Postcards from... Canberra!

Are you dying to hear about it?  Well, the wait is over. 

My Mum and I travelled to Canberra in early August. It was a four day whirlwind and we packed it full … for me anyway. We flew from Brisbane to Canberra on a Saturday morning, which took about an hour and a half.  We couldn't check into our room at the Crowne Plaza until after 2pm, so we had a few hours to kill.  

Picking up a rental car took mere minutes and we headed straight to the National Library for lunch at the Bookplate restaurant.  This was followed by selfie opportunities with the gorgeous stained glass windows and a leisurely walk around the Treasures Gallery. They had several amazing artifacts, artworks and (of course) books from their core collection.  There was also a special exhibition of the history of Australian political cartoons.  The video of interviews with political cartoonists was informative and insightful.   

A few hours went by quickly.  We went for a quick drive around Canberra, this didn't take long, to find some landmarks and places we were planning to visit on Sunday and Monday, so we knew how to get there.  We settled into our hotel, picked up some food (finding a park was so painful!) and Mum headed out with some old friends.  I had a good rest! 

Sunday was so much fun and exhausting!  We had a full buffet breakfast at the hotel (included in the price of our stay) and headed out to the Old Bus Depot Markets right next door to the Canberra Glassworks.  There were some beautiful artwork, handmade crafts and jewellery stalls as well as clothes, hats and food.  Oh the food! Mum and I had some fun browsing and purchased a few small items to take home.  The cold weather got the better of me and I bought a pair of gloves without fingertips.  My gloves were annoying me and I had to keep removing them to use my phone.  I enjoyed talking to the stall holders about their particular crafts and expertise.  These markets are a great opportunity to meet some locals and pick up some unique souvenirs.  

Mum had a coffee and I had a hot chocolate from the hot drink stall at the front of the market building and can give it 5 stars!  It was by far the busiest of the stalls.  We ate some fruit that we snagged from the breakfast buffet and walked off to the Canberra Glassworks. 

The Canberra Glassworks is located inside the historic Kingston Powerhouse and much of the building is still in tact.  When you are sitting in a workshop you can look up to see huge pipes, steel beams and big switches.  Thankfully, there are also plaques explaining what things are and which part of the power station you are actually standing in.  There are always artists working with glass in the 'hotshop', you can book in for classes where you get to learn from experienced artists and there are some artist talks on during the week.  If you sign up to create something you get one on one attention and get to keep what you make.  We didn't book in for any tours or classes, but there are viewing galleries in most of the workshop spaces and artists are happy to interact with visitors.  They will explain what they are doing and are happy to answer questions.  We wandered through the gallery to take a look at the special exhibition and marvelled at the price of all the handmade products in the shop.  An absolute must at the Glassworks is a good go at the marble run, shown here to the left.  You can purchase a bag of handmade marbles for $5.  Place the marbles on the platform and crank the handle to raise them to the top of the run (a full flight of stairs above your head) and when they get there they go through different pipes and start falling to the ground.  Suspend the fact that you are an adult and shouldn't care about playing with marbles and crawl on the floor to find all the marbles so you can have another go.  

The core of the Australian War Memorial, 

reflecting pool and original dome. 

We went to the Australian War Memorial and enjoyed lunch at Poppy's café.  Which was lovely.  There were television screens playing audio visual displays in a few locations, comfortable seating, tables and cushions with pictures of old war propaganda.  Then we hurried to the reception area for the 90 minute highlights tour.  There are about 4 of these each day, run by volunteers and is well worth it. This tour didn't cover every exhibition and moved quite quickly through the space, but stories told by the volunteer guide were fascinating and he helped us make connections between exhibits that we never would have done alone.

Memorial Plaques with Poppies left by family and friends 

beside names of Australians who died in armed conflicts.  

There were several areas that we would have liked to explore more, but ran out of time.  The visit was somewhat emotional and I wouldn't be able to spend the whole day there.  However, I would go and visit again.  There is also an audio tour, for the cost of $10 which has additional information about selected exhibits and it very engaging.  There are also 30 minute highlights and 60 minute highlights tours which are free and are repeated throughout the day. There are other tours which are more specific to certain exhibitions once a day. Check out the War Memorial Website for tour times and special exhibitions.

Feeling very sore and tired, we decided to go back to the hotel for a rest. Mum went out with family friends for dinner and I went to bed early.  

I think that's plenty of news about Canberra, for now.  Next week, I will tell you all about our visit to the Canberra Zoo.  

See you Next Week... Hopefully on time?!