Kapital Tour Day 2 – They see me rolling to Parliament House

I made sure everything was charged the night before as I did not know how busy my day would be and my laptop was nearly dead too. I had finished a book that I had been reading by the name of 1984. My alarm went off and I nearly faceplanted the wall to turn it off as I left it sitting on the light that was above my head. I was up at 7am as my plan was to find where the bus left from when I left Canberra on Friday. Then hire a bike so that I could get to both parliament houses without too much of a problem. I was meeting up with a friend by the name of Jeanette Purkis who I knew through Facebook and met in person the year before.

I was looking for breakfast as well at 7am on my way to find the bus station. I found I seemed to be on the wrong road though I thought I was going the right way until I found I was not meant to be following Kings Circuit, which is meant to be a huge roundabout. I wasn’t far off at all, but it was like Canberra was deserted as no one was around and even MacDonald’s was closed. I found that to be unusual and while I found the bus terminal I had to go back as it was the only place that had food to be open. I would not think of Canberra as a capital city, but more like a country town. I was able to hire a bike for the day with a deposit, but it was only the afternoon where I could hire the bike for half the day. I chose bike number 3 as the others did not feel quite right.

I had not been on a bike for some years and as soon as I left I could feel the burn in my legs, but I was warming up. I was following the bike paths down to Parliament house though I knew I wanted to do the tour at 930am. I nearly wandered off to other areas to ride, but I was wondering how to get to the underground carpark. On my way through I found a little walk along the lake with Australians of the Year, but I was going to leave it for later in the day. The Tent Embassy was still empty and I found my way underground by following the arrows. I was surprised by how little traffic there actually was as I was never run over by cars going to park. It is good there are plenty of places to park a bike unlike cars that have to pay for a place to park. I had at least 10 mins before tour and the security guard loved my camera.

The first step I took before joining the tour, I went into the Great Hall that has an enlarged painting that is actually a tapestry. The original is by Arthur Boyd. The tour took us through to the House of representatives and the senate chambers. The house of reps were actually oddly numbered through the states as some states had more than other people. The Hansard was actually taken by computer software now, which also seems to take out words like umm and uh. On the table is a two year printed Hansard reports so that both sides of government can use as reference to what someone said. The senate on the other hand is based on the American model and has equal representation from all states. The actual building was built into Capital Hill instead off on top so it wouldn’t disturb the area and the courtyard was blank of trees to be a welcoming area. I think thats how it was explained. On the wall between the two houses of parliament were the ex Prime Ministers excluding Rudd and Gillard as it takes time to paint more like 3 years or so. There were small displays with examples of Sorry to Forgotten Australians and the stolen generation. I thought these were interesting especially since I had written an essay about the Forgotten Australians recently. Another display was about the Magna Carta though it was talking about the current Parliament with little bits from 1200. I knew it was time to visit Old Parliament House before I headed back to meet a friend. I was in the bookstore and got a book. I learnt there was no book on one Prime Minister that I wanted to know about, Stanley Melbourne Bruce as he seemed eccentric. Information online was available, but no book.

I should have gone to Old Parliament, but still wanted to do a circuit around Parliament to see what I could find. I did find a small soccer pitch on one side, but there was no one around. It was funny when I walked up the stairs behind the building. The police came to meet the aimless wanderer who told me the visitors entrance was at the front and I told them I already been there. I was wandering around the building to see what there was and the cops seemed to be satisfied with my response especially when they directed to wander in the gardens not far away. I thanked them though not surprised if they were watching me and they had big guns too. They must have known I was no threat. The garden was not that big and it was winter so there was not much growing there at all. I did find a memorial for the Bali bombing on the grounds. I was surprised by how many guard shacks there were around the Parliament drive or circuit. There was at least four or five, but I did wave to the security cameras while giggling to myself.

Once I got to the bike I exited the underground parking where I headed to Old Parliament House where I was going to get an early lunch and a coffee before exploring. I noticed there was quite a few people that were standing out the front. Walking in I found the building to be really crowded with people. I did not know what was going on until I seen medieval people fighting in one court yard, but in the Cafe I knew I would not get far with the line as long as it was. I was hungry needing some food and to rest for a couple of minutes. I wasn’t going to wait around and see the exhibitions so I went to to the National Gallery of Australia. I got help from a cleaner who showed me where the cafe was there. I was happy to have something to eat and some water. There was one painting I had heard about that had been bought by Gough Whitlam that was controversial at the time and that was Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock. It was not what I was expecting though could have been a bit more too. Another artist I had seen only in books were the works of Sidney Nolan with his Ned Kelly series. I am not a big art fan, but was well worth taking a wander at different artworks from all over the country.

It was soon time for me to leave to head to the Canberra Museum and Gallery, which ended up being against the wind and I could feel it starting to get chilly. The ride did not take long, but I knew that it was well worth the money for the hire to get me around the city. I went to the place I was going to meet Jeanette, but the museum was shut for the day as it was the Monday as it was a public holiday. I felt very silly for not realising, but Jeanette arrived and we went off for a coffee since she was local. We spent some time chatting until we both had to leave. It was good to chat as last time we had met it was with many other people vying for attention, but one on one was really nice. After we left I needed refreshing and to take the bike back before getting a quick bite to eat for dinner and visited the local supermarket that is local to Canberra called Supabarn. The interesting part was you could buy alcohol. I had not seen that before other than New Zealand, but it was pretty cool. The milk was $2 for two litres and $3 for three litres so like Coles, but not Coles. It was dark so I headed back to the room at the hostel to relax and charge devices.

Tomorrow my plan is to visit Old Parliament House and do the tour first thing in the morning. There is a church building on the other side of Parliament House that I kept on seeing that I want to see what it was about as I had seen it in the distance. I want to visit Questacon and the National library too. I have no idea what else to do though the War memorial does sound like a great idea.

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.

The tour of Canberra and Sydney has a name: The Kapital Tour

The tour of Canberra and Sydney has a name: The Kapital Tour

Every trip I tend to go on I try to name within my blogs to make then stand out. I do not know if I am going to be busted by a touring comedian group by using K in Kapital instead of C. I thought this would be a great idea since I have been to DAAS' show in Brisbane and I am actually going to Canberra and Sydney. They are both capital cities in two states that I am visiting.

I think I have nearly everything I need sorted for this trip and it will be winter. I have hear that Canberra has temperatures as low as -6 Degrees Celsius so this should be interesting. After Whakapapa Village last year I am not interested in getting stuck in the snow, but I do not think I will be out doors that much.

I am spending 4 full days in Canberra and then three full days in Sydney. Not a long trip this time around, but shall be full of museums and the historical stuff I love so much. You can learn so much about a place due to its museums and even displays or exhibitions that are controversial to many people. I do plan to visit Parliament house Old and New, National Museum of Australia,  Australian War Memorial, National Gallery amongst some others like Questacon. I do get to visit some friends especially uni buddies in Sydney so that will make the trip well worth is and a nice lady with her pooch too.

Four days to go and it is the long weekend so transport is expected to be a little sluggish over the weekend and do hope there are no real problems other than missing the Canberra airport bus to the city. I will see how the Nations capital runs, but I will try to hire a bike. I think this trip will teach me loads especially that I seem to be slow at learning not to travel south for the winter.

The changing face of Hobbiton

On my trips to New Zealand I have actually visited Hobbiton three times over the last few years. The first time was around 2009 when the village was still a shell of what it was supposed to look like today. The Hobbit holes were there, but not much else other than being identified as a farm. You could tell there were hobbit holes as there were a small number of white plasterboard type boards in the hills. These were used within the film series Lord Of The Rings. When I did the tour I was staying in Rotorua and was picked up from there to be driven to the farm. The pictures will show you what they were. Originally no one had thought Hobbiton would be a tourist attraction until people began turning up. Luckily it was never completely pulled apart.

The first trip in 2009 included a small meal at the café, tour of Hobbiton and then animal feeding. You could see the white layouts, the party tree and the lake. 

 

 

 

  Bag End Before

 

 

 

Bag End with sign

Bag End after

The second time was just before the release of The Hobbit: an unexpected Journey. Hobbiton at that time had been expanded and when I visited they had only just opened The Green Dragon to allow tours to walk past even though the building was still under construction. The whole location was exactly like it was in the movie. We were told that there were many visitors and many did turn up in costume. They even had Storm Troopers pretend to break into Bag End. The first time around you could get a photo inside Bag End, but in 2012 you could not due to restrictions and a fence. The tour guides now had buses that had names of the characters like Gandalf.

2012 trip there was no free meal, but still picked up in a van from Rotorua. The shop at this stage was still pretty small along with the tour groups.

The third trip to Hobbiton in 2014 was much the same as the second trip, but it was pouring, which added to the magical feeling of being in the Hobbit village. I do not know if they were picking people up from Matamata in 2012, but in 2014 you could catch the tour bus outside the Matamata information centre. The Information Centre is made to look like a giant Hobbit hole and several other businesses in town have artwork or a character from the movies somewhere. It was cheaper to get the bus from Matamata than getting transport from Rotorua. The tour guides give you different talks about the whole experience and you get to visit The Green Dragon for one free cider drink only available at Hobbiton.

The farm owners were extending the car park when I was there and the shop had already expanded when I was there in 2014. The council were also doing road maintenance at the same time. There was plenty of merchandise to do with The Hobbit. It was well worth the third trip to the village and there are plenty of locations to visit from Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit movies. You are able to purchase the filming location guides  from near any bookshop or some locations like Hobbiton or even the Weta store in Wellington.

If you do visit pack wet weather gear just in case, a camera with plenty of battery and money to buy all the goodies. The tour guides will take pictures for you. It does depend on the guide you get as some have a more in depth knowledge about the movies and the film location itself. Regardless of who you get, you will still leave with a great experience

Hobbiton Tours 

WETA Store 

Spyder Wars: Tamborine Man

Spyder Wars: Tamborine Man

Todays plan for the bike was to take a nice ride no matter how short it seemed up Mt Tamborine though I had no ideas after that. I first had to navigate the roads to Nerang where I was going to meet up with a family member and have a chat while waiting for the time to come where I would need to meet Paul and Barb at Dreamworld. That was the plan and I was sticking to it.

The road was busy on the way up, but not bumper to bumper busy though I was happy to follow someone who was going 10kms below the speed limit though we did pass one car that had broken down along the way that was luckily not an accident, but the traffic had slowed down and flowed again soon afterwards. I had to stop at a nearby park for the loo before heading to a local caravan park in Nerang where I spent some time drinking coffee and chin wagging before it was time to move on and meet up with people at Dreamworld. The theme park was actually not very far up the road from where I was drinking coffee and by that time I wanted to visit the service station not for fuel. My problem with that place seems to be that I keep missing the entrance and have to do the block. Dreamworld was actually across the road from the highway so I could easily get over there.

The ride over to the theme park was different as I had not gone that way before. I may have, but I cant remember as the last time I went there was when I was in high school and I finished that in 2000. With no idea where I was going other than following the signs around the roundabout I found there were two more that I had to follow. The carpark did look pretty full from where I was riding, but once I ended up down the far end the place was partially empty. It was hot too so I was looking for at least a little bit of shade. Where I parked wasn’t very shady, but I would leave my bike there while waiting for Paul and Barb to turn up. I spotted them once I had walked past the Big Brother sign. Less than impressed with that monstrosity, but I went looking for their bikes. We made plans to head up the mountain where we would have lunch. Then we would make our way down the mountain and go our separate ways

With the song ‘Leader of the Pack’ in my head we headed up the mountain like the blind leading the blind as I had no idea which roads I was supposed to take and I do have a habit of taking the wrong turn off and going in a complete different direction. The signage was actually really easy to follow and I did not need to stress. Some parts were steep going up the mountain, but I only met one truck that was slowly going up and there was an overtaking lane so he was far, far behind us. We made it to North Tamborine though from there I was actually lost and had no idea where we would have to go from there. I was actually starting to feel hungry and after passing through the main part of North Tamborine I stopped to ask what we are going to do. Food was on everyones mind so we had to turn around. I lost the other two bikes, but found them again as I had gone too far. Back in the town I found a carpark and the two bikes went on ahead where they turned around and parked behind me. The carpark was more a drain for the water to flow when raining. I really do not want to be there when it was raining.

We did find a restaurant to eat right in front of us called The Monkey Tree Restaurant. While we were wandering to get a seat and the flirty waitress was crooning that she wanted to ride our bikes, I realised I was missing something very important. That important thing was the all powerful key to my bike and I suspected that the key was safely hidden in my storage compartment in the front of my bike. I was panicking just a little bit as I looked in my bag and I really did not want to break my boot or call NRMA for assistance. Looking out at my bike I was wondering if I should have a look at the thing that is sticking out of the bike. I walk over and find the key is still in the bloody bike. Crisis averted, I locked up the bike, pocketed the key and headed to the table to enjoy lunch. I really do think the firty waitress like Paul who seemed oblivious to her. I liked her accent though and they were happy to chat away. She was funny when she said she didn’t give out cards this year. ‘I don’t speak English, mate’. That was funny. I still think she wanted to ride with Paul as she never did go out to have a look at our bikes.

Once lunch was polished off we were heading towards Canungra that would take us past Tamborine. We did pass through what was a little blink and miss it town, but I was unsure if it was Tamborine. Still I did see several winerys and pass the sign for the glow worm caves. I will have to look at the glow worms another time when I head up. I did find some interesting objects near the bottom of the hill like a war memorial on the side of the road. The turn off to North Tamborine and Canungra showed up a heap of bikes that had been ridden up the hill. We made our way to a set of traffic lights and a small park where I had the idea to have a photo shoot with the ‘Welcome to Tamborine Mountain’ sign. We did the usual Christmas stuff with the Bah Humbug hat and the bikes were tinselled, which was scary that they had taken the stuff with them. After our little bit of fun, we were ready to head down the hill. We all would be going our separate ways once we were down as Paul was heading up the coast and Barb and I were going to separate in Nerang where we would go our own ways. The way down the hill was a little hairy especially when there were several hairpin turns that greeted us like old friends. I had a Harley bringing up the rear and I was making sure I was slow going around as I have heard about the reputation of the roads. Once I felt like my rear wheel wanted to go another way, but that could have been my imagination. Once at the bottom of the mountain I nosed my bike towards the Gold Coast and Nerang where I would be following the Beaudesert – Nerang road away from the town of Canungra not that I knew I was at the time. Barb soon caught up as she had been saying goodbye to Paul when I went past. I wasn’t stopping as I had a very friendly Harley behind me. I lost Barb in Nerang where I needed a pit stop and then headed down the coast while she was on her way to find Sanctuary Cove.