After looking around the Queens Street Markets where we bought all our supplies, we headed along the M31 for Albury. It was a long drive up but got there late afternoon. We planned to stay at Bendigo but the YHA there was closed due to a refurb. We don't do anything in Albury - just dinner and bed.
Wednesday 14th we get onto The Great Alpine Road which takes us more South Easterly - it takes us through some of the Ski Resorts and many towns. We choose to take the Discovery drive around Mount Beauty and Falls Creek. By the time we get to the top of this its 9 degrees - chilly!
We eventually get to Lakes Entrance where we check into our room at Riviera Backpackers YHA - we've gone for our own room this time. Some kind person leaves some cakes in the kitchen - I grab a chocolate muffin with vanilla icing on the top, Bex is drawn towards the custard and fruit tartlet.
Thursday 15th we spend the day in the Lakes Entrance area - we come across a Heritage Timber Bridge.
In the afternoon we walk along the Esplanade and on to the 90 mile beach - we dont walk the 90 miles but we do walk down to the entrance of the lake. On the way my flip flops decide to break so I have to walk bare footed along the beach, through some woodlands and through town until I find a shop! By the time we get back to the hostel we have been out for over 4 hours, walked more than 10kms and hungry!
Friday 16th and we leave Lakes Entrance for Merimbula - is a day of driving and we arrive around 15:30. We explore the town but spend the evening relaxing in front of the TV and end up watching Shrek 2 and Oceans 13. The hostel is quite strict on what you can and can't do - they don't do mixed dorms either! I end up sharing a room with a German who snored most the night - didn't get a good nights sleep.
Saturday 17th and we are out of Merimbula by 10am. We come across a beautiful beach around 30k's down the road and take a nice morning stroll. We carried on driving until Lunchtime and made lunch up in the boot of the car - we sat on some rocks overlooking the ocean.
We get to our next hostel in Batemans Bay - although turns out it's our own caravan! Was cheaper booking a double than a dorm each. Had its own outside toilet too with a little frog in the toilet bowl.
Sunday 18th and we drive to Canberra - only a couple hours of driving today. After a quick spot of lunch in the hostel, we head out to the Old Bus Depot Markets - all local produce and handmade crafts. Got to taste a few free samples! We then walk to the National Australian War Memorial. We got to see the single soldier who's buried there, along with all the names of those Australians who were lost in war. We also got to see the closing ceremony - a guy playing the bagpipes.
Monday 19th and i'm up early to put money in the car park. We walk to Parliament House and join a tour. We start in The Great Hall - the biggest room of the 4700 rooms in the building. We are told that 10,000 onsite workers took 8 years to build the structure - total cost being $1.1 billion.
The Great Hall houses one of the largest tapestries in the world measuring 9.5 x 19.8m. A team of 13 weavers took over 2 years to make it.
We get taken to the House of Representatives (the equivalent of our House of Commons). It is very similar to the British system and has similar characteristics - green decor for example. However, it is a lighter green - the same as Eucalyptus - to keep the Australian mark on it.
This is the same with The Senate (House of Lords) - same purpose and same principle colour of Red - but it is more pinkish.
We leave New Parliament House around 14:45 and head for the High Courts Of Australia - opened in 1980 by the Queen. Before then, there were seperate courts in Melbourne and Sydney but this wasn't sensible so it was agreed to bring them together in Canberra.
We look around a couple of the courts and the main building.
Tuesday 19th and we visit the National Museum of Australia. Was fairly interesting - based more on the social side of things. We head out of Canberra around midday and get to a town called Bundanoon - very small but rather quaint. They have a butchers here so have bought some Sausages for our tea! We are stopping here for the night and then heading to The Blue Mountains for a couple of nights.
The plan is to do some walking, watch a sunset and enjoy the scenery until Friday 23rd when we get into Sydney.
If we don't write again before christmas - Merry Christmas! Hope you have a great time over the festive period and Happy New Year!
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