So when i said "lots to do and see", it transpires this meant go and see the travel agent and book yourself a ticket out of this Godforsaken s***ehole! What can one say about Canberra that Bill Bryson hasn't already said when he suggested their promotional video shown at the Tourist Information centre should be renamed "Canberra, Why Wait For Death?".

Where are the people? Where is the activity? The atmosphere? The heart and soul? Well, i'm sorry to break this to you, but there isn't actually any. It's the strangest thing and hard to describe. You have to walk for miles to see anything and when you get there it wasn't really worth the effort in the first place. I hired a bike and cycled around in the rain, to see what i could find. The national museum was actually quite good but nothing else seemed to inspire me and i gave it enough of a chance! The whole place is just like a huge, deserted, unused Dr Who set. Weird weird weird.

So what to do, what to do? I don't know where to go and the money is ticking down. Booked a ticket back to Sydney. We'll take it from there.

x

p.s. Dear Off Exploring people, thank you for not bothering with any stock pictures of Canberra. I realise now it's a subtle clue to us backpackers to give it a wide berth!