Day 298 - Monday 23 October - On to the nations capital

Day 298

Monday

23 October - We have now set foot in every mainland state/territory and the corresponding capital city during our travels this year.

Corrimal Beach – Sutton - Canberra

I wasn’t interested in welcoming the day, when Paul returned from the loo, throwing open the blind so he could read while I sunk further under the covers. I did eventually have to get out and go to the loo too and returned to read my book for a while.

Paul went off for a shower and I read for a little longer before also making a move knowing he would be keen to pack and go. We had breakfast and then he ushered me off for a shower, when I returned he was ready to put the car on. I tidied up inside and then at 9.30 we pulled out of the caravan park.

After stopping at a BP to fill up the van, we made our way towards Canberra. I rang a caravan park just inside the NSW border and booked in for the next 5 days and then we proceeded to follow the Hume Highway passing the inland towns with rolling green hills and pasture spread out before us.

We passed over the Nepean River, via a bridge we had driven when heading to Mittagong. At the time we had passed a man sitting on the wrong side of the barrier and staring down the drop below to the rocky, riverbed below. Another man was there talking to him and a couple was off the bridge making what looked like a very concerned phone call. We don’t know the outcome but hoped he was coaxed back over.

The drive to our caravan park in Sutton took 2 ¾ hours, some of the journey was smooth, but he damn concrete sections were bumpy and as rough as aircraft suffering turbulence with us being thrown all over the place.

We passed a field of wind turbines, none of them spinning and joked that Tony Abbot had been by and super glued them in place, heaven for bid we actually had a renewable energy creating power.

It was long after, we arrived in the semirural suburb of Sutton on the NSW side of the border with the ACT. We checked in at 12.15pm and were shown our site an easy to get into drive-thru site on flat ground. We still have memories of our caravan park in Queenbeyan when we came through in 2003, up on a steep and hill and very tight, so we were pleased it was nothing like that.

We set up the van before having lunch and then heading the 15km into Canberra and the edge of Lake Burley Griffin. We parked in paid parking and then proceeded on foot to the water’s edge. Just like last time we could see carp swimming around.

The weather had stepped it up, it was warm and he sky was a brilliant blue with the odd fluffy cloud. We began our walk of the lake. We had and until 3pm, 1 ½ hours, to walk before the ticket expired. Paul rang Ian as we walked to organise our catch up and I rang home to check in and let them know where we were.  

I took in the sights of the various capital buildings, museum, science and of course the parliamentary building, not much has changed since we were last here. There is however, far less military presence, with no gun ships flying over head for when we were here in 2003, the American President was due in town, thank god we aren’t expecting the new one this time around.

We made our way over the bridge to the other bank, passing the large buildings and taking in the view of the buildings on the other side, namely the war memorial. 

There were plenty of people out enjoying the lake, many of the running or jogging, which was far too energetic for me, walking being far more preferable and giving me time to check it all out. Paul however was seeing the time tick by and we needed to pick up the pace.

We crossed the other bridge and began our walk back towards the car. I took some photos of the bell tower, which sits on a small island just off the edge of the lake. We finally made it back to the car with 4mins to spare.

We drove the car into the centre of the city and parked once again, completing a short walk through the shopping mall where there was some interesting sculptures and murals. We located an Irish pub and decided to stop in for a quick drink that was needed after the 5km walk in the sun.

As we only had 30min of parking, we needed to make it a quick drink and then walk back to the car. We continued on, stopping at a Woollies along the way and then we crossed back over the state line and on to our van.

After unpacking, I went through the photos, while Paul read his book.By 5 we were looking to get back out and stretch the legs. We did a wander around the park, noting the large number of kangaroos calling this home also. Paul's magic gun finger was armed and back in action. He should have been using it on the kids. Turns out this park hosts school camps and there were at least three schools in. We were glad we were away from their cabins and hoped that they would be out and about most days soaking up the education experience. In the meantime we were so glad it wasn't us and sympathised dearly with the teachers having to take the rowdy bunches out in public. We hoped they had enough alcohol to numb the pain. 

We returned to the van so I could collect the computer and then we waked to the outdoor deck over looking the lake where I could log into the internet. It soon became apparent that it was going to be a slow process. 

I did what I could until I was cold and over it and I couldn’t be bothered hanging around and we returned to the van. I used my phone data to load the last few bits and then we got on with dinner. After our meal we sat around reading before I opted to continue in bed. Fun and games were happening our amongst the school groups with screams ringing out at 9am, Paul and I just looked at each other glad we weren’t in charge and also thankful that it didn’t continue into the night and we were able to drift off.