Woah, where has the blue sky gone? We have been so spoilt with the weather, it was a bit of a shock to wake up to a cold cloudy day here in our Nation’s capital. After a leisurely start we met with Kev and Maz and set off for Lake Burley Griffin and our already booked Segway tour. Gaz decided to give it a miss considering his balance issues.
We had a total of seven in our group and Jack, our guide, gave us some general instruction, asked us to sign a waiver (which included reminding us we might die), and then gave us a quick one to one talk and we were on our way.
The tour went for over an hour and we visited many of the sights on both sides of the lake – a great way to get around. I found it a bit easier to manoeuvre than I thought though there were a few hairy times going down hill where I was not totally at ease. It was very funny when we got off the segways and tried to walk – you had to get your land legs again and stumbled around for a while.
It was quite cold – still only 16 degrees at midday and total cloud cover. We grabbed a coffee at the lake and then set off in search of lunch, firstly at Kingston, but we couldn’t find a car park. While driving around looking for another alternative, we drove past our old house at O’Malley – the house looks the same but the trees and gardens are unrecognisable – they have grown so much! I guess it has been 21 years – how time flies!
We finally found our way to Manuka, found a car park, and had a nice lunch. It was still pretty cool, but not cool enough to deter Kev and Gaz from an ice cream cone … and I must admit I did eat the last bit of Gaz’s cone, and it was pretty yummy.
It was then off to (New) Parliament House where we joined a “Behind the Scenes” tour. This was very interesting – for over an hour we got to go to places the public can’t usually access. This was all because parliament was not sitting today. We were told that Tony Abbott was in the building, but unfortunately we didn’t catch a glimpse. We did get to see the members dining rooms, walk the same corridors they do etc etc. I liked seeing the cabinet room door where they come out after leadership blues and so on. All up, a worthwhile tour and Kevin, the guide, had some good stories to tell.
By this time the sun was out, the sky was blue and the temperature had risen to 22 degrees, and it was nearly 5pm. It took a while, but the warmth finally got there. My choice to wear shorts finally paid off. I decided it was time to do some laundry and spent some time with the washing machines and dryers of the caravan park laundry. As an aside, this was by far the most expensive place to undertake this activity – I paid double what I had paid a few days ago at Dromana – that’s capital cities for you!
Simple dinner of take away, early night, tomorrow is another day. I’m hoping to see (Old) Parliament House which I haven’t been inside since sixth class.
No comments:
Post a Comment