the Cafe there set their fat vats on fire and ended up with the fire brigade up there putting it out - needless to say we didn't bother having morning tea there. We went for a ride up the Road where the old P.O.W camp was and they have rebuilt a guards tower but there was nothing else to see - apparently they are looking at reconstructing it which would be interesting.

We then moved on to Goulburn where Mike use to do some work when he was at Macpro (at the freezing works there). It was another neat town with some amazing old buildings - they are so lucky to have retained so many interesting buildings in such good condition and they are still used today. We went and saw the big marrino sheep which has been moved since Mike last saw it. Once again the weather wasn't being kind to us and it was extremely cold, windy and wet. This has totally blown our impression of Australia being a hot and dry country as in NSW there weather patterns seems exactly the same as NZ. But hey once you have had some cold weather it sure does make you appreciate the nice hot days ah!

After staying Thursday night in Goulburn we moved on to Canberra - it was only an hour down the road so nice short day of travel. What a neat City - so much to see and do. We went up to the Telstra Tower on Friday and had a good look around in the blustering winds and a good hot drink. Also had a quick look around the shopping centre - will have to return to it!
Saturday - we walked to the Farmers Market which is in the same area as the camping ground as we are staying at the Canberra Events Centre (they hold the Summernats here) then we went to the newer of the two Parliment Houses and did the tour around the inside - went for a walk on the grassed roof and all that - very interesting. . During the week we also want to do the War Memorial Museum (which is suppose to be brilliant) they say to allow a whole day to go through it. Mike also wants to look at the huge Science and Technology thing here where they have a lot of interaction type things - sounds like another all day type place ah!. We are planning on heading off on Wednesday but will play it by ear as like I said there is just so much to see here - and hey! to top it off the weather is being real kind to us - sunny - still a bit chilly but we can live with that when there is sun ah!

From here we plan to head towards the South Coast and get back by the ocean. We will work our way up the coast to the out skirts of Sydney - then find a base and use the trains to go into the City - everyone we have spoken to - told us not to try driving in the City as it is pretty hectic - so hey we will take there advise - Mike is very keen to avoid driving in the big cities after his experience in Brisbane ha! ha!