Canberra and the Prime Minister

I finally made it to Canberra! For years now, every time I come to Sydney, I think about making the trip to Canberra, the capitol of Australia, but since it is four hours away by tour bus, I always seem to find other things to do instead (like go to the beach) but not yesterday. The weather forecast was terrible for Sydney making it the perfect day to make the journey to Canberra. I hoped on the bus at 7:30 in the morning and four hours later, after a stop at an Alpaca Centre for tea we arrived in Canberra. By BFFTD (best friends for the day) were Elizabeth (from Michigan) and Wendy (from Texas) who were also traveling by themselves on the tour and so we bonded over scones and being American. Our next stop was the National Museum of Australia which was a great museum. Not being a huge museum buff, it takes a lot for me to say that. It was high tech, interactive, and really interesting. We were also encouraged to write postcards so they could be posted with the official Canberra stamp so we all took a little time to send some off.

Next up was Parliament. It was the last week that the Parliament was sitting so we actually got to go into the House of Representatives to see them in action. After making our way through protestors and two security checks and giving up our cameras and phones, we were finally able to enter the session. When we walked in, I thought "that guy speaking looks familiar". A few moments later my suspicion was confirmed when he was addressed by name and title and I realized that it was indeed the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd who was speaking. The issue on the table was climate control which led to not only the protestors we had to get through but also led to a heated debate on the floor of the House. It was great! I was just getting into it when our tour guide made us leave. We Americans were trying to come up with any circumstances under which we would have gotten up and left while the President of the United States was speaking and came up with no such scenario. Our Aussie tour members just said "welcome to Australia".

We ended our day in Canberra with a bus tour of the embassies and then a trip to the Australian War Memorial which was another fascinating museum dedicated to the men and women who have fought for Australia. Four hours and a dinner stop later, we were back in Sydney. The best part of the journey was playing "I spy the Kangaroo (or Wallaby)" while we still had light. It is still startling to me, no matter how many times I have seen it, to see them grazing on the side of the road or in the fields, like I might see deer or something at home. Anyway, that was my day - it was a long one but a great one.