For The Love of Travel

Arriving in Canberra in the afternoon, we drove around the city familiarising ourselves with locations of interest and decided to visit old Parliament House, the home of the Federal Parliament from 1927 to 1988, and now housing the Museum of Australian Democracy.

The Behind the Lines: 2021 in political cartoons” exhibition was fab to visit, with both hilarious and sobering commentary on which to reflect. 

We were able to explore some of the old rooms in the House, including the Prime Minister’s (Bob’s) rooms and offices…lovingly and authentically restored to the 1980’s aesthetic! 

“Democracy DNA: the People, the Prime Ministers and the World” allows you to explore the events that shaped the nation from 1901 and the stories of the people who created our democracy. We didn’t have sufficient time to do this section justice unfortunately. 

Bollywood Marsala for a delicious barramundi and vegetarian curry dinner. 

The next day we visited the Australian War Memorial for a tour covering Aussie involvement in wars from WW1 to Afghanistan. Thought provoking and moving. 

A beautiful day to experience the National Arboretum, created after the 2001 & 2003 bushfires, which aims to establish 100 forests and 100 gardens focussing on threatened, rare, and symbolic trees from around the world. We explored the Cork Oak and Himalayan Cedar tracks and visited the Margaret Whitlam Pavilion. 

Took a tour around the (new) Parliament House and learnt more about the towering flagpole to the Grand Hall tapestry, the chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives, art and craft, architecture and Parliamentary proceedings.

Rainforest walk in Canberra’s Botanical Gardens yielded an eery atmosphere on a sunny day.

Parts of the Yale-Colombia Refractor telescope destroyed in Canberra’s 2003 fire, were used to construct the “Astronomer sculpture”, at Questacon. 

The National Portrait Gallery was displaying the 2022 National Portrait Prizes entries, here are some of my fave paintings and photos

Sensational dinner at Saffron Restaurant in Kingston, specialising in Greek, Lebanese and Moroccan dishes. Grilled salmon, haloumi, feta in pastry, tabouli, fattoush salad, baklava…..yummo!

Khancoban was our first stop the next morning for coffee at the Pickled Parrot.

A lovely winding Alpine Way took us to Scammells Lookout and Tom Groggin campground (check out the kanga)! Of course Mitzy couldn’t walk with us, because …its a NATIONAL PARK! But she was with us in sympathy.

As we turned the corner at Siberia, we got our first glimpse of snow….and the landscape got very moody – dark clouds, fog, chilly winds and sleeting snow fell. We loved it. Silly pic taking occurred. 

Cooma our next stop for the night, with locals surprising us with Book Week outfits….

We went on a ‘Snowy Mt Scheme flyover’ at the Discovery Centre the next morning. All these new learnings: Snowy 2.0 will underpin the nation’s “transition to a low-carbon emissions” future. The project involves linking two existing dams, Tantangara and Talbingo, through 27km of tunnels and building a new underground power station.

Water will be pumped to the upper dam and then released back to the lower dam to generate energy when electricity demand is high. It will provide flexible, on-demand power while reusing or ‘recycling’ the water in a closed loop and maximise the efficiency of renewables by using excess solar and wind energy to pump water to the higher dam, to be stored for later use. So impressive – as a presentation of what the future holds.

Quaint Euroa our first stop. At the foot of the Strathbogie Ranges, Euroa began to grow due to traffic generated by the gold rush. Ned Kelly, Australia’s best-known bushranger, roamed the ranges around Euroa, holding up the National Bank in town during 1878. Much of the region’s wealth once came from sheep but now it comes from horse studs. Lots of historic buildings…we liked ‘Blairgowrie’, which stood out in the Main Street. Built in 1890 by pharmacist Mr H London. It last sold in 2018 for $690,000!

A quick stop at Glenrowan for a pic with Ned! 

Milawa cheese company tempted the taste buds…..oooh we loved their produce but particularly cheddar, Parmesan blue and goat camembert! 

A special stop for Mitzy in Wangaratta so she could release some energy at the Mitchell Ave Reserve. Chinese takeaway from the Wang Li restaurant. Yum.

Beautiful morning to visit Beechworth and do the scenic gorge drive and check out the 19thC buildings on Ford St. 

Yackandandah next, which was busy with a Farmers Market and Vintage cars display. Delightful little town.

We were wowed by the views from the Tallangatta lookout over the valley and Lake Hume ( impressive catchment 5 x the size of Sydney Harbour).

Colac Colac caravan park for the night.