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xenithNow LJ seems to be cooperating...
My proposed itinaery for trip was:
Tuesday
Arrive Canberra
Visit National Museum because it's out on its own.
Wednesday
See how many places that are together on the other side of the lake I can get to. They being:
National Library
National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
Parliament House
Questacon
Some others I've probably forgotten
Thursday
Blundell's Cottage in morning
Rest of day for things left over from Tuesday
Friday
Braidwood
Saturday
Queanbeyan
Sunday
Come home
On Tuesday morning, I got to the boarding gate in Launceston airport and sat down, and an announcement came over saying they were going to start boarding soon. Now that is good timing!
I'll start with photos from the plane, of course. Although they're not very good. It was a bit cloudy.
Launceston from the plane. The silver stripe on the right is the South Esk (the wide bit just after the bend is Duck Reach, then it turns around to the right and heads into Trevallyn Lake) so, pulls out street atlas, the housing areas are West Launceston, Summerhill (dog-leg on the edge is Outram St) and Prospect. Then onto the west (Meander River too). All looking very green for late November.
The north coast at the mouth of the Tamar. Across Bass Strait is always boring. On a clear day you see nothing but water, otherwise it's all cloud. Sometimes you get breaks in the cloud where you might be able to see water. Exciting.
My book was equally exciting. I managed to read the prologue and some of the first chapter before deciding the cloud were more interesting.
However, as I've said elsewhere, we were given complimentary tea or coffee! And I managed to get milk over the guy sitting next to me when I opened the milk container.
Victorian coast!
And there's Melbourne.
And more Melbourne.
And Melbourne city.
Landing at the airport. Once I left the plane, my gate for boarding the next flight was directly opposite. Of course this left lots of time to wait (and go to the toilet, and buy a puzzle magazine to read on the place).
Plane getting ready for me.
Another plane taking off.
The Melbourne to Canberra leg was more cloudy, so not many photos. I also discovered I'd left my pen in my bag (which was in the overhead locker but it seemed like a lot of hassle to get it out) so I could only read the magazine and not do the puzzles. This left much time for looing at clouds. Also drinking the complimentary juice in a little bottle. I didn't open the bag of mini choc chip biscuits.
This looks like a fairly significant landscape feature but I have no idea what it is. (To me it looks like a Hydro lake so that's no help).
I made the photo a bit darker here to try and work out what it is.
Also lots of hills? I say hills but they're probably mountains. Planes should come with a screen map that shows you where you are.
Plane finally landed, as they do. Then I had to find a bus stop. There were signs pointing to one but no stop. And I know there's an airport shuttle but it's departure times are something like 12.50 pm and 3 pm which isn't a lot of good if you arrive just after 1. I ended up walking over to the adjoining business park because I my map showed bus stops there. Finding them was another matter. Much grumbling at airport and bus people. Although the bus drivers (first bus was going the wrong way) were very friendly. So this offset some of the grumbling.
Allowing time to arrive at the YHA where I was staying, check-in, find room and then find bus, I thought I could get the National Museum by 3 and have a couple of hours to spend there.
Bus people website do provide a handy map of all the main attractions and the bus routes to get there, so I worked out I need 7 or 100. 7 is a regular bus route. 100 is the free Centenary bus that goes around to all the touristy places. I had a day ticket though therefore either bus would do, so I went out to see which I could find first. Which turned out to be the Centenary bus which was just about to leave at it was 2.30 so I hopped on.
I took some half-hearted photos from the bus. This is Anzac Parade, the first stop on the loop, which leads up to the Australian War Memorial (behind me), which you will note was not on itinerary due to the WW I gallery being closed for refurbishment.
There are memorials to different conflicts and armed services along the Parade, but I took better photos later in the week so I'll put them up later.
From here, the bus goes over the lake and past most of the places I mentioned above. The National Museum is one of the last places on the loop, and it takes a bit over half an hour to get there so I'm not getting there "by 3". Still, I can check it out and go back later in the week, or something.
Going past Old Parliament House the bus starts making a noise like lots of air is escaping, and at its next stop, the door doesn't open. The driver gets on his radio and they tell him to let the passengers off. Once he managed to manually open the door.
There are passengers not on bus, and driver (after apologising muchly) is giving someone directions. I looked across the road and thought... I'm not getting where I want to be by 3, so let's go across and see what is here.
The original parliament house in Canberra was built in the 1920s (opened 1927) and was intended to be a temporary place for parliament to meet. It's replacement was completed in 1988, and is on the hill above. The older building now houses the Museum of Australian Democracy, which wasn't really that high up on my list of places to visit, but there it is.
The entrance fee is $2 (or $1 for concession. "Do you have a concession card?" asked the nice lady at the desk. "Yes," I said, "but it's not worth the hassle of getting it out." "I'll give it to you anyway," she says, and takes my $1 coin.). The staircase is somewhat intimidating, and there at the top
is this great big huge enormous hall thing (called the Kings Hall). Being there is this great big huge enormous hall thing and a staff guy standing there looking at me, I quickly pull out my floor-plan guide and find there's a corridor I can go down just to my right.
There I can stop and work out what is what and where. And that is, on either side of that big hall are the chambers for the House of Representatives and the Senate, and around them are corridors with rooms and offices, and in the corner of each, a suite. And you just wander around and look in them. I like wandering around unusual buildings and looking at the rooms and taking photos. Possibly this is the thing I most like to do when I'm away from home. So I was rather pleased at this prospect.
Some of the rooms are furnished as they were when in use. This is the "Senate Opposition Party Room".
And some are set up with museum-type displays.
Along with the rooms along the corridors, each of the corner suites (there's one for the Speaker, Prime Minister, President of the Senate and (I think) Leader of the Government in the Senate) is a warren of rooms. So that's a lot of rooms. I have about 500 photos! Given the low light, a lot of them probably aren't useful but I'll have to work out something to do with the ones that are. For now, just a handful.
Senate chamber.
House of Reps from the press gallery
This is the women's toilet. It is the first time I've ever seen part of an exhibit inside a toilet.
See!
There were also a couple of art exhibitions. I didn't get to look at these much, or the museum-type displays because there were so many rooms to get through.
Downstairs was a temporary exhibition (I think) of political cartoons.
It was almost 5 pm then, closing time, so I had to leave. Much more I could have looked it, and certainly many times more interesting that I'd expected.
From the front steps, you look straight down Anzac Parade to the war memorial.
Next, I had a wander around the adjoining gardens.
There's a rose garden, with an accompanying information panel that says...
Macarthur Rose Garden History
The Macarthur Rose Garden, planted in 1937, was the last rose garden to be constructed under the direction of Robert Broinowski (Secretary of the Joint House Department and Usher of the Black Rod.)
Miss Rose Sibella Macarthur-Onslower, great granddaughter of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, arranged with Broinowski to donate one hundred red 'Etoile de Hollande' roses to the parliamentary gardens. The gift commemorate the major contribution by John Macarthur to the breeding of merino sheep at Parramatta (Elizabeth Farm) and Camden.
Broinowski arranged for the roses to be planted in a circular bed at the centre of the Macarthur Rose Garden.
And there's more, but no one reads that far down.
This is a curious fountain too. It has a plaque that says:
2004
The Centenary of Women's Suffrage Commemorative Fountain & Suffrage Walk, an ongoing tribute to women's achievements in Federal Parliament, was officially opened by Senator Kay Patterson, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues, on 2 December 2004.
I left the garden then, and wandered around the park area across the road and took some photo of things.
Including this odd memorial to "commemorate the reign of King George V from May 1910 to January 1936". That is events during that period i.e. the opening of parliament house and the Great War (hence the knight). Odd little, well big, thing.
The senate's garden is on the other side of the House. They also have their own courtyards within the House. Can't have them mixing...
I walk back looking for a bus into the city. I note this because I had to cross the road to try and work out which stop I wanted (one went to Dickson, one went to Woden & City, but City was the free Centenary bus which wasn't running this late) and as I was crossing I was attacked by an evil flying insect, that stung my cheek and crashed into my eye :( Which scared me at first, because evil flying, stinging insects and eyes don't go together very well. Then a bus turned up, and helpful waiting-to-get-on person told me this was the one I wanted.
That was a half-hearted photo that I meant to revisit and retake, but not sure I did.
Canberra Central - this is new? It's a bit weird because inside
it looks just like shopping centres in every other capital city. (I won't say every other city, because there's none in Launceston.) It has bathrooms where you can wash your eye and make sure evil flying, stinging insects are gone. Also the usual chain shops where you can buy fruit, drinks, plastic mugs and extension cords.
I needed the extension cord because the only powerpoints in the YHA room were over in the far corner there (by the window) and I both charge my phone at night and use it as a timekeeper so it needs to be on my bed. So extension cord was required.
That was pretty much it for the day. I ate tea, made notes about what I'd spent and sorted out what the stuff I'd picked up from what I needed to carry with me the next day. Went to sleep early. Couldn't sleep because the room was stuffy.
Also it rained.
My proposed itinaery for trip was:
Tuesday
Arrive Canberra
Visit National Museum because it's out on its own.
Wednesday
See how many places that are together on the other side of the lake I can get to. They being:
National Library
National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
Parliament House
Questacon
Some others I've probably forgotten
Thursday
Blundell's Cottage in morning
Rest of day for things left over from Tuesday
Friday
Braidwood
Saturday
Queanbeyan
Sunday
Come home
On Tuesday morning, I got to the boarding gate in Launceston airport and sat down, and an announcement came over saying they were going to start boarding soon. Now that is good timing!
I'll start with photos from the plane, of course. Although they're not very good. It was a bit cloudy.
Launceston from the plane. The silver stripe on the right is the South Esk (the wide bit just after the bend is Duck Reach, then it turns around to the right and heads into Trevallyn Lake) so, pulls out street atlas, the housing areas are West Launceston, Summerhill (dog-leg on the edge is Outram St) and Prospect. Then onto the west (Meander River too). All looking very green for late November.
The north coast at the mouth of the Tamar. Across Bass Strait is always boring. On a clear day you see nothing but water, otherwise it's all cloud. Sometimes you get breaks in the cloud where you might be able to see water. Exciting.
My book was equally exciting. I managed to read the prologue and some of the first chapter before deciding the cloud were more interesting.
However, as I've said elsewhere, we were given complimentary tea or coffee! And I managed to get milk over the guy sitting next to me when I opened the milk container.
Victorian coast!
And there's Melbourne.
And more Melbourne.
And Melbourne city.
Landing at the airport. Once I left the plane, my gate for boarding the next flight was directly opposite. Of course this left lots of time to wait (and go to the toilet, and buy a puzzle magazine to read on the place).
Plane getting ready for me.
Another plane taking off.
The Melbourne to Canberra leg was more cloudy, so not many photos. I also discovered I'd left my pen in my bag (which was in the overhead locker but it seemed like a lot of hassle to get it out) so I could only read the magazine and not do the puzzles. This left much time for looing at clouds. Also drinking the complimentary juice in a little bottle. I didn't open the bag of mini choc chip biscuits.
This looks like a fairly significant landscape feature but I have no idea what it is. (To me it looks like a Hydro lake so that's no help).
I made the photo a bit darker here to try and work out what it is.
Also lots of hills? I say hills but they're probably mountains. Planes should come with a screen map that shows you where you are.
Plane finally landed, as they do. Then I had to find a bus stop. There were signs pointing to one but no stop. And I know there's an airport shuttle but it's departure times are something like 12.50 pm and 3 pm which isn't a lot of good if you arrive just after 1. I ended up walking over to the adjoining business park because I my map showed bus stops there. Finding them was another matter. Much grumbling at airport and bus people. Although the bus drivers (first bus was going the wrong way) were very friendly. So this offset some of the grumbling.
Allowing time to arrive at the YHA where I was staying, check-in, find room and then find bus, I thought I could get the National Museum by 3 and have a couple of hours to spend there.
Bus people website do provide a handy map of all the main attractions and the bus routes to get there, so I worked out I need 7 or 100. 7 is a regular bus route. 100 is the free Centenary bus that goes around to all the touristy places. I had a day ticket though therefore either bus would do, so I went out to see which I could find first. Which turned out to be the Centenary bus which was just about to leave at it was 2.30 so I hopped on.
I took some half-hearted photos from the bus. This is Anzac Parade, the first stop on the loop, which leads up to the Australian War Memorial (behind me), which you will note was not on itinerary due to the WW I gallery being closed for refurbishment.
There are memorials to different conflicts and armed services along the Parade, but I took better photos later in the week so I'll put them up later.
From here, the bus goes over the lake and past most of the places I mentioned above. The National Museum is one of the last places on the loop, and it takes a bit over half an hour to get there so I'm not getting there "by 3". Still, I can check it out and go back later in the week, or something.
Going past Old Parliament House the bus starts making a noise like lots of air is escaping, and at its next stop, the door doesn't open. The driver gets on his radio and they tell him to let the passengers off. Once he managed to manually open the door.
There are passengers not on bus, and driver (after apologising muchly) is giving someone directions. I looked across the road and thought... I'm not getting where I want to be by 3, so let's go across and see what is here.
The original parliament house in Canberra was built in the 1920s (opened 1927) and was intended to be a temporary place for parliament to meet. It's replacement was completed in 1988, and is on the hill above. The older building now houses the Museum of Australian Democracy, which wasn't really that high up on my list of places to visit, but there it is.
The entrance fee is $2 (or $1 for concession. "Do you have a concession card?" asked the nice lady at the desk. "Yes," I said, "but it's not worth the hassle of getting it out." "I'll give it to you anyway," she says, and takes my $1 coin.). The staircase is somewhat intimidating, and there at the top
is this great big huge enormous hall thing (called the Kings Hall). Being there is this great big huge enormous hall thing and a staff guy standing there looking at me, I quickly pull out my floor-plan guide and find there's a corridor I can go down just to my right.
There I can stop and work out what is what and where. And that is, on either side of that big hall are the chambers for the House of Representatives and the Senate, and around them are corridors with rooms and offices, and in the corner of each, a suite. And you just wander around and look in them. I like wandering around unusual buildings and looking at the rooms and taking photos. Possibly this is the thing I most like to do when I'm away from home. So I was rather pleased at this prospect.
Some of the rooms are furnished as they were when in use. This is the "Senate Opposition Party Room".
And some are set up with museum-type displays.
Along with the rooms along the corridors, each of the corner suites (there's one for the Speaker, Prime Minister, President of the Senate and (I think) Leader of the Government in the Senate) is a warren of rooms. So that's a lot of rooms. I have about 500 photos! Given the low light, a lot of them probably aren't useful but I'll have to work out something to do with the ones that are. For now, just a handful.
Senate chamber.
House of Reps from the press gallery
This is the women's toilet. It is the first time I've ever seen part of an exhibit inside a toilet.
See!
There were also a couple of art exhibitions. I didn't get to look at these much, or the museum-type displays because there were so many rooms to get through.
Downstairs was a temporary exhibition (I think) of political cartoons.
It was almost 5 pm then, closing time, so I had to leave. Much more I could have looked it, and certainly many times more interesting that I'd expected.
From the front steps, you look straight down Anzac Parade to the war memorial.
Next, I had a wander around the adjoining gardens.
There's a rose garden, with an accompanying information panel that says...
Macarthur Rose Garden History
The Macarthur Rose Garden, planted in 1937, was the last rose garden to be constructed under the direction of Robert Broinowski (Secretary of the Joint House Department and Usher of the Black Rod.)
Miss Rose Sibella Macarthur-Onslower, great granddaughter of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, arranged with Broinowski to donate one hundred red 'Etoile de Hollande' roses to the parliamentary gardens. The gift commemorate the major contribution by John Macarthur to the breeding of merino sheep at Parramatta (Elizabeth Farm) and Camden.
Broinowski arranged for the roses to be planted in a circular bed at the centre of the Macarthur Rose Garden.
And there's more, but no one reads that far down.
This is a curious fountain too. It has a plaque that says:
2004
The Centenary of Women's Suffrage Commemorative Fountain & Suffrage Walk, an ongoing tribute to women's achievements in Federal Parliament, was officially opened by Senator Kay Patterson, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues, on 2 December 2004.
I left the garden then, and wandered around the park area across the road and took some photo of things.
Including this odd memorial to "commemorate the reign of King George V from May 1910 to January 1936". That is events during that period i.e. the opening of parliament house and the Great War (hence the knight). Odd little, well big, thing.
The senate's garden is on the other side of the House. They also have their own courtyards within the House. Can't have them mixing...
I walk back looking for a bus into the city. I note this because I had to cross the road to try and work out which stop I wanted (one went to Dickson, one went to Woden & City, but City was the free Centenary bus which wasn't running this late) and as I was crossing I was attacked by an evil flying insect, that stung my cheek and crashed into my eye :( Which scared me at first, because evil flying, stinging insects and eyes don't go together very well. Then a bus turned up, and helpful waiting-to-get-on person told me this was the one I wanted.
That was a half-hearted photo that I meant to revisit and retake, but not sure I did.
Canberra Central - this is new? It's a bit weird because inside
it looks just like shopping centres in every other capital city. (I won't say every other city, because there's none in Launceston.) It has bathrooms where you can wash your eye and make sure evil flying, stinging insects are gone. Also the usual chain shops where you can buy fruit, drinks, plastic mugs and extension cords.
I needed the extension cord because the only powerpoints in the YHA room were over in the far corner there (by the window) and I both charge my phone at night and use it as a timekeeper so it needs to be on my bed. So extension cord was required.
That was pretty much it for the day. I ate tea, made notes about what I'd spent and sorted out what the stuff I'd picked up from what I needed to carry with me the next day. Went to sleep early. Couldn't sleep because the room was stuffy.
Also it rained.
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Date: 2013-12-11 05:29 pm (UTC)