Author: peterulrikaontour

So to Canberra for a week to see the sites. After spending so much time in country towns it felt like a big city. A big city with a million round abouts.

The view from Mt Ainslie Lookout.

Of course a day at the War Memorial was required. Lest we Forget.

The next very chilly morning we were up early for a balloon flight over Canberra. Not much wind but we floated over Royal Canberra Golf Club & Yarralumla. As always we finished with the traditional glass of champagne.

The same afternoon we went for a quiet electric sail on Lake Burley Griffin. The weather was perfect (the cheese & champagne where OK as well).

A day of wandering around the Parliament Houses, luckily all the criminals we call politicians were out lying to their constituants.

First up was Old Parliament House which was built in 1927 & was only supposedly to last for 50 years. A classic old building, if only the walls could talk.

Then up the hill to the New Parliament House. We did the architectual tour & it was most interesting. A great & in its own way beautiful building.

Even Bertha got her photo taken!

Lunch with my beautiful cousin Christine at the National Portrait Gallery & then a look around. Ulrika found her favourite portrait.

Across the road to the Art Gallery for a dose of culture.

I particularly liked this exhibit.

Another busy day with a visit to the Canberra Glassworks to watch the alchemy which is glass making. We could watch this forever.

A quick trip to the mint to see lots of coins not being made.

Then lunch at the Arboretum. The highlight was the Bonsai display. Some of these trees are over 50 years old!

Thanks for dinner Peter & Kerrie, it was good to catch up.

A quick trip to Canberra Ginnery to stock up.

Schrivener Dam controls the water level in Lake Burley Griffin. It was only completed in 1964, 50 years after the idea of Canberra was first developed.

The last few days in Canberra we stayed at the Canberra Zoo & specifcally at the Jamala Wildlife Lodge. Our room was in Ravi’s enclosure. Ravi is a 10 year old male Sumatran tiger & the layout of the room allows us to get up close & personal with him.

Isn’t he a beautiful boy.

In the lodge itself there are lots of wonderful African art.

The food & service was as good as it gets.

When we first arrived we were greeted by the Colobus monkeys, then at dinner the hyenas & white lions.

There are lots of other animals.

Ulrika had the opportunity to get up close & personal with Solo the 5 year old male Cheetah. They were both excited over the encounter.

And so ends our visit to Canberra, off to Normanville housesitting for a couple of months.

So we got off the boat & headed up the road for a night at the Ettamogah Pub just outside of Albury. It is the original Ettamogah built in 1987. Great spot.

Off to Batlow for a few nights to enjoy this apple growing area.

A visit to Blowering Dam.

Into Tumut for lunch at The Tumut River Brewing Company.

Some nice buildings in town.

Ulrika had worn out her broom with the last full moon so had to find another one 🙂

A apple cidery & ginnery was enjoyable.

So we spent a week at Wee Jasper, one of our favourite spots of our trip. For most of the time we were the only ones there, ahh the serenity.

The bridge into Wee Jasper sets the scene.

A walk along the creek found lots of wombat burrows but no wombats, plenty of sheep bones.

Micalong Creek Waterfall was a climb & walk. On the road in there are a number of fishing huts that were 99 year grants to soldiers after WW2.

Lots of bird life.

We left Bruny Island & headed up north for our date with a big boat. Before we got there, however, we took time to drop into Launceston for some caravan repairs. We then headed down the Tamar River to a lovely little spot called Kelso.

We were hoping to see lots of wombats, however, over the last number of years mange has reduced the population in this area to a point where they are rarely seen.

We went to a walk in the old town of York Town. There is not much left to see but it is the 5th oldest settlement in Australia being settled in 1804.