A capital time.

Canberra is in the ACT, the Australian Capital Territory.  It was created in the early 1900s to a design by an American Architect.  It has about  380,000 population and all the cultural facilities of a national capital, museums, art galleries and science centres.   But more importantly it is home to our twin grand nephews!
Oliver

Sebastian

The cultural facilities are concentrated in a Parliamentary area.

The National Gallery is at one end.

It has an extensive collection of Aboriginal art.

Jo made a bee line for the National Library.

Nearby is the National Portrait Gallery, which we found surprisingly interesting.

In fact, we finally learned the fate of Biggles and Algy, but there was no mention of Ginger.

This may confuse you if you never read Capt. W. E. Johns


The city has a long axis.  At one end is Mount Ainslie with the National War Memorial at its foot across the lake.  

 Looking the other way we see Government House, the original Parliament and behind it surmounted by the huge pyramid is the new Parliament building.

We took a trip out to a nature reserve at Tidbinbilla.

Now, Africa has its "Big Five", the animals you must see, Australia by comparison has its "Weird Three".

There is the Koala.  It eats toxic leaves and has to rest in the trees to try to digest this diet.

Then you have the "Duck Billed Platypus", an animal that appears to be cobbled together by a demented taxidermist.

It is really there.  Just double click the image.   They are elusive.

More elusive was the Wombat.  Who only left behind its cubic poo!

Our final treat in Canberra was their multicultural festival where we got to hear the Didgeridoo during a dance presentation.

It was a great trip.

Canberra here we come.

We are winding down our stay in Melbourne and looking forward to seeing our new grand nephews in Canberra, who, we hear, are starting to crawl.

The Red Hill market is a monthly institution on the Mornington Peninsula.  Like a Trout Lake market on steroids.  Lots of food, crafts and novelties.
We got there early for our brekkie of Bacon and Egg Roll.....magnificent, but as you know, pictures of people eating are not always flattering, so the one I took of Jo cannot be shown here.

Bushranger Bay is the southern terminus of the 2 Bays Walk, about 30km overall. It is accessible by a short hike from a road, about 4km in.  Sunday was a cloudy day and so you don't get the full effect.  We have often seen kangaroo on this hike and once I nearly stood on a snake!

Monday evening the temperature was perfect for dining outside and the sunset was spectacular.
I have 20 shots of it.... but here are a couple.

Today was our last at the beach.  Once again it was a chore to go get the newspaper!!!!

Alan

Farm life, wild life and cultural life.

We have been touring around our Australian friends, actually Pat and Bob's friends who have adopted us when we are here.

Melbourne can be hot and dry at this time but is quite green this year.
Inland from Melbourne, over the Great Dividing Range, the land is dryer.  Here is the archetypal image of Australia.  The arid hills, the magnificent trees, the dam and the water pump.

Here are some of the Australian long distance walkers.  I have walked the Tour of Montblanc and the Pyrenees High Route with them, but in 2012 this lot walked from Chamonix to Nice over a 30 day period.

Being hot and dry, they can, with irrigation grow all sorts of crops.

There is also sheep and an alpaca.

 


Back in the city, Melbourne has some wonderful spaces.  The Yarra river runs alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens and nearby is a sports complex that houses the MCG, Melbourne Cricket Ground, the 3 stadia for tennis and another for Rugby and Scccer.

There is exciting wildlife that can appear in your bathtub.

The Huntsman Spider is not your average Canadian visitor.....we are told it does not bite!!!!

There are cuddly ones too,

But they eat your ripe fruit at night.
On the cultural side we went to see an exhibition of Jean Paul Gautiers work,  He is the iconic couturier who designed Madonnas huge conical bra,  The show was impressive, the clothes however could not be worn by normal people doing normal things.  
I have no photos of the show but there were some whimsical displays at the National Gallery of Victoria that caught my eye.
There is a gold Carousel in the main atrium.  You can ride it, it takes about 2 minutes to go round.

 
This little fellow was making his own paintings!

Then there was the life drawing class, many were trying their hand.  Some would be displayed on the wall.

That's all for now.  G'day mates!

Weather in Melbourne 2015

Although the skies are bright, Melbourne has enjoyed to coldest final half of January on record.  Temperatures are 12-15 at night and only get to 20 or so in the day.

 Today we had an open fire in the morning.

Just us on the beach again.

And only Bob going back to get the car!

Mornington Peninsula 2015

Melbourne is at the head of Port Phillip Bay, which is huge.

The Mornington Peninsula closes the east side of the bay from the Bass Strait.

Looking south you can travel unimpeded to Antartica, through rough seas.


The Peninsula is about 10 km wide here and looking north over the bay from the bay side beach  you can see Melbourne.

Well, not quite!

After January 26th., Australia Day, all the kids go back to school.  The beaches are deserted.

 A strange feature of the beaches on the calm bay side is beach  huts, beach boxes.

They are, in reality single car, wooden garages without windows, power or water.  They are however right on the beach.

They change hands for $100,000 to $400,000 depending on the community!

Oh!  Damn the beach is crowded!
Oh no.  It is just our family!

2015 Melbourne.

A fun filled few days started the holiday.

We landed on Thursday afternoon, losing a whole day en route, and were off early Friday morning for the Australian Open.

Jo got to play with some big balls!

Then we watched some mixed doubles that you don't often see on TV.
We found the singles and men's doubles less interesting for some reason.  We did not get to see the big stars, you have to pay extra for those tickets, lots extra.

Then we headed out of town for the Australia Day weekend.

On Saturday morning we had to walk to get the newspaper.  It was a tough route to take.

After 12 hours in our company grand niece Amelie tries to run away!

Our athletic endeavours continued with Croquet at the Sorrento Croquet Club.

Jo strikes a professional pose with her mallet.

After an hour it is time for tea and cakes with the other athletes.

The views from the croquet court were distracting.  The members were very welcoming and it is quite clear that we have a lot to learn about strategy.

Then it was time to view the 'green flash'!