Cranberry Sauce.

Saturday 17th December 2016 - to Canberra.

Well it's just a week to Christmas.  It doesn't seem like it for us.

We have done a lot of stuff today.  First, the weather was good and we went for a run along the shoreline into Batemans Bay and back.  It was 26 degrees, we had worked up a sweat and I went into the sea for a swim straight away to cool down.  I was the only person in the water and there was only about two other people on the beach.  

Our journey to Canberra was inland along the B52 Kings Highway all the way.  There was more open scenery of farmland and hills than we had previously seen. We were still looking for kangaroos, we saw three in total....sadly they were all roadkill.  In the interest of good taste there are no photos.

We stopped at a country town called Braidwood. It was a bit like a mid west town in the US.  A market was in progress and we had a walk around.  We bought some biscuits from a church stall.  I asked for Anzac biscuits but they didn't have any and I ended up with corn flakes biscuits.  We also got a coffee from a BBQ stall.  I resisted the temptation of having a hot dog or burger.

We drove straight on to Canberra, or Cranberry as we have started to call it.  As most of you know, it is the capital of Australia and is set in its own area called the Australian Capital Territory.  The city is split in half by a large lake.  We drove across the lake and went directly to our accommodation at University House, part of the Australian National University (ANU).  The city was already quiet, perhaps because the parliament was not in session and because it was so close to Christmas.  The University was doubly quiet, it was rather ghostlike.  That's the way we like it.  The room is spacious and includes a living room and a separate bedroom.  This is the view from the balcony..

You wouldn't think we were in a city.

We walked to the Australian National Museum in the afternoon.  It was a striking modern building and had lots of interesting things displayed, as you would expect.

It told the history of the settlement of the country and it gave a timeline of key events (I like that).  You often go to museums and they give lots of information but rarely give the historical context.

You still wouldn't think you were in the middle of a city would you?

We walked to the northern centre and sat on a small hill with a circular road around it.  It had a view to both sides of the lake.  I suppose it is the central point of the city.

We checked the map.  It's called Vernon Circle!

From here we found a food and beer event taking place in a public square outside the Canberra Theatre.  The National Gallery of Art has a Versailles exhibition and they were dressed up for photos.  Here is ours.

I thought it was the three musketeers!  Those costumes look tight!

We found somewhere to eat in the trendy area of Braddon.  There were plenty of hipster types around so we fitted right in.

I had the half rack of ribs, I'm glad I didn't order the full rack.  It was lovely.

We have another full day here tomorrow. Excited already.