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Canberra - The Capital City

Canberra was quite a surprise. I knew the city was a lot smaller than Sydney but it is quite unlike any city I have visited before.

Canberra has a population of about 300,000 people which is around 200,000 people less than Edinburgh however the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) is the size of the Lothians and Borders areas put together!

The city is also very young. It is a "purpose" built city which housed the first Federal Parliament building opening in 1927. It then expanded out however the cities primary "function" is to facilitate the Government and very much lives and breathes as the Parliaments sits. There are of course the "usual" shops, museums, restaurants etc but it is very different to any other Capital city.

It is also unusual not to see old buildings (the first Parliament is the oldest building was designed like Westminster but on a smaller scale), The roads also seemed extremely quiet and apparently, traffic jams just don't happen.

 

The recent drought was very evident in Canberra. There were water restrictions in place and electronic signs advising how much water residents had used, along with target levels for the month. The grass was brown and the hills bare as we drove through the region.

It was though a great weekend and I look forward to spending more time in Canberra.

This used to be a lake before the drought

Easter in Oz

Easter celebrations are very different to how we celebrate in the UK.

Along with being one of the most important dates in the Christian calendar, Easter is also the end of summer and the last chance to get away before Autumn sets in.

Unlike the UK though, everything shuts down for the long weekend. Supermarkets, shops, transports etc all stop for Good Friday and the streets are pretty much empty. The roads, rail and airports are packed though as people desert the cities for the beaches and places like the Gold Coast and Bondi fill up for the holiday.

Of course there are hot cross buns, and lots of chocolate so maybe it wasn't that different to home after all.....

Our flat

Now that I am getting excited about having our own flat, I thought I would try and link a map of it so you can see where we are living.... Not that exciting really but it passed some time for me trying to work out how to get it into my blog.

THE Opera House

After last weeks ranting and raving, I have had a much improved week.

We found a flat of our own. In a suburb of Sydney called Surry Hills. It is a 20 minute walk from Central station so about as central as we would like yet it is a quiet part of town, near a park and surrounded by lots of Restaurants and cafe's etc. I have to admit that the flat is not as nice as my flat in Edinburgh but as I am not paying any rent etc then I can't really complain. We only signed a 6 months lease so hopefully move to a nicer place later in the year. We move in on the 31st March.

We also scored a free night at the Opera House on Friday. Gus (the friend I was complaining about last week) managed to get us tickets to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform West Side Story. It was a fantastic night (it was Brad's first time to the concert hall in the Opera house as well).

and we had a week of sunshine with the temps over 25deg every day!

and last but not least, I have got an appointment to see Immigration on the 10th April. Hopefully have a job by the 11th April....

Am I in the Big Brother house?

After 4 weeks of living with Brad's friends I think I have had enough.

I miss my own space, I miss having a wardrobe (our clothes are just piled up on top of our "hosts" computer in the room we are in), I miss having a comfy bed, I hate finding long hair in the bath, I miss being able to fill the fridge with my own food, I hate finding that the bread and milk goes faster than if I was at BB camp (oh and the fact that I seem to be the only one shopping for both these items on a daily basis) rant rant rant moan moan moan.

Oh I forgot to mention that we are staying rent free and we were made to feel welcome.

Then last weekend when Gus decided to have a heart to heart with Brad and tell him all the faults that she has observed with me. I think that was after I pointed out an Audi A3 similar to what I had at home and was showing them pictures of my flat that I have on the laptop. So now the atmosphere is not the best. She doesn't actually know that Brad has told me about the conversation (apparently I look down on them both!) but 6 days have now passed and we have talked very little. She is out most of the time so that is actually quite nice.

The positive though is that it has spurred me on to finding us a place of our own. I have been working tirelessly calling agents and arranging flat inspections. The market is extremely tough (I have seen up to 50 people at 1 inspection) however I am sure we will get a flat soon.

Or I might find a tent and go camp in a park somewhere.....

Mardi Gras

Last night saw the end of the month long Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. The World famous parade started at 8pm and millions of people - both locals and tourists lined the streets to watch the 150 floats and hundreds of performers parade up one of the main streets in Sydney. People jostled to get the best views with the hoards 10 deep in places and people standing on 1 or 2 or more milk and bottle crates just to get a view of the multi coloured floats and costumes adorned by the performers.

The Mardi Gras parade now in it's 30th year started as a protest. Homosexual people demanding equal rights as well as tolerance within Australia. Now it draws a world wide crowd and people walk proudly up Oxford street for the same reason, to express openly who they are and what the gay community stands for.

I am not sure that Brad and I meet the mould. We don't feel the need to dress up in the tightest speedo's we can buy, adorn ourselves in glitter, strap some fairy wings to our backs and head out to march for our beliefs. That is not who we are and I don't believe that the vast majority of people who were out and about last night were "who they are as well".

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2008/03/01/1204227053034.html

Check out the photo's

My soap box feeling for the festival is that it is great for tourism in Sydney. (It must bring in millions of dollars) however it seems (to me) to have lost the point. Yes there still is a lot of discrimination (and probably no more so than in Australia) however if we dress as fairies, we will be treated as fairies and that is what a lot of people were saying last night.

Brad and I turned up too late to find a good spot (well we actually didn't see any of the parade as we couldn't get anywhere near the road). Instead we went to a straight bar, had a few beers, bought some pizza and walked home. We had quite a good night although I also fear that we could be turning into grumpy old men.....

OK I'll get off my soap box now.....