It's not a direct route from the Blue Mountains to Canberra but its only 352km yet it takes most of the day! We haven't got any accommodation booked in the capital and its a sunday so we think we may end up camping. Unfortunately the weather is quite miserable although its not too cold during the day.

In our accommodation hunt we could pay $28 each for a 10 share dorm at the ever expensive YHA, we could stay in a single room with no door, we could try sleeping in a place now closed down or camp!! Guess which option won!! We managed to get our tent up before the rains came then settled in to a cosy caravan/tv room/kitchen (with no cooking facilities apart from a toaster and kettle) and grabbed ourselves a macdonalds take away to enjoy whilst watching Erin Brokovich on a tiny TV with a friendly bunch of Irish girls.

Canberra was built in the early 20th century because Sydney and Melbourne couldn't agree on which city should be the capital of Australia. The city layout was designed and constructed to be the capital. There isn't any natural wonders and the only attractions are man made. This is quite obvious and we've given ourselves just a day or two to have a look around - with low expectations of course! Canberra doesn't attract many backpackers but we couldn't come to Australia and not visit the nations capital.

We didn't leave the campsite until 11am on our first full day so we knew then that we didn't give ourselves enough time. The first place on the agenda is the National Museum of Australia. This was an excellent visit, was free and also very interesting. There was plenty to see and it all combined to provide and excellent insight in Australia's history, its people - including, of course, the aboriginies. The fact that the museum was free didn't take away any of the high standard, the friendliness of the staff and the quality and quantity of the contents.

We then made a mint at the Royal Australian Mint. To make your own $1 coin it was a bargain of $2.50 but i guess you have to pay for the novelty. Unfortunately we didn't get to look around the actual production lines due to extensive and expensive refurbishments but it was still worth the visit.

Afterwards it was over to the New Parliament Building just in time for the last free tour of the day. It was a very knowledgable tour about the general activity of how the Australian Government is organised and run and the building was very attractive too. Also inside was a 1297 edition Magna Carta of which there are only a few remaining in the world. My latin isn't up to scratch so i won't translate it for you just yet!

Now, because all of these attractions are free, we still had some money left to treat ourselves to a marvellous French dinner in the city centre.

Our second day began with a visit to the National Gallery of Australia (free entry again!). The range of art and artefacts on display here was very contrasting. Defining art to someone like me who knows very little makes it a challenge to appreciate a display of scrap cardboard boxes put together in no real fashion. I'm sure a lot of effort was put into it!!!

On the other end of the scale they had some Picasso and Monet artworks as well as an extensive range of ancient artefacts from around the globe dated up to a few thousand years old.

We went over to the Australian War Memorial next and this was also free! This was another fine example of Canberra's excellent purpose built attractions. The memorial details Australia and New Zealand's combined efforts in every war they've been involved in with some excellent displays and even some real-life planes and artillery that have been used over the years. Also here was a temporary Lawrence of Arabia exhibition. There's a lot to take in and we ultimately found ourselves overwhelmed with it all but definitely another good visit.

Having satisfied ourselves and our flooded our cultural brains, we moved on to a town half way between Canberra and Adelaide called Echuca. Another long day of driving (almost 600km) and we found a great hostel with excellent rooms and we had a comfortable double, ensuite room for $60 a night. We were ahead of schedule to be back in Adelaide for christmas so we paid for two nights to give us a break from the driving and appreciate this town on the historic Murray River.

The weather here is an awful lot nicer, sunnier and warmer than Canberra and the town has plenty of great little shops ranging from a blacksmith to local wines (inlcuding free tastings!). We purchased a couple of bottles of wine to enjoy over the festive period, some fudge and turkish delight - well you have to support the local community!!

Driving back to Adelaide was the wettest journey yet. It rained for 90% of the time and most of it was terrential downpours. It had stopped by the time we got to Adelaide and we were welcomed back into the house of Syers by Abby, Ellie, Toby and Mum. How wonderful. A great christmas awaits!