Canberra – The National Capital was not a place that was on my radar to visit. A boring political city, I thought. Not a ‘real’ city that evolved organically, I thought. One that was planned and built just for governing Australia (I thought). I was wrong.

Encouraged by the allure of the Canberra Balloon Spectacular, visit I did. And fell in love with a beautiful city of wide avenues and stunning buildings. Filled with friendly people, a bustling modern city of dining and shops. Canberra – the national capital, is indeed not only worthy of a visit, but I actually plan on returning.

The history stuff…

Following Federation in 1901, the hunt was on for a national capital. Melbourne and Sydney both vied for the honour with fierce rivalry pushing both their cases forward. To solve this dilemma between the two cities, a compromise was written into the Australian Consitution. According to Section 125 of the Australian Constitution, the National Capital had to be no less than 160km (100 miles) from Sydney, but not in Sydney.

Thus the hunt for a location began. Canberra was chosen in 1909, legislated in 1911, and named as the capital of Australia on 12 March 1913.

An international design competition was launched and received 137 entries. Chicago born Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony Griffin’s entry was chosen as the winner. Their plans featured an artificial lake at the heart of the city with a parliamentary triangle. Perched on a hill, atop of parliament house, the huge flagpole bearing the Australian flag can be seen from just about anywhere in the city.

Accommodation

We were in Canberra for 5 nights, staying at Alivio Tourist Park.
The accommodation was clean and comfortable. Alivio was also very handy to everything (it seems like everything in Canberra is only 10-15 mins point to point). We booked the two-bedroom Grevillia cabin, and it came with linen supplied. We had, however, no electric blankets on the beds, and the heating never really warmed the cabin on the cool evenings. As Canberra gets very cold in winter, it’s definitely not a place I would stay at during the colder months.

We had arrived armed with a list of photographic locations we wanted to cover and started ticking them off on our first day. Starting with balloons for sunrise at Lake Burley Griffin, then time out for breakfast in the cafe at the National Library. From the library, we took a drive over to the National Museum and Old Parliament House (now the Democracy Museum)

Architecture

Canberra is full of impressive, stunning buildings. While it’s definitely modern, it also a classical, stately feel to it, with impressive staircases and columns and an abundance of fountains and sculptures.

High on our list of places to shoot was the Ovolo Nishi, with its famous entrance. Playing it smart timewise, we combined this with lunch in their restaurant.

After lunch, we scouted out our locations for the next day. We had to be at Questacon for our balloon ride by 5.45 am the next morning. Looking for it in the dark was not our idea of fun. So we located it and planned our parking for the morning. We then followed this up with some shopping. Weary and footsore, we then headed back to the cabin for some downtime.

Balloons Aloft

Day Two was our balloon flight which I covered the Balloon Spectacular post. Suffice to say, if you have never taken a hot air balloon flight, do so. Stat. It’s a fantastic experience.

Following our balloon flight and breakfast, we visited the National Gallery of Australia. The drawcard for me was Fujiko Nakaya’s Foggy wake in a desert – an ecosphere that operates 12.30 – 2pm daily in the outside sculpture garden.

National Gallery Of Australia

As it was almost lunchtime, so we headed for the National Gallery Cafe. The food was fabulous and very reasonably priced. In fact, we enjoyed it so much and found it such good value; we took lunch here for the remainder of our time in Canberra. After lunch, we went upstairs and visited the Picasso and Matisse Exhibition. It needs to be said that that’s an hour of my life I won’t get back. If you have the opportunity to see it, don’t. Run, don’t walk in the other direction. Yes, the paintings are worth a fortune. Yes, most of them look like a group of 4yr old kindergarten kids did it at the kitchen table. I guess I am more of a classical girl.

Before leaving, we checked out Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Spirits Of The Pumpkins Descended Into The Heavens’. This is a bright yellow room, completely covered with black dots. A mirrored box with steps is the highlight of the room, camouflaged by the room around it. And despite my classical leanings, I loved it.

Mount the steps, pop your head in the hole and immerse yourself in a space that is infinite, yet claustrophobic. With the clever use of mirrors the ‘pumpkins’ stretch to infinity.

Australian War Memorial

The last stop of the day was the Australian War Memorial. Built to commemorate the 102,000 Australian men and women who died serving their country, it also honours those who served overseas and at home.

The Pool of Reflection and Flame of Remembrance leads to the towering Hall of Memory and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Stunning stained glass windows flank the tomb, which lies under a high dome mosaic of six million pieces.

Cloisters line each side of the Reflection Pool with a roll of honour of more than 60,000 names.

Our time in Canberra was definitely enjoyable. Not the stuffy, staid city I was expecting. Canberra is also surprisingly affordable. All galleries and buildings we visited are free to enter. Except for the Picasso exhibition, but that’s a memory I would like to forget. The parking is cheap, and on weekends at the galleries and museums, it’s free, unlike Melbourne and Sydney that still charge through the nose for parking at major venues.

The weather was fabulous for most of the time, with sunny blue skies and T-shirt weather. Only one day was wet and windy, but it cleared up again the next day. No sunrises or sunsets, though. I seem to have a sunrise, sunset jinx on me 🙁

Subscribe

If you enjoy these posts please subscribe below to be notified when a new post goes up. Your email will never be used or sold, it’s just for keeping you informed of new posts