Taken from Parliament House, facing Jagamarra's mosaics and looking out to Old Parliament House.
Day 353
Canberra, ACT, Australia
After deciding NOT to go to Canberra...we went!!!
I've never been there before, and i kept thinking, i've been to Washington DC to see the White House in the US...and I've never been to our own National Parliament House! I mean, how would that stand up in court (hehe) if i go back teaching! The kids would think i was totally ignorant!
Anyway...with that sitting in the back of my mind..and also the fact that Greg himself had never been to Parliament House, even though he'd been to Canberra, we headed off about 10.30am on the Hume Highway and arrived in Canberra two and a half hours later and headed straight to the Tourist Bureau to find out where Parliament House, The National Museum and Art Gallery and the War Memorial was!
We didn't have time to muck around trying to find these things ourselves and it was better to have all the main places we wanted to see marked on a map, which the lady there did in green highlight.
Off we headed to Parlilament House! I was excited. Australian Politics has always intrigued me and i've watched Question Time on TV and was really interested to see how it all worked. The Map said Parliament sittings only took place 30 times a year and the 3 days it sat in February had already passed. I was a bit disappointed we wouldn't be able to go to the Parliament Sitting. The way they all squabble was something i really wanted to see! haha!
The first thing we saw once we found parking (all free) and walked up to Parliament House was Michael Jagamarra Nelson's mosaics on the platform as you enter Parliment House front doors. I'd always wanted to see them in person because i also am a proud owner of some of Jagamarra's artwork!
His familiar Dreaming story was outlined in mosaics and i just loved it. It was actually baracaded off which was a shame because i really wanted to see it closeup, but i can understand if everyone walks on it, it't get worn out!
There is also another of his paintings sitting in the entranced foyer as well. Such a wonderful artist.
On the TV behind the information counter at the entrance was Julia Gillard making a speech. I asked about this and the guy behind the counter said she was sitting in the House of Representatives answering a question during Parliament Question Time.
"What a pity we can't see that!" I said..as we were talking about going on a tour of Parliament House. "If you want to see the last 30 minutes in the House of Reps you can if you like!" he said.
Whoa.....
I had NO idea we could just go and sit in the public gallery, especially when the brochure said there was only 30 sitting times a year, with February's sitting dates being the 12th, 13th and 14th. So we thought we'd missed it.
Just shows you have to ask about these things! And we were fortunate there was a Question Time ON today!!!
The security is pretty incredible. Airport style security. No mobile phones, camera's or any item that could become a missile is allowed into the room. It all goes into Cloak Room. We lined up behind a long line with the guy in front of us wearing a a teeshirt that had the blazened slogan, "I'm a grandparent and i have i have rights, let my grandchildren have rights too!" I thought i wonder if he could be a bit of stirrer in parliament today!
When we entered my fav - Julia Gillard - had stopped speaking and another member had the microphone and there were a few members grumbling and other people from the public saying, "here, here" which seemed to be all accepted! I'd seen QT before where the whole forum seemed to be full of children. Today was no different.
We spotted the Prime minister, Kevin Rudd sitting opposite Nelson, the Leader of the Oppositon and all of their members seated behind them. It was all a bit of a party! Peter Garrat took four times at the microphone to answer a question on petrol prices, Kevin Rudd stood to answer a question from a Member asking about the emails between him and Brian Burke and Alexander Downer was yawning in the back row, with Ruddick sitting there tweaking his nose and other famililar faces scattered about the room.
Peter Garrat created the most stir. He got more questions fired at him, regarding climate change, sewage dumping etcetc and he got up to uproar from the Members, and the galleries. Quite funny to see him respond....with no definate answers!
It was SO interesting seeing it all in action. Before we came to Canberra a few people had said..go to the Blue Mountains, go to Taronga Zoo, go here, go there...which we would have if we had more time...but the interesting thing was..no one never really endorsed our desire to go to Canberra..!!
But we were GLAD we went! I could have actually handled watching the WHOLE lot of the QT, i found it that fascinating!
And to hear about things i'd read about in the papers was interesting too!
After we got ushered out of the House, we joined up with the Tour we were going to go on if we didn't get into QT and saw the rest of Parliament House. The tour guides are really knowledgeable and the stories are great. A trip definitely worth going to!
It was about 4pm when we were heading to the National Muesum and Art Gallery so we only had an hour to whizz through that unfortuately..but we did see a lot of stuff in there..and old footage of Australian History.
We also filled up our Ford XR6 with fuel. Cost about $80 AUD to fill it. Fuel in Canberra was $128.9 per Litre! Cheaper than NZ that's for sure! (Cheaper, $1.24) with a Woolworths discount voucher!) It's more expensive in Sydney. I wonder if Canberra gets some sort of cheaper fuel thingy....? I know there was no cost for any of the sites we saw. All entries were free. So was parking. Our only cost for the day was the fuel to get to Canberra and our sandwiches!
By the time we got to the War Memorial it was about 6pm. So ladened with our sandwiches from BP we went for the walk around all the war memorials in Memorial Lane. Took photos of all the memorials and read all the plaques. We felt quite nostalgic as we stood under the Lone Pine Tree at the Galipolli memorial, thinking of Grandpop and Grandad's brother's who fought in WW1. Seemed so long ago that we were in Turkey at the Galipolli memorial.
We arrived home to Manly about 10.30pm and thought..."What a day!" It was full of nostalgia and pride for our country. I felt quite patriotic!!!!
Canberra is a place that is well worth every Australian visiting!
TOMORROW........we go "HOME"
I feel so nervous!!!!!
