Hi-lights of the Canberra excursion

Those of you who know me know I hate cameras and that I hate taking pictures (in front of or behind said satanic devices), so it might surprise you that on our way out of Sydney I actually took some photos voluntarily. SHOCK! Like the one above...
The sky was so pretty. See if you can see it behind all the beautiful trees and man-made structures:


Later, we pulled off the road at a lookout point, and I was coerced into the frame:

Look closely and you might see the field of windmills:


The sky then was really pretty, too:



When we got to the city, the first thing we did after spending too much on brunch was to go to the National Museum of Australia, across the reservoir from Parliament. It just so happened that this reservoir was home to a pair of curious black swans--they DO exist!!!

(My favorite is the kid in the background who located the swans no problem, unlike me...)

Also, if you know anything about me, you know I love to do handstands in inappropriate places. Case in point:



Inside the museum, we learned some interesting things. For me, the most interesting things were in regards to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. (I don't think it's common knowledge that the people of the Torres Strait Islands between Cape York and New Guinea are indeed Australian; they just weren't classified as "Aborigines", a term which is colonial, not to mention disrespectful and hurtful).

Also, Australia was home to some interesting pre-historic megafauna:

This guy is called Diprotodon, the largest marsupial of all time. (As for the skeleton, I don't know what that's called ;D )


After the museum, we visited Parliament: here I am standing on a giant dot painting, overlooking the old Parliament house, the reservoir, and other parts of the ACT (Australian Capital Territory):

Not a bad view, if you ask me. So nice, in fact, the only way I could think to pay it proper tribute would be to roll down the grassy sides of the roof of the Parliament building:



We stayed in a converted old train car, which was all-around pretty rad, if not disturbingly kitchy:

Get a load of this chick sitting in the entryway:

I just had to get in on that action:


It was a really beautiful place. No joke. This is the view of the "train" from the top of the hill:

And here is where the owners live and serve delicious breakfast:

Too many pretty pictures to show them all.


On our way out of Canberra, we stopped at a place called Cockington Green and an aviary. The first was a wacky little place where the people make scale miniatures of English and international buildings. I can't even begin to describe the Alice in Wonderland/ Gulliver's Travels effects it has:





Later, Thea and I were pretty excited about the walk-in aviary. It seemed a lot more inviting than the reptile house, at least. And for only one dollar more!!
Plus, as a bonus, I could clean up my hard drive...


Somewhere between purchasing the tickets and crossing through the chain link barrier, though, I realized, "Oh yeah, birds are freaky!" How could I forget.
They gave us each a bowl of sliced apple and were told if the lorikeets pester us to just "give em a little flick" and they would bugger off...
Hm... we'll see about that:

And they were being nice to her...

I was legitimately mortified. Ever had your earlobes nibbled by a parrot? (There's a reason I never had my ears pierced.)

It was one of the most confronting yet interesting experiences of my life. The birds were all so beautiful (we ran out of space on the camera, sorry--if you want to see examples, look to my earlier posting about Australian birds)--I even wanted to pet them and touch them like all those fearless 8 year olds, but I just couldn't. And I wasn't the only one; I saw plenty of fathers and mothers cower in fear while their children plunged into the feathery breach.
But it wasn't all (terrifying) parrots--there were cute little finches and even a couple of these wandering around:

This guy made it all worth while. These are called golden pheasants. They come from China, apparently, and they are truly stunning. He was the last picture we took. We had to erase a couple photos to get him, but he was worth it.

So there are no photos of when the car broke down or of the fabulous Goulburn. Sorry folks. For images relating to being stranded in the boondocks, I will allow you to draw on your own experiences.


Love you. Talk to you soon.