Today we headed for Canberra after having a great time with Paula and james in Sydney. Arriving late we found the nearest hostel possible, which ended up being the YHA, a little expensive but a lot better kept than many other hostels we have stayed in, the bed and bed sheets actually felt really clean and fresh haha. After demolishing a dirty kebab we headed straight to bed as we were tired and it was getting late. As we only had one full day to see the sights in Canberra we wanted to get an early start also, however for us one day was just right as we ended up doing everything we wanted here.

In the morning after we had got a few chores done (washing) we decided the first and nearest sight we wanted to see was the Australian War Memorial at the top of Anzac Rd, named after the soldiers that fought against the turkish at the Gallipoli Penninsular in 1915. This memorial was for over 8700 men who had died over there, but also for for the many Australians and men from other countries who have given their lives in other wars. The memorial was very beautiful and very well kept with thousands of engravings on the walls of all the soldiers who had died with poppies all over the wall. In the middle of the memorial was a well kept pond, with donations thrown into it and a plate at the end with a fire burning, it looked really special.
Anyway we moved on and started our walk to the Old Parliament house, passing Blundells Cottage, the only example left around this area of an 1860's farmhouse, it was only tiny but broke up the walk from the war memorial to the Old Parliament house. We continued along Lake Burley Griffiin, which was very scenic on such a nice day and eventually arrived at the Old Parliament, which held the seat of political power for over 60 years, shaping the nation into what it is today. We checked out the Prime Ministers suite and looked around the house of representatives, and the senates chamber where there were school kids being taught how the political discussion went about etc. I swear most of them knew more about it than we did. They were all dressed up in outfits and appeared to be having a great time, which was nice to see.
Moving on we walked up to the New Parliament House, and struck lucky as the parliament was in session when we arrived, so we got to sit in on the political squabbles, mainly of the financial crisis that is going on and unemployment. It was so interesting to see, I never realised how heated the discussions got, I was in stitches. They called each other fools, incompetent, selfish etc. I would hate to stand up their giving a speech, imagine not knowing a question and getting completely destroyed by another political group hahaha, not our cup of tea!! I don't know what a lot of the most famous Australian Politicians look like but the deputy Prime Minister was there, and I think the president was in the senates chamber across the corridor but I still wasn't sure who was who by the end of it as their were so many politicians. We should know really but oh well. Nevertheless it was really really interesting to see and it was crazy knowing that it was on Australian television. We were on the top row so couldn't be seen by the cameras as we were just general public but when we walked out we looked at the television at reception and were watching the guy speaking who we had just seen,very weird!!!

Anyway after watching them squabble for an hour or so we were starving as it was 5pm and had only had breaky. So we walked back to the hostel and decided because we were getting an overnight bus that night and saving on accomodation we would treat ourselves to a meal out at the Hog's Breath lol. We were going to eat at O'Malleys but it was St Paddy's day and it was packed, we would still be waiting for food now if we had eaten there haha, great atmosphere however. Anyway we tucked into two huge double american burgers and swigged it down with a couple of Corona's, it was gorgeous!!!

Its off to Melbourne tonight for an 8 hour overnight trip - a long slog but we're really excited as we have heard great things from a lot of fellow travellers!!!! Bye bye for now xxx