Canberra

Old Parliament House

Most recently we spent a weekend down in Canberra. I admit that I was a bit sceptical heading over there as the place doesn't exactly have a reputation for entertainment but it's actually not too bad at all. I managed to take in the Jerrabomberra Wetlands by day while the others roamed the various museums and art galleries. In the evening the Enlighten Festival was taking place which meant that, among other things such as the neon dog park, the Old Parliament House was lit up and open to the public until pretty late at night.

Pacific Black Duck

Jerrabomberra Wetlands is apparently home to platypus but I didn't see any on this occasion. My excitement levels were raised briefly on a couple of occasions but the disturbances on the surface of the water turned out to be a great big water rat and a couple of large carp.

Enlighten Festival

The Old Parliament House was the home of the Australian Federal Parliament until as recently as 1988 and so it's pretty interesting to poke around in the PM's office and the various chambers and suites.

Chamber of the House of Representatives

And so the summer has already passed us by but that means it's about time to get more active again and I've just been tipped off to a campsite a couple of hours southwest of Sydney that has a river full of massive carp. Plans are therefore afoot to head down there in a few weeks with my father-in-law and a couple of tins of sweetcorn for Operation Carp...

Grey Fantail