Budget Day 8th May

Having decided to stay on for the Budget at Parliament House, the big day had finally arrived. In the morning we packed up the tent etc. and moved into a cheap motel unit at the Caravan Park. This would allow us to be out at night for the Budget and then up early without a pack up ready for the next adventure.

We still had a list of things we could do in Canberra, so we decided to go back to the War Memorial and do the ANZAC Walk, which involved a walk down the long street that leads up to The War Memorial. Each side is lined with Memorials to different sections of the Armed Forces. There is a lot of history and also the interesting different designs of the memorials and all the symbolism that goes into it.

Having completed that there were still some sections of the War memorial that we hadn't looked at even though we had spent a day and a half there already. So back in we went and saw the sections with the more recent conflicts, from Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and other Peace Keeping Missions. Unfortunately time ran out as we had a more pressing date at Parliament House.

We had an early tea then set off on one bike to get our tickets for the public gallery. To get in to Parliament House you have to go through security screening. Last time we were here Trish set off all the alarms of the metal detector with all her jewellery while I went through without fuss. How come I was the one to get rubbed down with a swab for bomb testing? So in we go again and off go all the alarms for Trish and then Osama Bomb Maker Dave gets swabbed down for bombs again! Do I look like your everyday terrorist? Tried making a joke about it with the Security woman doing the testing but she had absolutely no sense of humour. Thought I had better shut up before I got the full cavity search.

Once we got our pre-booked tickets then you have to go through another security scanning before going into the Public Gallery. No bomb swabbing here thankfully but I did have to take off my belt and send it through the scanner. Glad I didn't hide a bomb there. The scary thing was that I have lost some weight since being away and had to hang onto my pants for fear of dropping them in public and having to explain to the humourless guards

Finally Budget time. Politicians started to drift in and those in the Public Gallery were playing spot and name the" Poli". Then at last the proceedings started. Being a budget it was all quite sedated with only a little cat calling from the different sides. It was quite strange as when the main section was read by Wayne Swan all the Opposition just started walking out followed but Government politicians leaving some little Deputy Treasurer to go through the motions of reading the bill to an empty house except of the Hansard officials.

It was all over in a flash but it was great to have been there of a Budget night.

Dave the ex-bomb maker.