Canberra to Eden
Much to our surprise and delight we managed to obtain two tickets to Prime Minister's question time on the first day of the Parliamentary year. This is at 14.00 so we have time to look around more of Canberra.
We decided our first port of call would be the Australian War Memorial. It is so much more than just a memorial but also a museum commemorating Australia's fighting forces. Brilliantly presented with many exhibits using actual equipment, from tanks and parts of warships to personal mementos.
Having spent far more time than intended we only had time to go to the look out at Mount Ainslie for another look at the views now the haze had cleared.
On to the Parliament where we are able to park under the building for free !! Up into the foyer to collect our tickets and enough time to have lunch in the Terrace Cafe before going into the House of Representatives. On taking our seats there is a debate going on with only four Representatives in the House. Many more MPs came in for question time which was really interesting and follows the British format. The burning issues concerned the announcement only the day before that Toyota are stopping production in 2017 which means the end of all car production in Australia. The other issue is the influence of biker gangs and organised crime. It led to some very lively and entertaining debate.
We left Canberra to drive down to Eden on the southeast coast with the temperature at 35C. On the way the scenery was impressive, initially with views over rolling sheep and cattle country, albeit very parched, with the Snowy Mountains to the west. Later as we started to descend from the Great Dividing Range, having peaked at 1,110m, the temperature dropped to 15C, and we started to see what we thought was smoke in the distance. Sure enough it was and as we got closer we started driving through more and more smoke. Finally, having reached Bega the smoke cleared but the sky was still smoky and the temperature back up to 25C. It was confirmed at our motel in Eden that it was definitely smoke as there are several fires to the north. Tomorrow we will explore the Sapphire Coast.