Day 77 Canberra

The cold is finally with us in earnest.  There are no more trips to the toilet without rugging up in snow jackets and warm footwear.  Canberra is freezing.  The kids are no longer sleeping in anticipation of the snowfields, so today could well  be interesting for that fact alone. 




Lisa and I had done a little bit researching and found a couple of things to do during the day and set off nice and early for the War Memorial.  I wasn't sure about this, as I know my dad will rib me about touring around to see dead people.  We arrived before it was open, and spent an hour walking around the grounds looking at the sculptures and memorials.


There are some very striking fountains and artworks in the grounds like this reflecting pool.


Emma was amazed to find a pony (Donkey) in the grounds.  We told Emma the story of Simpson and his Donkey.  This brave soldier arrived at Gallipoli as a stretcher bearer before commandeering a donkey on his second day.  Simpson survived for 3 weeks, rescuing some 300 ANZACs before being killed. He represents the bravery and spirit of the Australian soldier. 


Donkey's nose is shiny from all of the kids patting him.


From the war memorial, you can see all the way down the parade ground to Old Parliament House in the foreground, and the grandiose New Parliament House in the Background.  All politics and opinions aside, it is a very inspiring view.


There are memorials all along the left and right side of the parade. 


It has the same feeling of Washington DC with its wide mall leading to the Capitol Building.


Further around the grounds, they have the bridge from HMAS Brisbane, and one of the forward guns.  The bridge is accessible through the memorial.  We also came across a large railway gun which was captured by Australians in the second world war, and this tank which saw active duty in Vietnam. 


It was finally opening time though, so we headed around to the entry to see what was inside.


I was expecting a Kings Park type war memorial with a remembrance wall and tributes to our soldiers which is what greets you upon entering the memorial.


There is an amazing symmetry about the building, and later we were to find out that the memorial is in the shape of a cross with its two wings, extending from the grave of the unknown soldier.


Lisa and I managed to tag onto the back of a tour that had just begun, and they walked us back past the reflecting pool with all of the theatres of combat listed around the archways.


The grave of the unknown soldier is in the domed cathedral at the end.  This grave of the unknown soldier contains the remains of a soldier recovered from France.  There was no attempt to identify the remains, and he represents all of the soldiers that are lost during wartime, who have no fixed grave.


Along the walls of the terraces are the names of the soldiers who have given their lives in service of our country from the Boer War to Afghanistan and Iraq.  People wanting to show their respect leave poppies next to the soldiers names.


This is a very sobering place to stand, and the enormity of the symbolism is quite tangible.  It is hard not to be moved by the sacrifice that these people made to preserve our rights and freedoms.


The tour took us to the grave of the unknown soldier.  The cathedral is amazing, clad in a mosaic of over 6 million tiles.  There are 4 large murals in the mosaic for Nurses, Airforce, Army and Navy.  The cathedral dome is also very symbolic and completed in amazing detail some 18 metres above the floor.

To complement the mosaic walls, there are also 3 sets of stained glass windows that are glazed with amazing detail.  The doorway leading in, is in direct alignment with the Prime Minister's office at the New Parliament House, and the survey marker points are still in place.

 The tour continued back inside the main building, and I was a bit stunned to find out that it goes on, and on, and on...It would take days to go through all of the exhibits, and read the information provided.  At the top of the museum is an exhibit dedicated to bomber command, and George the Lancaster is housed here.  George successfully flew 73 missions returning her crew safely each time.  There is a Japanese submarine (similar to the sub that entered Sydney Harbour), Spitfire, Meschersmitt 109, Hurricane, Sopwith Camel, Vickers and many other aircraft.


There are similar sized exhibits for the WWI campaign, and the WWII campaign with dioramas depicting battle scenes, uniforms, weapons and stories about the history of the war.  There is an amazing painting of the Menin Gate, where 55000 British and Australian soldiers lost their lives.  The red poppy grows wild here, and thus became a symbol of the sacrifice of the men and women at war.  In the painting, there are ghostly figures rising from the ground, and inside the actual gates the names of all of the soldiers who died there are inscribed.  There were two lions that had sat at the gate for over 600 years which now reside at the entry to the Australian War Memorial.


This is a must do visit if you are in Canberra, and you need at least 4-6 hours just to get around quickly.  There was an interactive section where the kids got to sit in the cockpit of a helicopter, crawl through the trenches and search for a ship in a submarine periscope.  There are short movies about many of the exhibits (George the Lancaster, The history of air warfare, and a simulation of a night bombing run).


We were short on time though, so we went to the car for some lunch, and drove across to the New Parliament House.


The building itself is set into the hill with lawns that are laid over the top.  The design allows for the public to access parliament, and to be able to walk over the roof.  The symbolism of this is that the government should never be above the people.  Kind of cool really.  Our coat of arms is depicted several different ways throughout Parliament House, with this Stainless Steel sculpture above the doorway.


Out the front, there is red open space to depict the red earth of our country, and a water feature.  There is an island in the middle of the water feature with an aboriginal dot artwork mosaic symbolising a water hole.  The rest of the grounds are grassed with bushland surrounding the hill.

Inside the grand foyer are marble pillars in green and brown Italian marble to symbolise the trees.  there are carvings depicting our native flora around the terrace.


We again were just in time for the free guided tour, and were shown around the great hall, The House of Representatives, and  The Senate.  I have to say, I now have a much better understanding of the workings of the parliament and the significance of the two houses. 


The House of Representatives from front on.  Our governing party sits to the Left (Or the right hand of the speakers chair) and the opposition sits on the Right (Or to the left hand of the speakers chair)


After the house of representatives which seats one member for each electoral district containing roughly the same number of people.  Durack in WA's Northwest, covers over 1 million square kilometres, whilst Windsor in NSW covers 30 square kilometres.  The down fall of the house of representatives is that most of the population lives in Victoria and New South Wales.  Enter the Senate.  Each state has 12 Senators (Except ACT and NT which have 2 each) and they are a balance to the government to prevent bias towards the states with high populations.  


Thus federation was achieved by having a fair and balanced parliament which was elected by and open to the people.  Supposedly!


Australia has one of 7 original handwritten documents of the Magna Carta which is the basis of our government system, and dates back to the 13 century.  It is valued at around $25 million US dollars


Pretty cool that we have this original document in Australia as it originated by King John's hand in England.


Here we are on top of parliament standing above the government...YOU WORK FOR ME JULIA!  RIGHT!


The flag on top of the pyramid spire is around the size of a double decker bus or a tennis court if you are a sporty person.  They take it down roughly every six weeks to repair, wash and replace as necessary...I don't think I would like that job.  The flag weighs 19 kilos...that's a lot of flag in anybody's book.


Our next stop was the Australian Mint. It was time to go where the money was. The Mint in Canberra produces coins only (Notes are Minted in Melbourne) but they have a significant facility for the task.

We walked up the cascading staircase of coins, and watched a movie on the history of Australian currency and the development of the current site in Canberra to a world class Mint.

Throughout the upper level is a gallery which overlooks the workings of the robotic presses, with rows of displays on anomalies in coin production, and special limited edition or unreleased coins.  Lisa and I strolled around for about an hour reading all of the displays.

The kids were getting a bit bored, so we made our way downstairs again, where Emma minted her own "Wheat Sheaf" dollar coin (Dated 2012 and stamped with a "C" for Canberra Mint)  She has stuck it in her journal.

Whilst we were walking around, we came across these old treasures.  Anyone remember the old paper money, and the coppers? 

I felt very old explaining to the kids that money looked like this when I was a kid. 

The kids were being very difficult...(Always one is playing up) so we left the Mint and went in search of our last stop for the day.

I have already posted a couple of photographs of the Telstra Tower on Black Mountain, but we decided to go to the tower near sunset and go up to the viewing platform.

We took the elevator to the top of the tower, and then climbed the stairs to the roof top viewing platform.  It was very brisk outside at 3 Deg C, with the wind howling at us at around 50kmh.  I tried to take a couple of photographs around the lookout, but the thought of Scones and hot coffee won over the view and I went back inside to the coffee shop.

The view inside was warmer than on the roof, but after a particularly strong latte, and some magnificent scones that required a stick to beat the kids off to enjoy a portion of myself, I had begun to thaw out.  We eventually let the kids go back to the roof on their own to get some peace, but they ran screaming through the tower (Curse red jam) and we had to restrain them at the table with us again.

One last time I braved the roof for some sunset photos, and by the time I came back inside, I was frozen through.  I think the results were worthwhile though. 

A quick trip home gave us a pretty big scare.  The oil light came on whilst descending from Black Mountain.  I have checked religiously for leaks and mechanical issues with the car throughout the trip. 

On returning to the caravan, I checked oil to find that it wasn't even registering on the dipstick.  DOH!  Consulting the manual my fears were put to rest, and 1 litre of oil was enough to completely top off the Prado.  18,000km of driving would account for some minor oil usage according to the owners manual...don't know if I'm completely convinced though...but still no leaks underneath so I am happy to go on until I get to the 10,000km service in Melbourne...which will be at 20,000km.  Ooops!