TravellingStrom

[Just a quick note, I have been unable to update for so long because of either no internet service, or no pwer for the laptop due to being on a yacht or a combination of the two.(today is 17th November)]

I had spoken to Emjay from the VSRI forum in recent days and he said that parliament would be sitting this week but not next week, he had sort of organised a ride for next Sunday. That meant if I wanted to see the government having a bun fight, I needed to see it this week. Decision made, I packed and left Kiama, this place had a surf beach right in the town.

I plugged in Canberra as my destination on the GPS and it took me up some windy roads out of there after fuelling up, I actually had no bloody idea where I was going, so, situation normal then, but the roads were nice 🙂

I made it over the top of the range and found this shop, very modest people here, but the sausage roll was nice 🙂

But after this it was on the main highway and on to Canberra. I dropped in to the visitors centre and found you have to book for Question time, so I did that and found I had a few hours spare, so I toddled off to the war museum for a look see. This is the main building entrance and is quite distinctive.

And this is a view of the new Parliament house from the front steps.

The city of Canberra was designed from the ground up, so it is not like a normal town that has just had stuff added to, so everything looks in place. Anyway, I spent a few hours here at the war memorial, but I reckon you could spend a day here if you took the time. Here is a general feel of what is there, including bikes 🙂

Then after a sanger at the cafe, it was off to the other side of the river for Question Time at parliament. This is a reverse view showing the war memorial from the parliament house steps, you can just make out the dome shaped building above the red driveway.

Question time is basically when the government politicians get asked ‘questions without notice, it can be quite boisterous in there at times, which is exactly what I was hoping for. But, no cameras allowed while the house is sitting, bummer. Take it from me though it was interesting. I was seated in the front row of the gallery behind the opposition benches around about the middle. It transpired that after about 15 minutes the 4 people to my right got up and left, they were Asians and maybe did not understand what was going on. But after another few minutes the group to my left got up and left also, this meant I was alone, so I did the obvious thing being a biker and smelt each armpit in turn to ascertain if I stunk or not, and when I looked back down I noticed the Julia Gillard the deputy Prime Minister having a smile. Now, I am not saying she noticed the display, but I like to think so 🙂 I stayed for about an hour and a half before heading off. The security is tight in here as you can imagine, but you are able to take photos outside the chambers.

I headed out as I was going to go see the ‘Mint’ where all the money is printed etc, but when I re read the info book, it said it was closed at 4pm, it was now 3.45. I decided to check out the caravan parks but even though the closest one was cheap at $14/night, it had nothing in the way of facilities like a camp kitchen etc. The other one I checked out had no tent sites, how f%^$#@ing stupid is that! Right, lets head off towards Sydney, I did so and ended up back in Goulbourn where I found the giant Merino right next to a small caravan park. This shot is slightly unique as I was not in a place you are allowed to stop normally, .

I duly booked in, swapped a few books and wandered up to the pub where I caught a bit of cricket for a while. Oh, I had a few beers there as well before getting a few take aways and doing some internet stuff back at the camp site 🙂

Day – 338km
Trip – 27,399km

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