Coogee to Canberra

Our first task of the day after breakfast was to collect the hire car from Sydney airport. It took a little longer than expected as I went to the domestic terminal and the car was waiting at the International terminal; soon sorted though and back to Coogee to load up and have a last coffee with Louise before setting off for Canberra.
Louise has lent us her satnav for the rest of our trip. This proved to be a great help in getting on the right road, the Hume Highway, straight down to Canberra. On route we diverted off the main highway to go through Goulburn to view the Big Merino, another one of Australia's roadside icons.
We arrived in Canberra and checked into our hotel, an Ibis.
The weather had changed from overcast and drizzle in Sydney to clear blue sky's and 35c.
We then drove into Canberra to look around. We were pleased that we decided to drive around; it is not a capital city you can walk around, a car is essential. It is laid out in the modern style of very wide streets and many wide open spaces. While it has some impressive buildings, I think the Parliament building in particular looks very interesting, others are very uninspired architecture. Tomorrow we are able to go in the Parliament and have tickets to observe Prime Minister's question time so we will reserve judgement until then.
Having viewed a number of government buildings we set off to find our way to Mount Ainslie for a 360 degree view taking in Canberra and the surrounding mountain ranges. Unfortunately, with the sun now low the view was hampered by a heat haze. If really clear the view would be most impressive. We hope it may be first thing tomorrow and we can return.
Back into the city centre for dinner.
Admittedly we did not see all of the retail centre but what we did see was not to the standard of a capital city.