I decided to stay a night in a hostel in Sydney since the bus pick up time was 6:45am the next day at that hostel (aka backpackers). Saved me a bit of commute so early in the morning. I stayed at Base Backpackers and it is one of the backpackers partnered with the Oz Experience. It was a decent hostel, I booked an all girls room, to kind of ease into the backpacking experience haha, and met some nice girls from the UK and we went down to the pub Scary Canary that is connected to the hostel. I got a voucher for free champagne (cheap and not so good but can't complain if it's free) for booking the girls room. There were people at the pub trying to get people playing drinking games and games to win free drinks which was pretty entertaining.
Then George, who is a good friend of Yanny and Sonia, came and met up with me at the pub. He just moved to Sydney a week before so it was nice to see a familiar face. We had a couple of drinks and shared some travel stories and called it night because I had a really early start to the next day.
Got up bright and early and waited outside the backpackers for the bus along with 2 other girls on the same trip. Made our way to the Oz Experience office to check-in and pick up some more passengers. It was a small group of seven - five females in their 20's, including myself, and an older couple.
Our young Australian bus driver/tour guide, Woody at 24, was very knowledgable and helped us break the ice and so we all started to get acquainted and found out that 2 girls are from London, another girl from Germany, one from Holland and the couple is from the UK somewhere.
Our first stop was at a small town (can't remember the name) for a toilet break and to grab some breakfast. Then we made our way to Canberra, NSW, the capital of Australia.
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| The view of Canberra, the Old and New Parliament Buildings, and the Australian War Memorial building. Taken from along the parliamentary axis |
The Australian War Memorial
When we got to Canberra, our first attraction was the Australian War Memorial (www.awm.gov.au).
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| Commorative Courtyard and Pool of Reflection and the Eternal Flame |
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| The Hall of Memory and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier behind the tomb are the "Four Pillars" |
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| The walls of the Hall of Memory covered with one of the world's largest mosaics. |
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| 14 beautiful large stained glass windows. |
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| The Roll of Honour surrounding the courtyard. Here are inscribed, in bronze, the names of virtually every Australian who has died in war since 1885. |
Then we were off to visit the new parliament building where we had a quick guided tour around the place (www.aph.gov.au).
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| There are about 2,500 clocks throughout the building. Below is The Great Hall where it features one of the world's largest tapestry based on a painting by Authur Boyd showing a dense forest of eucalypts - measuring 20m wide by 9m high |
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| The House of Representatives | The Senate |
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| At the top of the parliament building |
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| At the top of the parliament building - the view from the this side, the city and looking at the War Memorial |
The Old Parliament House
Just a little ways down away from the new Parliament House. We didn't get to go inside so we just took a few minutes to look around here.
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy
On the front lawn of the Old Parliament House, a large group of activists reside, calling it the Aboriginal Tent Embassy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Tent_Embassy).
So that was our morning in Canberra! Now we are off to Thredbo, where our accommodation is for the night. Passing through Cooma, then stopping at the Snow Hydro information centre - detailing the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric scheme that is one of the most complex water and electricity projects in the world. We pass through the Snowy Mountains and also through Jindabyne along the way to Threadbo.
Next post: our night in Thredbo and our hike up Mount Kosciusko
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| The view of Lake Jindabyne |
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