Road trips

Last weekend saw us taking a long overdue trip to Canberra. Our friends are down there and we have been meaning to do down to visit since they had their first baby.

I managed to tie the trip in with a couple of work meetings so we left Newcastle on Thursday evening heading for Sydney. We had a great night in the center of Sydney, dining on Darling Harbour and staying in a brand new Ibis hotel. Fridays early meeting was productive and then it was off to Wollongong, a couple of hours south of Sydney to do a presentation to some of Accor's sales staff and a look at another Ibis hotel.

That out the way, the road to Canberra beckoned. Driving down, memories of last years trip came back. Canberra is going through a prolonged dry period (probably drought) and the fields and scenery soon changed from green to browny green to dead. For miles and miles, what used to be prime farming land was just dust with the odd bush or tree adding colour. Lake George, just outside Canberra is still empty and this mass of flat land draws everyones attention to the water situation.

Mel & Ben had invited us to the naming ceremony for their baby Lily. It was held in a park on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. It was a beautiful day (although the 10degrees start to the day was a bit of a shock to the system and we found ourselves sitting under a heater when having breakfast). The ceremony and bbq were nice and it was great to catch up with them and meet new people.

The following day, we went round to their house to say our goodbye's and Lily was thrust into my arms to "have a cuddle". I am not sure who was more scared - me or her but after I set a few ground rules all was good (except the odd slaver)!