My next stop after Melbourne was the nations capital, Canberra. So many people had told me not to bother with Canberra and head straight for Sydney but I wanted to make my own mind up about the city, so I went. I went with Rachel, another friend of mine from Melbourne. We decided to hit the road together and took the night bus which dumped us in Canberra at 7:15am. Looking like a pregnant turtle (a description adorned by Andrew Whisker) with a rucksack on my back and another on my front I made my way with Rachel to the hostel where we dumped our bags before heading out to give the city a bit of an explore.

Canberra at first glance is a very clean and relatively quiet city. We walked down and around past the lake that splits Canberra in half to the National Australian Museum. We spent most of the morning there but I still recon that the South Australian Museum in Adelaide is the best i have been to. Following that we headed back to the hostel, checked in and showered before I headed out again and Rachel had a nap. I headed over to the post office first with a bunch of clothes that I wasn't wearing to post to Adelaide. Uncle Graham was more than suprised when the package that arrived on his birthday turned out to be a set of clothes that didn't fit. Following that went over to the National film and sound archives and had a look at the history of film and its most famous actors and actresses including the late Heath Ledger. I was in Melbourne when he died and was in complete shock. When the home page on the interenet came up and simply read 'Heath is Dead' I thought it must have been a joke, I wish it was.

Canberra shuts down at about 8pm. It has not got much of a night life to rave about but that suited rachel and i fine because the hostel had a pool, spa and sauna. So after making an epic treck to the supermarket that was right in front of us but we couldn't find (don't ask), we cooked ourselves dinner and had a relaxing time in the pool, the spa and the sauna then went for an early night. The next morning, we packed our bags, checked out and hired bikes. We wern't due to catch our bus to Sydney untill 2 that afternoon so we were going to make most of the morning by cycling around the city. We hadn't long left the hostel on our 'cruiser bikes' before I relised I had no brakes. Keeping to the pavement didn't solve the problem either, epsecially when I hit the enterance and exit to a multistory carpark and flew across it, legs out to the side and screaming as i go bump bump bump down the curb, over the central reservation and up the curb on the otherside. Rachel was it fits of laughter!

Our first stop was the National War Memorial. The Memorial itself was beautiful, very clean crisp lines but tranquil at the same time. It also housed the best war museum I have ever been to (and having a dad like mine, I have been to my fair share). It covered all the wars the ANZAC (Australian and NewZealand Army Corps) troops had fought in, with the most amazing displays and model reconsructions. We spent a fair time exploring before heading back outside and down Anzac parade on our bikes. Anzac parade is a long wide street that faces directly down to Parliment House. Its is lined with memorials to each seperate war.

As we headed down the parade my bike began to make the oddest sound which progressivly got worse as we cycled around the lake and up towards Parliment. By the time we reached it the noise was positoively deafening and it felt as if the bike was going to collapse beneath me! People walking down the street ahead of me were turning to try and find out what the racket was - it was me. It could only have been me. It didn't get any better either and I ended up returning it to the hostel in a far worse contition than when i took it out - its back wheel even refused to turn around. I cant remeber how many people I had to apologise to as I cycled past them but both of us couldn't help but laugh the entire trip.

We have had a good time, we manageed to do everything we wanted to do in the time frame . being in Canberra is nice contrast to Melbourne but bring on Sydney!