Day 229 - Canberra

Hi everyone, with only a few weeks to go, I'm really finding it hard to write my daily blog. I'm almost wishing I'd have a day that doesn't have internet connectivity, but oh well, I can perserve.

Today was a big day. Firstly, it started with me leaving the chalet that I'd spent the last 2 days in, as the only customer. But I wasn't leaving the area yet. After a little chat with a local yesterday, I went in search of the Thredbo River, to do a bit of fly fishing. And I have to say, it's been about 6 years since I've tried, and for the most part, I actually was casting pretty well. For the first hour I didn't see any fish, so I moved up and down the river, and then I got all excited, I spotted a nice big brown trout. For about 20 minutes I casted the fly near it, but it either didn't have any interest, or knew what my game was.

So I moved further down the river, and found about 10 trout together. They looked a little different, they were all quite dark in colour. Once again, I casted around them for about 30 minutes, trying 3 different flies, but to no avail. So Cade, you're still one up on me in this regard.

After a few hours, I decided it was time to leave, hey my arm was pretty tired, and headed off to Canberra. It was a lovely drive, still up in the mountains. Which reminds me, the drives up to the top yesterday were so smooth, there was no slow curves, I could travel at about 80km/h all the way up to the top of Thredbo.

Anyway, I arrived at Canberra, and the first place I went to was the Royal Australian Mint. This is the place that they create all the coins for our lovely country. I got to walk around the "factory", looking at all the coins being made. Oh, and I could even buy a special $1 coin, with all the queens and kings of the 20th century on it, and it only cost me $3.

After the Mint, I headed to the Australian War Memorial. Now, for anyone interested in Austrlian History, or is interested in war, this place is a must. It's broken up in to two sections, 1. a memorial area for all the Australians who have given there lives for their country, and 2. a museum based on both the 1st and 2nd world wars. Totally enthrawling, so much to see and read. The amount of guns, uniforms, pictures and planes in this museum is outstanding.

After the war memorial, I headed down to Lake Burley Griffin, a lake in the centre of town. It's amazing for a couple of reasons. There is a driveway that runs straight from the memorial over the lake and to parliment house. And it's exactly a kilometre from the memorial to the lake.

Inside the lake is a water jet created to commerarate the bicentanary of Captain Cooks landing. This water jet shots up 147m into the air. Quite exciting.

Anyway, after all that I headed to my motel, to kick back and relax. The only issue is that tomorrow's going to be an even bigger day.

Royal Australian Mint

Australian War Memorial

Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet