I saw my first spider on the way to the Parliament House in Canberra. In fact my first day on the streets of Australia's capital was a rude awakening to the realities of Aussie bugs. I had come to Australia in fear of killer spiders around each corner, snakes ready to pounce and Platypussies ready to sting. Instead what presented itself as the bain of my life (and wrecker of my nerves) was the old enemy.

On arrival in Sydney, which has broken its drought in my honour, and rained and reverted to winter temperatures, I looked on Google for information about the Australian bush fly. You can read all about this interesting topic here:

The Australian Bush fly

Read this as a warning should you choose to visit Australia during the Summer. In brief, what was attacking me in Canberra (but not in cold Sydney), but will again in Alice Springs and Cairns, was the Australian Bush fly. It grows in dung, and its population has exploded since the arrival of Europeans and their cows. The flies need protein to survive, and so are programmed to sup your sweat, saliva and tears (it will nibble your eyes to get you to weep). They (unlike house flies) don't spead disease, but do tend to swarm. They are carried into the cities on the wind where they can survive in the right conditions (summer). They are small, and repellent will only save you till the next flies are blown your way.

Anyway, I saw this spider in a toliet just before the Parliament, but it didn't look dangerous so I just left quickly. After all the stress of walking to the Parliament (at least one fly was buzzing me constantly all the time, and there seemed to be no way to cross the highway running around the Parliament circle to get there, till I followed a Civil Servant, I presume, across the road and into some bushes then into the Parliament area), the spider was least of my worries. Eventually, as I climbed up and up, I found a little Chinese garden (a gift from the People's Republic of China government) and then I was there . It was the wrong entrance (members only I think), so I walked around the 'hill' to the front, but I was too early for the first tour of the day (09:00), so I hung about outside trying to avoid the flies. Evenutally, I waited under the veranda at the front of the building till I could get in.

The building is inside of an artificial hill, which I gather you can climb on top of. The tour guide took us first to the great hall, which I guess is like their Westminster Hall. She was at pains to explain that 95% of the materials in the construction were Australian made. She was at such pains to explain this that I wondered if someone was going to jump up to ask about the 'other bloody 5%'. No one did, but she went to the trouble of naming the states from which each piece of wood in the great hall had come from. As we left I could see others on the tour checking out the wood approvingly.

Made in Australia seems to be a big thing here. Where possible, anything packaged with have the words either Made in Australia, or Proudly Australian owned and managed on it. I though this was a bit odd to start with, but three things occur to me. First, I think in the Early 80s, Britain was the same with Buy British campaigns, second, it is illegal now to list the country of origin on products made and sold in the European Union, and third most everything we buy has the CE symbol on it, which I think means made in the EU, or something (actually it is just a safety kitemark), its just not in your face in any way.

There is lots of symbolism in the Parliament House. (Why it isn't called the Houses of Parliament is beyond me, since there are actually 2 houses in it). It is arranged on a horizontal axis to the Old Parliament House, then across the lake to the War Memorial, to complent the city's axial design by Walter Burley Griffin. There is also a vertical axis from the Member's lobby, up through the public gallery above to the huge (I mean HUGE) flag pole on the top of the building.

The front of the building is red dirt, with an Aboriginal mozaic and a beautiful rippling water feature. This symbolises Australia before the arrival of the Europeans. The Lobby area is Italian marble and Belgian black limestone. This, with no aboriginal influences, reflects the period of European colonisation (this is where most of the 5% non-Australian material is found). The houses themselves (House of Representatives and the Senate) are modern, and represent modern multi-cultural Australia.

The Houses have similarities to the British Parliament. the HR is green and the Senate red, but the shades are natural Australian colours (e.g Eucalyptus light green for the HR). There is a large gallery at the top for the public, and a sound proofed gallery for tours when the house is sitting (and for school visits!). The public also are able to look down and watch their representatives in the Member's lobby, but a fountain in the middle of it drowns out any conversations, giving privacy.

I watched an hour-long video on the construction of the building ? completed in 1988 for the Bi-Centennial of European settlement celebrations. It was controversial from the start, the fact that an entire (albeit rather boring looking) hill had to be demolished was asking from trouble from the greens, and it was wildy over budget and plagued by strikes, and for a relatively small country (in terms of population) hugely big and ostentatious. Aside from the refreshing honesty of the video, what sticks in my mind is a woman who was interviewed. She said 'its very nice, but why did they make it so big, to provide employment?' Actually, I remember that comment because she sounded just like Dame Edna! Still, it was worth every cent. Buildings like this one have played a part in giving Australia an identity and self-confidence. Another thing that sticks in my mind is the clocks. You are able to glance in almost any direction and still see a clock. There are hundreds and hundreds of them. What a contrast to London where often you can't find a clock for love nor money.

My trouble began when I tried to walk down to the Old Parliament House. I started to walk down the hill and, you know when sometimes you can re-focus and see bits of dust in the air, well, I refocused and saw dozens of beetles flying in the air. I guess, now, that these were ladybirds (introduced to Australia to kill an agricultural pest), but I was ducking and diving, and then the bush flies returned with a vengance, two or three at a time.

I retreated back to Parliament. OK, I'll take a different route. My Lonely Planet guide suggested going down Commonwealth Ave. past the British Embassy, but the ramp down from the Parliament to the avenue had no Pavement(!), so I retreated to Parliament yet again. I note now that the Lonely Planet walk doesn't envisage you actually visiting Parliament, just walking around it. I thought maybe dark colours would put off the flies so I bought a dark t-shirt, put it on in the loos (instead of the white one I was wearing) and decided (feeling like a fool) to actually run down the hill to the Old Parliament.

Once at Old Parliament House (dripping sweat from the 30 degree plus heat) , I saw some American guys who had been with me on the tour a few hours earlier. They suggested going to the National Gallery first and then the Portrait Gallery (which I had no intention of visiting), which is part of the Old Parliament building later. Still, If the National was just down the road as they suggested, I thought I might as well go there first. Striding down the road, trying to avoid extensive ant colonies and out walk the flies, I could find no National Gallery. It dawned on me that these guys had been driving in air-conditioned comfort, so it was problably much further in the midday heat than I was inclined to walk, so I turned tail for the Old Parliament.

As it was lunchtime, I decided to seek refuge in the air-conditioned up-market cafe, called Cafe in Parliament (or something similar). I had a delicious Caesar salad and an orange tea which tasted like regular tea. All for $13.

Back in Old Parliament House, I had another guided tour, but this was much better than at Paliament House. A retired civil servant did the tour and took us around the building quite briskly, but she dwelled on the important bits, and they are this. The Parliament was intended to be a temporary building. There were few, if any offices provided for MPs, in fact both Government and Opposition had a single classroom sized room as office space. Each room had a bed and wash basin incase the parliamentarians were cut off from the outside (it snows here in Winter). The Prime Minster had a corner office, which was a terrible security risk, the opposition room was directly below the eaves-dropping press gallery, the Cabinet room had bad sound proofing. What a crock! I would guess the size and splendour of the new parliament (there are dozens of courtyard gardens in the new building for example), is a reaction to the cramped quarters in the old. We finished sitting on the green benches in the chamber of the House of Representatives. There we had a mini comparative lecture on the Australian federal constitution and the differences with Britain, Canada and the US; the differences between States like New South Wales and Territories like Northern Territory; and the voting system. Great.
Walking around, there were a couple of themed rooms which as a new student to Australian history I found fascinating, there was a walk of trivia aout all the PrimeMinisters of Australia, a study of great political conflicts and best of all a period room from November 1975 replaying the tv broadcasts and adverts, and displaying satirical statuettes that I kept seeing in Canberra all depicting the Whitlam crisis, where the Govenor-General sacked the Government. You can find out about this fascinating constitutional crisis here:

The Whitlam Dismissal website


Outside, I had a quick look at the Aboriginal tent embassy (couldn't stay too long - flies you see), and quick marched to refuge in Questacon, which is the Science centre. I didn't stay there, and so quick marched to the National Gallery. This houses an interesting art collection with some European, and a lot of Australian art, classical and modern. On the ground floor is a large installation of Aboriginal art, it is a set of funeral poles, a memorial to all those aboriginals killed by European colonists. There is a a great collection of modern art (not all of it rubbish), and there is a collection of paintings telling the story of Ned Kelly, the outback outlaw - although the spin I got was that he was a piece of living conceptual art. But perhaps I missed something. The building itself, was similar to the National Theatre in London, raised concrete walkways in concrete minimalism. I wonder what Australians made of its design at the time?

I walked back to the Hostel partly along the lake and partly on the highway, hot footed all the way. I could hear across the lake the bells ringing in the (my opinion) bizarre National Carillion, which is a tower with 53 bells in it. It was a gift from Britain to Australia in 1965. Compositions have been made for it, and they have performances on lunchtimes - I was not in the right place at the right time to hear any of them.

The next day, Tuesday, I set out (covered in Bayer repellant) for the train station to buy my ticket to Sydney for Wednesday - this time going all the way by train. I took the bus from there across Lake Burley Griffin and hot footed it to the National Museum of Australia a kilometre or so away on a peninsular on the north lake shore.

The NMA is brand new, opened last year. While the exhibits were good, I felt the layout was wrong. A lot is devoted to the Aboriginals, and most of Federation Australia squashed into the middle of the museum - but then it is only 100 years old. There is a video you watch on the themes of the museum (which I forget), but you then enter what should be the last part of the museum, about the land and the environment. An interesting exhibit here was on how Aussies used to hunt wild buffalo using Toyota Landcruisers with big hooks (see pic below). I haven't a clue what that was about, but it all seemed very Mad Max to me. Anyway, I had to walk the whole length of the museum with my eyes half shut to get to the aboriginal 'The first Australians', where I spent most of my time. It has been interesting to see how much reverence is paid to the Aboriginials in modern Australia, and yet the difference in circumstances between them and 'the rest' could not be starker. I don't know if Australia has yet come to terms with its past and what it could mean for the future if it is to set it right. Certainly the impression I have got so far, from what I've seen, is that there is a lot remaining to be put right.

I had a $10 gourmet lunch (there's a lot of 'gourmet' food over here, and I still don't know what it means other than something in a baguette). The Nation section of the NMA dealt with modern Australia. Interesting to me was a section covering Australian-English. It had a series of Aussie words (many I'd not heard before) and their definition. One I found interesting is an Australian term 'Economic Rationalism' this is what Australians call free-market economics. It said that most Australians were not aware that that phrase was specific to Australia. There was an area about the domesticity of the 50s house wife, which I found interesting because I think this is what Germaine Greer rebelled against. Apparently, many housewifes were on prescribed drugs to take away from the boredom!

On leaving, I quick marched, very quick as the repellent had no effect, to the National Capital Exhibition. I paused for a few photos at the Cook Memorial water jet. This pumps 6 tonnes of water into the air, and is an impressive sight. Running up to the exhibition, fighting off the bush flies, I passed some Asian tourists who went in at the same time as me. The exhibition was about the design and planning of Canberra. As with everything, it spent a good while on the Aboriginal beginnings of the place (Canberra means meeting place in the local Aboriginal language). By the window facing the lake there was a big model of the city, with flashing lights and Burley Giffiin's voice explaining it (at least, I think it was his voice). Before I left (in trepidation of bush flies), I watched a slide and sound show of Australians perceptions of its Capital. At least one person in the show called it boring. Boring, is the general perception of the Captial. Burley Griffin's vision though, was to make the greatest city in the world. I think it falls somewhere in between, great if you have a car, infuriating if you are on foot. I wasn't aware of much nightlife, but as I said to the receptionist at my hostel in Sydney, who sarcastically called it 'the party captial of Australia', I didn't go there to party, I went for the history and culture, and Canberra has bags of it.

It wasn't quite the end of the day, so I decided to seek refuge in the city centre shopping precinct, and then take a bus back to the hostel. Checking directions with a friendly local, I quick marched across the highway (on a pedestrian flyover) to the city centre which is called 'Civic'. This area, apart from having lots of offices and Government buildings, had a modern shopping street, from where I wrote my previous log, and in the middle, a big shopping centre. It turns out that it had opened a few days before I arrived, so I was justfied in thinking it was one of the best shopping centres I had visited. I was suprised to find a branch of WHSmiths, which in Australia is called a book shop. I had to go inside WHS to see what the Australian version was like. Its was eerily exaclty the same as one in the UK.

I took the wrong bus back to the Hostel. I was heading by mistake to the shopping block up the road from my hostel and so I had to contemporaneously read my city map to check where to get off and run, yes, this time I decided to run from the Bush flies, into a book shop near my hostel to catch breath. This refuge proved an astonishing treasure trove of imported magazines, even Modern Railways (1 month out of date) was there!

The next day, Wednesday, I decided to bicycle. I hired a bike to cycle around the diplomatic distrct to look at the embassies - some of which, apparently, were quite distinctive, then I would cycle around Lake Burley Griffin ending up at the Australian War Memorial for an hour, then back to the hostel and then the train station. It turned out to be a bit more stressfull than I imagined. All the guide books rave about how easy it is to cycle around 'flat' Canberra. Flat my arse! By the time I cycled to the diplomatic district, I was thoroughly exhausted. Sure, if you are going by car, then long sweeping hills might seem a mere trifle, but on a bike with only two gears, its HARD work. Add in having to speed up to out run occasional bush flies, blown in on the wind, and not being able to stop for fear of the bush flies, and it was quite draining, physically and emotionally.

The diplomatic area is actually, no confusion possible here, hilly. Big hills. Burley Griffin deliberately built the city inside the hills to give it a dramatic setting, and its certainly has that. And hills. Most of the Embassies and High commisions are non-descript office blocks, but of note are Indonesia, Malaysia, Papuea New Guinea and China (where there was a silent meditating protest by Tibetians), these had native interesting designs. Not interesting enough to stop and get out the camera though ? not that that would be a good idea, the Israeli embassy had 3 armed guards outside! I don't remember seeing the US embassy, but I gather it is in the style of a Southern Mansion. (Postscript ? I learnt once back safely in Britain that the Israeli embassy was a terrorist target while I was there, so I was getting closer to the action than I thought!)

After the embassies, I started out on the 36km(!) shore of the lake. I cycled around about 3/4 of it, ending at the war memorial, and it was pleasant enough. Excellent if you have a bike with good hill climbing gears, and so can enjoy climbing long hills, then racing down the other side - over, and over, and over again. The few times I had to get off and walk the bike up steep sections, I was harrased by my old friends. This prompted me to just try to keep cycling.

Somehow, I took a wrong turn on this non-signposted route (it seems only cars deserve sign posts in Canberra), and ended up down one of the peninsulars. I was able, however, to fill my water bottle from a canoe shed (no spiders spotted), which was a great relief, as I had left without any water. I cycled on, managing to avoid other distracting peninsulars, and arrived at mid-day at the bottom on Anzac Parade (which led to the memorial). Unfortunately, between me and the road to the memorial was a highway. There was no cycle path, in this 'cycle friendly' city, that I could see that would take me to the memorial, and to join the highway would take me in the wrong direction. Grrr. I had had about enough of Canberra's car centricness, and as I cycled up the lawn to see if I could get the bike up some concrete steps to cross the highway on foot, I noticed, again dozens of flying ladybirds.

Arrgh. So, I cycled back to the cycle path, and found at last a road going under the highway towards the memorial. This road passed by Blundell's cottage, which was a museum showing what houses were like before Canberra was built, no time to stop though, and the road, thankfully took me to the Parade, which, while another long sweeping hill, was quite passable in low gear. I stopped a few times on the way up, at what I thought were major contributory parts of the memorial, there was one for each of the major conflicts Autralia has been involved in. The most interesting was that for Vietnam, which has lots of quotes from the time.

Up at the top, there was, again, no way for the cycle path to join the road, and definetely no way to access the museum on the other side on the highway, so I dismounted, watched the traffic, and crossed the highway on foot. I should say, when I say highway, I mean dual-carriage way, but it looked like a highway.
I safely locked up the bike in the bike park around the back with the chain supplied by the hostel (all the time harrased by 3 flies), and entered the Memorial. To my suprise and delight, this 'memorial' is actually Australia's equivalent of the Imperial War Museum. And what a museum! It was excellent, one of the best I have visited. I went on a free tour, again, and the memorial part of it is the sense that aside from whatever you may think politically of the wars (e.g. Vietnam), you should remember the sacrifices made by and the skill of the individual soldiers. What pervaded this museum was the Anzac sprit of Galipoli, which helped bind together Australia soon after its birth, and the expertise the Australian forces, gained though their (mostly unknown in the UK) jungle warfare in WWII in Papua New Guinea, then in Malaya, then in Indonesia, then in Vietnam, where apparently the Anzacs were held in much higher regard than the Americans, not least because the Anzacs always buried the dead of Vietcong they had killed. The Anzacs also had a different style to the Amercans, using silent sign language rather than talking, repairing borken equipment that the Americans thought was written off. I stayed there till 1615, later than I wanted, as it gave me only an hour to get back and then onto the train.

I decided not to bother with cycle lanes and hit the highways, some of which had cycle lanes on the side. Cripes, the distances in Canberra is quite far, and I was quite tired by the time I had got over the lake, and past the American-Australian war memorial, which Lonely Planet describes as bug's bunny's ears!

Once over I noticed that there was no highway exit going in the direction of my hostel. Which was a blow. So I was forced back into the adminstrative district. At which point, my map disappeared. Marvellous. I decided, that since Canberra was a planned city, I could just go in the general direction, and I was bound to see some landmarks to guide me back. Despite intially panicing that no landmarks were appearing, my plan turnout out to be perfect, as I bypassed the highway and ended up in a straight line to the hostel! With only 15 minutes to go before I had to be at the station (it was a 10 minute walk), I anxiously waited while the bike was put away and my rucksak returned, then quick stepped to my last refuge in Canberra, the modern train station.

The train was sitting on the platform, waiting for PAX (passengers) to board, and I got on to confirm, as I suspected, that standard class was exactly the same as first class. On the way to Sydney, I noticed a few interesting things. First, the scenery is amazing after all. Its amazing how being awake and heading in the opposite direction can change your perception! Sweeping valleys, and wide vistas of plains and mountains, great stuff. Next, I saw Kangaroos!!! The first one I saw, I am not sure if it wasn't a wallably, since it was quite small and red backed. Next though I saw a group of Kangaroos all bouncing away from the passing train. Amazing. They bounce with their feet together and boing synchronised! I also saw numerous rabbits on the route. Hmm. All the poor cows on the route, it was as if they hadn't seen a train before, and they went galloping and bucking in all directions when we appeared. The Australian (it is a different breed to the English variety) sheep were more blase'. Finally, by the time we reached Goulburn, everything was covered in thick smoke. The smoke was from the bush fires raging in a different part of the State. It was very noticable the afternoon I left Canberra. When I went into the Memorial, I could see Parliament House clearly, by the time I left, it was shrouded in smoke. Off the train in Sydney, it was cold and windy, and eventually started raining. I had brought England's weather with me!