To flower lovers, a piece of flower means the whole world to them. How much more if beds of flowers are before their eyes? Perhaps, they would like to gaze at them for the entire day. I never thought I would see big beds of colorful tulips and other blooms. It was such a nice experience going to the 21st Annual Floriade Festival eventhough it rained hard and our feet got soaked when we arrived at the park. The Festival lasts for a month at the Commonwealth Park. It started last September 13 and will end on October 12. This is a way of celebrating spring in Australia. The flower beds are not as simple as they appear. If you look from the top by riding the ferriswheel, you will see that those beds depict movie themes, characters, and routines such as the Red Carpet, popcorns, Babe, Moulin Rouge, and Happy Feet, to name a few. They must have been well planned, designed and executed by lots of people. There are also cubby houses, gardening tools, and landscaping stuffs for sale. There are supplies of chocolates, hand soaps and lotions, bed linens with floral prints, and souvenir items for the tourists as well. Film fests are held at night but I was not able to see any of those. To me, my flower shots are my very own film of which I will not get tired of watching.

Additional things to see at the Commonwealth Park...

When I learned that the Parliament House, Canberra, Australia allows visitors during the proceedings, I got curious in getting there. The Parliament House was built on top of a hill in line with the old Parliament House. From afar, one can see that it has resemblance of the old Parliament House. The 81-meter stainless flagpole which is raised by four legs as well as the Coat of Arms would catch one's attention. There is strict security check as one gets to the foyer. I stood in awe as I walked inside. It is a magnificent achitecture. There are the marble staircases and great timber pillars, the white hanging clocks, the tapestry at the Great Hall and other paintings. Having seen the inner court gardens through the glass walls, I wished I could get inside. They have great lanscapes! It was my first time to have seen the House of Representatives and Senate Chambers. The House of Representatives Chamber comes in green motif while the Senate Chamber comes in red. While walking through the halls connecting the two chambers, one will see the portraits of important figures in the politics. Indeed, the opening of the House to the public makes one feels welcomed. There is this strange feeling of warmth...

Anyone interested in the unique plantlife that is found in Australia will want to visit a botanical garden. This one is found in Canberra and is good place to wander around for a couple of hours. It is not far out of the center of the city and is close to Telstra Tower. Along with the weird and wonderful plantlife you will probably see some wildlife including lizards and birds including the rosella and kookaburra. There are a couple of trails, one very steep one, for those who want a good hike. Afterwards there is a great little giftshop to visit. After our walk through the gardens we enjoyed a nice late lunch at Hudson's Cafe which is located inside the gardens. I think access is free to the gardens but there maybe a fee for parking. You can check the website for info and also to see what plants are in bloom. http://www.anbg.gov.au

The all gardens are full of tulip & other flowers. You can also see some cherry blossom! I recommned to go there the end of festival since all flower open up very beatifully at that time.

I didn’t want to stay any longer than a day in Camberra because I’m not really interested in government buildings or museums.  I’ve seen plenty along my way.  Having said that, I did visit the National Museum of Australia on Monday morning and spent a good couple of hours wandering around.  There is a surprising amount of information about aboriginal culture, which is hard to find and nobody wants to talk about.  The previous evening I took a walk to the new Parliament House only to discover that it was closing at five.  So, I walked back into town and stopped at King O'Malley's irish pub for dinner and a pint of guiness. 

I must admit, I didn't like Camberra that much.  It felt sterile and lacked of character; after all it was purposely build because Australians could agree whether to choose Sydney or Melbourne as their capital, so they compromised somewhere in between and manufactured Canberra just 90ish years ago.

This is a place to visit if you want to get a sense of the people of Australia. Everything you would want to know about the country, the people, the history and the culture. And it is free, including parking! The museum is located just south of the city center of Canberra, the capital city, by the side of the man made Lake Burley. There are exhibits telling the stories of the aborigine people, the discovery and colonization, the people who built Australia, and their participation in world events. I found this museum to be very interactive and enjoyable by all ages. My mother and my two nieces aged 8 and 10 all had a great time. It was well worth spending the few hours there…and besides it is free. (Museum is open 9am to 5pm every day of the year except Christmas Day)

What a surprise to find ourselves with a truckie in his lorry!!  Understand the aussie style of speaking?!  Lucky for me, I'd already gotten familiar with these terms, so it was a little easier for me to get by here. 

Anyway, getting back to my point, we were really thrilled and quite shocked that a trucker actually picked us up during our trip down south.  'Til now hitchhiking in Australia has worked out pretty well for us, but never had we been given a lift in a tractor trailor truck!!  So, of course, we were pretty excited and thus just had to take a photo as a souvenir!!  I'm still surprised, 'cause usually the truckers here would just give us the cold shoulder and drive past by us!!  Not this time though!!

This fella here really helped us out a great deal because it was going to be and was a LONG journey down to Melbourne, where we hoped to finally arrive. 

In any case, the trip down went pretty smoothly for us, and of course, we met loads of interesting folks along the way.  Which brings me to our unexpected stop in Canberra!

Now we really had no intention at all to pay a visit to Australia's capital city, but here we were, and better yet, in good company!!

Introducing Stedman to you all now!!  This guy was one of the many people who stopped to help out a couple of backpackers along the way down to "Mexico", as the Aussie's refer to southern Australia!! :) Still don't know why, but hey . . .

And since we had no real set plans or schedule, we were completely open and glad to accept his offer to pay a quick visit to Canberra, and even crash at his place for the night.  Stedman was truly wonderful to us . . . but hey, what's new, we're constantly meeting generous folks during our trip!!

He took us out for a stroll around the city and then to top it off made us a DELICIOUS homemade dinner!! Yum Yum! It was like being at a restaurant!! We had a great time, chatting and getting to know one another; So, many thanks to you Stedman, for being such a wonderful host and for your endless generosity!!

The following day, we were back on the road for Melbourne, thanks to Stedman, once again!!  So off we went to the south of the border! :)

Comme vous pouvez voir sur les photos, une personne etrange est parmi nous, un chauffeur routier!! C est le premier a nous prendre en stop depuis tres longtemps, il faut souligner aussi qu il fut d un grand secours a notre traverse du sud de l Australie. Nous avons trouve important de vous le presenter!!

De nouveau sur les routes, les autostoppeurs se succederent et hop, nous voila dans la voiture de Stedman, un mec vivant a la capitale, Canberra (vous saviez vous??), ce n etait pas du tout sur notre programme de visiter cette ville, mais Stedman nous invita a passe la nuit chez lui et le lendemain de nous deposer sur la route de Melburne, alors pourquoi pas!!

Apres une petite visite des grands monuments, du musee de l art moderne et de la meilleure vue de la ville, nous nous retrouvames dans son salon en train de deguster un excellent diner et d echanger nos histoires...

The tower has great views of the capital city and surrounding areas, though not as tall as the towers in Melbourne, Sydney and the one across the water in Auckland. You can view landmarks like Parliament House, as well as the museums and the many parks. I am told you can sometimes see kangaroos up close to the tower but I must have missed that day.

I have now set my destination points and a start date. Things are feeling more real knowing where im going and what my end goal is. Theres still so much to learn prior to my trip to ensure i dont rip my self off and play the budget right.

Only 370 Days remaining

Now don't let the plastic chairs and tables fool you, this place is absolutely amazing, with dirt cheap Vietnamese food. Over the years Griffith Vietnamese Restaurant has become a local feeding ground for big name Politicians, TV News celb's and sport star's. They have a large selection on the menu, and if its not on the menu just ask them and they will cook it up for you. Have had a lot of great times and meals here, probably the best Vietnamese Restaurant in Canberra. Recommendations are to ask for the Salt and Pepper Squid (AMAZING!!!). If you’re staying in Kingston, its about a 20min walk through the gorgeous suburb of Griffith, or you can catch the bus number 38 from the Kingston Shops, and it will drop you right out the front of where you will need to be. If you’re in the city catch the same bus number.

The Belgian Beer Café is a great place to sit down and relax with friends or other TB's. Many international beers on tap (Which is always a PLUS), live jazz music most days, decor is nice and cosy and the staff are always happy to help find the right beer for you. Overall the place is a little pricey if your on a travelling budget ($7 to $15 per beer), but still recommend it to all.

Just a test of the brand new blog, which will be updated sporadically or not at all, depending on how much of my electronic gear gets stolen during our travels.

OK so maybe we are depressed because dad & sue have left and we won't see them again for a year or maybe its because it is hammering down with rain or maybe the hotel is a little musty and yucky but we do not like Canberra!! What is the deal with this place?? It is grey, concrete, characterless, and where are all the people?? In the city centre at 4pm, trying to find an HSBC (which, when we asked, nobody had even heard of) and there are only a handful of people around.

The next day, we booked the hell out of our hotel and got in the car heading off to the war museum. now this place was something. What a museum! now we are not really museum types but we were very impressed by the Australian War Museum, it was huge and so well presented. I learnt loads!! We were in there for 2.5 hours and still didn't  get all the way round but had to hit the road.

Despite the museum, we were so glad to be out of Canberra, the place is horrible in our humble opinion and characterless. It reminded us a lot of Brasilia, the purpose-built, concrete capital of Brasil.

I visited the Australian War Memorial when I was in Canberra. There is also a museum in the building, but we didn't get there until half an hour before it closed so we didn't have enough time to go there. Being there at the end of the day made us see the closing ceremony which was nice to see (a man playing bagpipe). I thought it was nice to see the building, just a shame that we didn't haven enough time to visit the museum too. Along the street down to the water there are monuments to remember the wars in which the Australians participated.