Kapital Tour Day 1 – Delayed reaction to Canberra

Kapital Tour Day 1 – Delayed reaction to Canberra

Today I was going to Canberra via Sydney for my trip that was going to last around a week or so. The weather on the early Sunday morning was really nice though while on the plane to Sydney I seen clouds coming in for some rain. There had been no problems leaving the Gold Coast though there were some small changes at security so that it would make the whole area a line if it was busy. I knew it would be a busy day and I was not wrong though it was something I had not been expecting at all.

The flight was uneventful and I was looking forward to getting off and heading straight to the next plane. Before we left I had been wondering who the footy team that was walking by in the express lane and I realised after checking out two lovely blondes that it was the Sydney Swans. I did see at the top of the stairs to the plane what looked like Adam Goodes. Sill I did get off after they had departed in Sydney before i could get a good look. I soon found my next flight was delayed by around half an hour. I wandered to get food and came back to find the flight was still not around. Once the flight had arrived it was found to have a fault and engineering were looking into it. Another delay later and they decided to get a new plane so we had to jump from gate 31 to 33. The new plane was soon to arrive and we had lift off to Canberra. I was actually in seat 1F and had control of the emergency exit. I was calling Canberra, Camelot as I was wondering about all the delays and wondered if Tony Abbott was running around making horse sounds with coconuts.

I had been worried about waiting an hour or so for the buus in Canberra to arrive, but arriving at 130pm meant I only had half hour to wait. I felt better then and the weather was not actually cold at that point in time.  I did witness what Canberrans did when picking people up.  They stop on roundabouts using their hazard lights. Now that was new and I never seen other states do something like that. The bus came and the driver told me that he had waited 15 mins for me to arrive and couldn’t wait any longer. I got to see some of the city on the way to the hostel including Duntroon. I couldn’t believe a roundabout that had a huge water hazard in the middle was actually legal if a car went over the edge. My fi.rst impressions on Canberra was that it was dry

Once I sorted out the hostel i went wandering even though I had no idea where I was going other than to Parliament House before it went dark. I found the Legislative Council of Australia next door to the Canberra Museum and Gallery. There was a little bit of roadworks going on in the area not that I really could understand where I was meant to walk, but I headed towards the flag when i could see it. I had to follow the footpath even though I knew there was a bridge nearby, but still looking for a way to get around.  Once I found my way across the bridge I was thinking I could head towards Questacon science museum on my way, but thought on the way back would be better. I headed towards Old Parliament House as I was wanting to see what the Tent Embassy looked like. I realised I was a little lost when I was in some park until I realised, which one it was. The magna Carta gardens told me I knew where I was and then some gardens that were part of the parliament house. I had been wondering if the gates would let me through from the Magna Carta gate for the Parliament House Gardens. That included a cricket pitch though I was wondering if little Johnny played there when he was PM.

Old Parliament House did look interesting from the side though once I found the front of the building I wanted to find the Tent Embassy as I had read about it in my studies. The only problem I found was it did not look Embassy at all as there were only several tents around. I thought it would be more lively too with people around, but it was quiet. Maybe they are only there in the mornings and doing touristy stuff too. I knew I would be back to go on a tour, but time was escaping me and I wanted to keep moving. I wanted to find the National Archives as it was close. Lucky there are maps around that tell you where buildings actually are. The Archives were actually on the way to the Parliament House. It was actually getting dark when I walked up and found some reporters talking about Negative Gearing and it was interesting to see the takes they were taking though it was Channel 7 news. I approached the police who had big guns, well one did and I asked where I could park a push bike as I was coming back with one. They told me where to go and I never knew there was parking under the house. I was impressed, but couldn’t explore the grounds more as it was getting dark and I had to go back to the city centre.

It was actually pretty dark on the walk back and I was getting hungry, but the city seemed deserted as there was no one around. I was wondering where everyone was until I headed to the shopping area and people were all in the foodie area. It was interesting too as the shopping centre had crime scene taking photos. I knew I had to get food soon or else it would get too cold. While eating I thought it would be smart to get dinner outside and it was then it became really cold. I am not sure if some parts of Canberra has decent lighting as I seen one bus stop in darkness. Tomorrow I am meeting up with a friend at the Canberra museum in the afternoon, but I am wanting to visit the Parliaments in the morning for the tours. I still need to find where I am getting the bus on Friday so I know where to walk. I know there are government buildings around like DFAT and several others though I just have to explore.