Contrary to what you may believe, Sydney is not the capital of Australia. Neither is Melbourne. In 1908, when the two cities were vying for the title of capital, it was decided instead that a purpose-built city would be the capital, in an inland site between the two rivals. Thus, Canberra was born. Having lived in Australia for nearly three years, I'm slightly ashamed that I've never visited the nation's capital, and what better excuse did I need but a Vanity Fair photography exhibition visiting from London's National Portrait Gallery.
Luckily for me, my friend Lucy went to uni in Canberra and has lived in the vicinity nearly all her life, so she agreed to be my tourguide for the weekend. We stayed at her parents' place, a huge property with several acres of land, a lake, a log fire, a Shetland pony and two dogs. We left Sydney and drove through the countryside for about four hours, eventually leaving the freeway and driving along with Kangaroos jumping by the side of the road, much to my glee!
Two cute little dogs greeted us when we arrived: Lilly and Magpie. Despite regularly professing myself to be 'not a dog person' I was charmed by their boisterous enthusiasm.
Canberra is the centre of parliamentary power for this country, and I visited not only Parliament House, but also Old Parliament House, which was where political decisions were made from 1927 to 1988. A dazzling white building it houses the Senate and the House of Representatives, complete with old red leather seats and displays telling the political history of Australia.
After a dose of the 'Old School' I wandered up to Capital Hill where the swanky new building sits. This is where KRudd makes his decisions, and has been Parliament House since 1988.
As well as being the seat of political power, Canberra is a real cultural capital of Australia, with the National galleries and museums located here rather than the other state capitals. The Vanity Fair portrait exhibition was well worth the trip, reminding me of just what a cultural leader that magazine is. I then wandered round the National Gallery of Australia, which had a pretty decent collection, including some outdoor sculptures near the lake.
On Saturday evening we hit the town, going for dinner and drinks at some of Lucy's favourite places, with her Canberra chums.
Then after a sleep-in on Sunday we took the dogs for a bracing walk. It's the middle of winter here and Canberra is a good 6-7 degrees colder than Sydney, reaching an icy 13 degrees when we were there. Brrrr.
Lucy showed me round Bungendore, a small village where she used to live, which was so cute, complete with early colonial style houses -- plenty of verandahs. This area was built around the largest saltwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere, Lake George. Driving past it now is incredibly sad, as the drought in Aus has caused the entire lake to dry up. Now the 'Lake' is pasture to countless cows and sheep, and the banks hold a huge wind farm to generate electricity.
Australia's landscape is changing, even since I've been here. I love seeing the changes as it makes me feel more grounded here and makes me feel more at home.
So now I'm back in Sydney, and true to form have snuggled up in front of the TV to watch the Masterchef season finale, armed with a bottle of Shiraz Grenache and a fish supper. My weekend away in Canberra was fun, but I don't think you need much longer than that to explore this small country town. I'll probably nip back every now and then to check out exhibitions touring to the National cultural institutions, but other than that, Sydney will always be Capital to me.
cx
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