New South Wales and ACT tour, part 2

We stayed overnight at Vic and Tova's on Saturday 18th - friends and ex work colleagues of Wendi and Derek's. On Sunday morning, Wendi and I set off early for Canberra, travelling on the Hume Highway. We had a coffee (and cake - pecan pie and ice cream for me) stop at the Old Bakery in Berima ('historic village') and arrived in Canberra in the middle of the afternoon, going straight to Barbara and David's flat. They are old friends of Wendi's. In fact, Barbara and Wendi were pen-friends from the age of 10 and first met in 1973, when Barbara visited the UK.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Parliament House in Canberra and took the free guided tour. This was surprisingly interesting - seat of Government and all that. It's a beautiful building, well-designed and crafted, with beautiful woods and marquetry panels. In fact, Canberra itself is surprisingly interesting - perhaps because of its artificiality. It was created for a particular purpose - to solve the battles between Melbourne and Sydney over which should host the seat of Government and be the capital city. When I told Sarah Hanson that I was intending to visit Canberra with Wendi, she was incredulous. When I said that both Mark and Wendi had recommended a visit, she said, 'Are they Australian?' in a tone which implied that no Australian would ever suggest a trip to Canberra. After Parliament House it was a quick trip to the National Museum of Australia (3 themes - land, nation and people) including the Circa - rotating cinema - which gives an overview of the themes using film (multi-screen) and other media. I liked the Museum too and could have happily spent longer there, but it was closing time. After this we drove up to the top of Mt Ainslie to look at the views over Canberra and Lake Burley Griffin, and the plains and mountains (the Snowies)beyond.

After a meal with Barbara and David, Wendi and I went to the cinema in Manuka to see Brokeback Mountain. It's a good film and very true to the book, which I read a few years ago. I've been thinking about it on and off ever since - the mark of a good film.

We spent the night in the Canberra Motor Lodge, on the edge of the Black Mountain Reserve. As the film didn't end until after 11.00 p.m. it was midnight by the time we parked up and set up the van for sleeping.

On Monday morning (20th) we went to the Australian Botanic Gardens and took the free guided tour there. It's very different to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne and Sydney, in both layout and content. Apparently it's the only botanic gardens in Australia which is stocked solely with native, indigenous plants (with the exception of an Acacia from Japan or somewhere).

Canberra: green, open spaces, water, light, reflections, order.

After Canberra it was on to Cootemundra, via Murrumbateman and Yass having a main street which has national heritage status - beautiful old, colonial style buildings.

I've already written a bit about Cootemundra - see earlier post. I participated in the Wrapertoire workshop that Wendi delivered there on Tuesday (21st), creating a statue of an African woman, holding a basket (there weren't any drums so I couldn't do that which was of course the preferred option, and there was no time to improvise). I enjoyed the workshop, though I always get scared about doing anything 'artistic' - scarred for life by art lessons at Sibford, which were routine humiliation if - like me - you couldn't draw or paint.

We had parked the camper van in Gemma and Tony's drive at Cootemundra. We woke on Tuesday morning to the sound of something hard hitting the roof of the van, followed by further hits and also sploshes in Hughie's paddling pool which was nearby. Wendi said they must be walnuts from the tree that we were parked under (for the shade). I got up to go to see what was going on. Just then Tony came out of the house - about to set off for work - and clapped his hands loudly, putting to flight the flock of cockies that had been attacking the walnuts.