During the three week mid-year break, we decided we needed to seek some warmer weather. Well… there aren’t many places in Australia colder than Victoria during the winter, so the choice was not a difficult one. We entertained the thoughts of flying north towards the top end of the Queensland coast, but in the end, we decided on a simple road trip that would take us north to Port Macquarie, home of the Lancashire family – a wonderful Brentwood family. It was two weeks of great family time and some iconic sites.
Day 1 was a drive from Geelong up the Hume Highway to Canberra. A seven hour drive that took us through some beautiful countryside (lots of sheep and cattle) left us entering Canberra in the late afternoon. Upon entering Canberra we were… uninspired? In case you didn’t know, Canberra is a planned city. Instead of assigning the capital to the battling Sydney and Melbourne (and therefore upsetting the other) Canberra was built. The design competition was won by a man from Chicago and Canberra was built as a “garden city” with a series of circular patterns within to create neighbourhoods.
Day 1 was a drive from Geelong up the Hume Highway to Canberra. A seven hour drive that took us through some beautiful countryside (lots of sheep and cattle) left us entering Canberra in the late afternoon. Upon entering Canberra we were… uninspired? In case you didn’t know, Canberra is a planned city. Instead of assigning the capital to the battling Sydney and Melbourne (and therefore upsetting the other) Canberra was built. The design competition was won by a man from Chicago and Canberra was built as a “garden city” with a series of circular patterns within to create neighbourhoods.
Unfortunately, Canberra does not feel like it has a lot of life to it and sometimes it seems like the building boom of the 60s and 70s (lots of concrete) has left a lasting impression that makes it seem like a – well, a planned city, rather than one with character. That being said, Canberra had some great highlights for us. First was our hotel. Upon arrival we were upgraded for free to this fantastic suite! Two bedroom, two bathroom, full kitchen with dishwasher and nice sized dining/living room – all for less than $200 a night! We also caught up with an Australian girl who spent a year at McGill and rowed with us in 2001, before we were even dating! She is now married with two girls, and still rowing! We had a wonderful dinner with her and her family and Ulrika met her the next morning to run to the top of one of the local hills with a great view of the city.
On day two we spent the morning at the Australian National War Memorial and War Museum. This was an incredible experience. The museum itself was great for both adults and children. Very interactive, visually captivating and well laid out. More impressively is the way they coupled it with the Hall of Memory which contained the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Along the walls leading into the Hall of Memory are the names of the many fallen Australian soldiers from the many conflicts that they have entered over the years. As I said in my last post, Australians know how to celebrate their soldiers without glorifying war itself.
I was also lucky enough to be set up with tickets to Australian Parliament’s Question Time (same as Canada’s Question Period). The Lancashire’s local MP from Port Macquarie reserved a ticket for me, and as someone who loves (and teaches) government and politics, I loved every second of it. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed to be taken inside, but sitting there and watching the interaction of the two sides (the governing coalition vs the Labour Party) live was a very interesting experience. Like Canada, Parliament can get a bit rowdy (which I am not a fan of) and the day I was there certainly was no different. One MP was turfed for the day, many were warned by the Speaker that they would be next. Though politics here is very similar to Canada, in ways it is different. Less scripted and therefore more mistakes, it has been a pretty interesting year for the two major party leaders. Prime Minister Abbott’s leadership was challenged early in our time here and just today the Speaker resigned for questionable spending habits. Now the leader of the minority Labour Party Is getting hammered for lying when he was playing kingmaker while being part of the last government, and for being bought off by labour unions. Politics seems definitively more unstable here, and because of that, fairly polarized. Interesting to watch from the inside, while being an outsider.
The next day we headed to Sydney for a few days in the big city. We were staying in the Rocks, the original area of settlement in Sydney (note: when I’m talking firsts, I am doing so from a European settlement point of view. The reality is that Aboriginal people have been here for many thousands of years and have a very rich history spanning the entire country). The Rocks were a prime location for exploring the CBD (Central Business District) and catching ferries to different parts of the city. We really enjoyed exploring Sydney, especially Ulrika, who is a city girl at heart. We had beautiful weather, with the days around 20 degrees Celsius and mostly sunny and were out and about as much as we could be. We spent the first morning exploring the very local area, walking around the Rocks, watching ferries come into and leave Circular Quay and visiting the incredible Sydney Opera House.
Day two saw us visit Manley Beach in the north of the city (30ish minutes by ferry from Circular Quay) and eat our fill of fish and chips – a Manley Beach must. Warning, there are a lot of pictures of us on Manley. It's only because the kids are so darned cute! That evening we attended a beautiful Mass at a packed Sydney Cathedral in celebration of Saint Jose Maria’s feast day. The choir was incredible and the Sydney crowd was full of life – the way Mass should be celebrated.
Day three meant a trip (again by ferry) to the Taronga Zoo. This was probably the best time I’ve ever had at the zoo. The setting was beautiful, the weather incredible, the variety of animals and shows superb and the view of Sydney across the bay unbeatable! The Goodfellow tree kangaroo was a definite highlight (one of many) – simply image a small kangaroo with slightly less developed back legs that can climb a tree… how odd but intriguing! Our Melbourne Zoo passes, got us in for free – and they cost us less than a one day pass to the Taronga Zoo would have been. Great deal!
The next day we left Sydney for our six day stay in Dunbogan. This was a huge change of pace from the first half of our trip. We went from urban to beach living. From small hotel room to nice-sized beach house. Our place was perfect. Three bedrooms, big living area, covered deck with a bbq and only a five minute walk from a great beach on the coast. The water was even warm enough that we got in some swimming (note: it’s the middle of the winter in Australia). While there, we spent lots of time outside at the beach or exploring the local area. Cormac and I also played hours of Monopoly over the course of the week. I loved Monopoly when I was young and Cormac seems to be following in my footsteps. The area was pretty cool as we were on a spit of land that broke a tidal brackish area off from the ocean. This area was great for local fishing and recreation and was home to what seemed like thousands of pelicans. It also had an incredible number of oyster beds supporting a local oyster industry. It was a beautiful area and with the water and rolling hills reminded me a lot of Mill Bay as the sun started to go down each evening.
While we were there we also got to visit with Joanna and Peter Lancashire’s family. I coached Jo in rowing and taught both her and her brother Peter last year. We had a wonderful dinner at the Lancashire’s house, which included a nice talk with Jo on FaceTime. She’s currently working in Whistler for the summer. Funny how life works – I visit her family in Australia and get to catch up with her from the West Coast of Canada. A bit backwards if you ask me. The local MP who got me tickets for Question Time also came to dinner with his family. He and Mr. Lancashire used to work together in the local hospital. Turns out I teach his niece at Geelong Grammar School and she is actually the only student in the school that has babysat our children! What a small world. The day before we left to drive back south we again met up with the Lancashires in Port Macquarie. It was a fitting day for it, Canada Day! Port Macquarie is a cute little city and we were very happy to spend time there with the Lancashires. It’s always nice to feel that connection to home.
On our way home we stopped just north of Sydney to have lunch and a coffee with the Borthwicks (see post from last holidays for Borthwick context – but needless to say, we love this family). We then continued to our one night stopover in Goulburn, Australia’s first inland settlement (reference note above on firsts). This was a fairly random place to stop and was meant to serve as a place to rest our heads. That being said, we had a pleasant surprise with our Goulburn hotel. The room itself, a small two bedroom suite which was very hard to heat when it went below freezing overnight, was not that remarkable, but the deal we got on the room was. For $200 we got the room, plus free dinner and free breakfast for the five of us. We were prepared for the potential the meals would be average at best, considering the cost, but they were quite the opposite. The restaurant was celebrating “Christmas in July” and was beautifully decorated with Christmas trees, face white deer and piles of presents. Stella was in little girl heaven. In fact, she ranked it as the best part of the trip! The food was excellent (a three course meal, which included a ham/turkey Christmas dinner) and the restaurant/hotel staff was incredibly kind and helpful. We absolutely lucked out with this place.
As we cruised into Geelong the next day we felt very content to be home. After almost two weeks away the kids and adults alike needed to settle into a rhythm before school started again. We are so thankful for the opportunities that this year has given us to see the Australia together as a family. Seven days from now a new trip starts for me… Arnhem Land!