Canberra

Emily and I visited Australia’s capital city Canberra this weekend. Most of the Australians and other travellers we’d spoken to said it wouldn’t be very interesting, so we went with low expectations - but it was great! The city has been put together well - it wasn’t even planned until 1912, and the main lake that forms the centre-piece of the city (Lake Burley Griffin) was only created in 1964. Some of the buildings are gorgeous, especially the War Memorial and Parliament Building. On the other hand, some of them were just awful (I’m looking at you, National Museum), and worth checking out just for the shock value.

There is also a superb Deep Space Communication Centre 35km South of town, with an excellent exhibition on the Mars Rovers. Geek that I am, I’ve been following the Rover’s exploits since they landed on Mars in January, so I was thrilled to find a life size model of the Spirit Rover.

Our verdict - Canberra is a hit!

On a personal note, I now have an Apple Mac on my desk. I am therefore a very happy camper. Its only a G4 running Mac X version 2, but I love it so. Might just be enough to keep me satisfied until I can get home and get hold of a Apple Powerbook. Mmmm, Apples….