More about Canberra

As the boulevards (and the roundabouts) became more sophisticated (and complicated), an unusual structure loomed in the sky ahead. It looked like a modernistic spire of metal, possibly stainless steel or aluminum; stretching over a wide area in the center of the city. Soon we
approach a series of concentric circular highways with names like National Circle, State Circle and Capitol Circle—all surrounding the massive structure centered, somehow, under the middle of the lawn at the exact center of the circle—the Parliament House. We circled off to a side street and parked at the curb not far from one of the several gardens and lakes in the area.

After consulting the tourist map, we set off along Coronation Ave., one of the spokes in the vast wheel that is Canberra, past the Chinese consulate to the Federation Mall –a long, massive stretch of sidewalks and green lawn stretching from the Parliament House to the river, over the
Commonwealth Bridge to a structure on the opposite shore (more about that later). Turning up the hill, we proceeded to the impressive, contemporary structure buried (it seemed) under
the green lawn running up each side.

After going through security, we entered the structure and found a welcoming assortment of
exhibits, balconies and special rooms. The café offered both cold refreshment (it was a hot muggy day, after all) and an outdoor patio overlooking the entrance plaza with a view down the
mall to the river and city beyond. The floor of the House (blue-gray) and Senate (maroon) Chambers were closed, but we gained entry to the galleries with a nice view of the leader’s desk and all the members’ chairs. Later we took the elevator to the lawn-covered roof and observed a wide-open view of the surrounding city and countryside. By the way, Canberra was established in a largely uninhabited area of Australia between Sydney and Melbourne—the two leading cities of the day and fierce rivals to be the national capital.

We exited the capitol and returned to our car determined to find our way down the length
of the mall to the structure at the end. Strangely enough, we succeeded and arrived at Anzac Ave. at the entrance to the Australian War Memorial. Frankly, I don’t like war memorials all that much, but this one had a softer, welcoming nature to it. On the path to the entrance there were several bronze sculptures. One commemorated Simpson and His Donkey, the story about the young medic who repeatedly transported wounded Australian soldiers to medical help on the
back of his donkey – often exposing himself to lethal fire. As the exhibit noted, he only lasted 4 days in battle and was killed trying to do his duty.

The inside of the memorial contained many exhibits of past military campaigns (I didn’t realize that the Australians were involved in so many) and the names of fallen soldiers. Even for someone from a different time and place, I found it to be quite moving.
We left the memorial at the end of the afternoon and found our way to Federation Highway
headed toward the northeast and Wollongong. After about 2 hours driving (Linda took a turn at the wheel on this stretch), we exited onto the Picton Rd. and headed over the coastal mountain
range towards Wollongong.

By this time, we were looking forward another night in our accommodations and a slow, lazy
Sunday to recover from all our weekend travels.