Whenever we would meet someone from Australia, we would lay out our Aussie trip plan. Inevitably, when we would mention Canberra (pronounced Can-bra), they would look at us quizzically and ask, “Why are you going there? It's nice and all but...why?” Because we can, that's why. Philly style!
Canberra is the capital of Australia, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in the South East of the country. Unlike most of the other popular destinations in the country, it is not on or near a beach. Lake Burley Griffin divides the city, if that means anything, though I didn't see any beaches on it. It's also a planned city. The main area of the city, called City West oddly enough, is a series of nested hexagons that radiate out from what I guess is supposed to be a park and monument but was really just a large construction zone when we were there. This is the area we inhabited for two nights in a fairly nice hostel.
Look, a bland picture of the waterfront. The famous Capt. Cook water jet memorial thing was not working or this picture would be 1000% less bland. What a drag.
A tower on a hill. Don't know what it is, didn't go there and never asked, but it is in Canberra so #relevant.
There was quite a bit of construction going on in general. I guess once you plan a city you actually have to build it. Which is difficult when people keep arguing for like 100 years about how it should be built. Construction aside, it was a pretty walkable city with wide avenues of pedestrian-only areas and many open spaces. There aren't a ton of tall buildings around so it feels very spacious.
Many of the avenues, parks, and views are aligned in ways that, you know, only planned cities can do. The Parliament House, Old Parliament House, Reconciliation Place and monument, a view across the lake up Anzac Parade, the Australian War Memorial, and, finally, Mount Ainsley all make a big ol’ line stretching across the city. There are a few sculptress and parks thrown in there for good measure as well. It kind of reminded me of Washington DC, which is also a capital city! Coincidence? Probably.
Looking down Anzac Parade at the two Parliament buildings and The Reconciliation Memorial. There is a strange, deconstructionist Eiffel Tower over the New Parliament Building.
The Reconciliation Memorial with the lake, a tiny Anzac Parade, War Memorial, and Mount Ainsley all lining up. It's almost as if it was all planned out...
After taking a few minutes to soak in the long straight view of roads, parks, and buildings, we went to the National Portrait Gallery. The eight rooms are well filled with prominent Australian historical figures but it was the first and last rooms that held my interest the most.
The first gallery is home to contemporary portraits. These aren't your run of the mill, unsmiling white person on dark background portraits. It is a collection of an astounding variety of styles and poses and colors. Prominent doctors, scientists, athletes, and even a movie star (Hugo Weaving AKA Elrond AKA Mr. Smith) are featured. I'd show you some pics but I tend not to take pictures of art (for purely holier-than-thou reasons).
The last gallery was a special collection of portraits of famous women in Australia's history. This collection was also a cacophony of styles and even featured a video portrait of Kate Blanchett (also an elf!). Our time at the museum came to a close with an acapella group belting out a few old ass tunes as we mosied out.
This was in neither of the aforementioned rooms but I liked it nonetheless.
And this one looks like my friend's mom. Hi, Mrs. Richmond!
We completed our circuit of the city by walking across the Kings Ave Bridge and up Anzac Parade to the War Memorial. Monuments to soldiers from all of the wars in which Australia has been a participant line the parade leading up to the main memorial building. Unfortunately, we took our sweet time getting there so it was closed when we arrived. It was still a nice space and there were crazy cockatoos screaming and flying through the parks around the building. To top off the day, we made our way from the bird fight area over to a brewery that had some really nice beers on tap and ate a fine dinner.
A monument to WWI soldiers on Anzac Parade. There are a LOT of WWI memorials in Australia.
A piece of the interesting Vietnam Memorial.
An awesome, tear-inducing memorial to military dogs, mostly bomb sniffers, who lost their lives in service.
The war memorial building. Really neat on the outside, not sure about the inside, we didn't go in.
These guys are really loud and fly all over the place. They are kinda pretty though.
Canberra has quite a nice nightlife for a smallish city and the City Walk is very lively. We stayed directly above a bar’s parking lot and could hear people leaving in the early hours. It was nothing compared to living above the Cuff for 8 months but it was still kind of loud at 2 or 3 in the morning. We went to one bar that had relatively OK beer and talked to a really drunk kiwi construction worker. He told us about traveling around and trying out for minor league rugby teams and sleeping in cars and stealing food. At some point, he got up abruptly and left. He was a bit strange but interesting for a half-hour conversation. After that, we danced to an 80’s cover band because, you know, it's still the eighties in Australia and New Zealand. Much to my excitement, they did play one of my karaoke faves - INXS’ Need You Tonight. The next morning, we went to Yelp's highest rated brunch spot, drank fancy coffee, and ate some pretty good (and really sugary) breakfast treats.
This has nothing to do with the nightlife but it was in a gallery and it looked cool. It's a chandelier made out of uranium representing the nuclear energy output of a country.
And I just like this picture of random cool architecture in the city. #Dealwithitgif
The capital was worth a short visit despite the apprehensions of all our new Aussie friends. We probably could have spent another day walking around as we didn’t get a chance to visit some of the other art galleries and, more importantly, other breweries. I liked the place and seeing planned cities is something that has always interested me. Next, we head into the wild and crazy* outback** of Tasmania!
*not actually wild and crazy
**not really an outback either