There really isn’t any good reason to go to Canberra, unless you work for the government…or you happen to need a Burmese Visa. Unfortunately, we were in the latter group. Myanmar used to be nice and easy – just show up and they give you a visitor’s visa. Recently, though, they changed all this to require an advance visa. since we didn't learn about this change until just before our trip, we didn't have time to send our passports to DC. Our options were Singapore, Thailand, or Canberra. Singapore will allegedly get it done in 3-5 days, but since we were planning on arriving on a Tuesday night and leave during the weekend, we would have to stay into the following week to ensure it got done in time...and even then, who knows. As for Thailand, we just didn't intend on spending any time in Bangkok. So, Canberra it was. We could allegedly get it done in 10 days or so, but when we contacted them from Denver to double check, they seemed skeptical. They agreed that we could scan and email our pictures, passports and info to them to get the authorization started and then bring in our originals just to have the visas made when we got there. So, we emailed our stuff from California at the end of July and this trip back through Canberra was our last chance. We had not yet received authorization as of arriving in Canberra, and indeed did not receive it until we were in transit from Canberra back to Sydney, where we had to catch a flight the next morning. sigh. We were actually totally okay with it - we took it to mean we could just have a more relaxed travel itinerary in all of the other countries we were planning to visit. Not a bad deal really. Burma will just have to wait - hopefully it's charm doesn't get completely erased as it opens its doors to tourism.
It’s not a bad place, Canberra that is, it's just a very planned, neat city that we found lacking in personality. We spent a frigid day walking around - it reminded us of the mall area of DC, but without the surrounding personality and amazing history. Canberra was basically manufactured when Sydney and Melbourne couldn't resolve their dual desires to be the capital seat. It is a beautiful place for a lovely stroll along the riverwalk where we spotted black swans and the comical Darter bird, which does a hilarious dance while airing out its wings by slowly swaying his long neck and tiny head from left to right, then back to left, then back to right...hee hee hee
We spent a good part of our day at the National Museum, which presents a timeline of Australia's history. When we were done, we felt strangely dissatisfied. The museum was really well put together, but the thing was that it didn't seem to be knew information - didn't we know all this already? Change some dates and names, and our two countries are historically mirror-images of each other, right down to the forceful removal and Christianization of indigenous children and the subsequent rampant alcoholism as their communities lost their way. At any rate, it was a great museum and I suppose we learned how much we have in common...historically.
Oh, and we were crossing the courtyard when we noticed these parrots on the ground. I was, of course, taking pictures of them when an employee cam over and explained that they were the endangered red-rumped grass parrot (I think). Anyway, they were stunning, though this picture doesn't do them justice.
That night we went back to Sydney and went out for pizza with the family. It was Charles's birthday and I had meant to plan a surprise something with Joe & Zoe, but hadn't counted on being internet- and phone-less basically the whole time we were gone. sigh. I almost had the pizza people embarrass him as they did by singing at another table, but he would have hated that, and I was having a crazy allergy attack out of nowhere (which luckily only lasted the night). Joe was really sweet and brought some freebies home from work (Discovery Channel), including a collapsible travel speaker and a Discovery Channel thumb drive! Sweet. It was extra great, because the thumbdrive we bought just before leaving to backup pictures somehow got fried so it has come in quite handy...for me. :-)
We spent a good part of our day at the National Museum, which presents a timeline of Australia's history. When we were done, we felt strangely dissatisfied. The museum was really well put together, but the thing was that it didn't seem to be knew information - didn't we know all this already? Change some dates and names, and our two countries are historically mirror-images of each other, right down to the forceful removal and Christianization of indigenous children and the subsequent rampant alcoholism as their communities lost their way. At any rate, it was a great museum and I suppose we learned how much we have in common...historically.
Oh, and we were crossing the courtyard when we noticed these parrots on the ground. I was, of course, taking pictures of them when an employee cam over and explained that they were the endangered red-rumped grass parrot (I think). Anyway, they were stunning, though this picture doesn't do them justice.
That night we went back to Sydney and went out for pizza with the family. It was Charles's birthday and I had meant to plan a surprise something with Joe & Zoe, but hadn't counted on being internet- and phone-less basically the whole time we were gone. sigh. I almost had the pizza people embarrass him as they did by singing at another table, but he would have hated that, and I was having a crazy allergy attack out of nowhere (which luckily only lasted the night). Joe was really sweet and brought some freebies home from work (Discovery Channel), including a collapsible travel speaker and a Discovery Channel thumb drive! Sweet. It was extra great, because the thumbdrive we bought just before leaving to backup pictures somehow got fried so it has come in quite handy...for me. :-)
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