Canberra

Mints and flowers

A tour of the Royal Australian Mint, the history of Australian coins, robots and powerful presses. More interesting than expected!

The National Museum of Australia has the Dreamworks Exhibition, sketches and maquettes, some fun computer tools and an exhilarating dragon ride.

The museum also has interesting Australiana and Alex cried at the extinction of the thylacine.

There was no bike hire shop, but we had a brief wander around Floriade, taking a shaky Ferris wheel ride.

Dinner at Dickson, back to the apartment exhausted.

Canberra Light Rail

In Canberra for a couple of days with B and Alex. The weather was miserable this afternoon and everyone was tired, so the other two returned to the hotel. I decided to ride the length of the new Canberra light rail track.

The route may not be the most scenic, but it was very pleasant just to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride between the city centre and Gungahlin, past the offices and parks of Northbourne Avenue, the racetrack and exhibition grounds and then the rows of new apartments.

There is something special about riding the rails, and I’m glad Canberra has got a commuter system at long last.

Driving it home

Made it home and home to stay. I left the office at one in the afternoon, passed three police cars on the Hume Highway, then suffered my only delay at the exit of the M5 to Fairford Road. I was pretty tired after the ride, but no rest as I had to take Alex to his tennis lessons, have a quick Thai meal with the family then attend an urgently called after school care committee meeting. After 8pm when I returned home hot and sticky. Can’t believe it will be 40 degrees Celsius tomorrow!

At least I proved that I can drive long distances, but B certainly has my utmost respect for all her years of such journeys.

Escape!

After a day of team meetings it was time to let our hair down. Dividing into two teams each group took on one of the Expedition Escape Rooms. My group tried to solve the puzzles in the Da Vinci room. We failed, but I think we did pretty well, considering that it was the first time in an escape room for three out of four of us. I was pretty pleased with my own performance, considering that such puzzles are usually not my thing.

Dinner was at Bent Spoke, a microbrewery whose menu ticked most of the hipster buzzwords. Only one person could finish their Texas chilli dish due to the heat. I had mild pulled pork tacos which were good enough but a bit insubstantial. Back late at the hotel, glad the car has a GPS to navigate around the dark Street.

Driving alone

The problem with driving a car is that you can’t take photos. And driving alone means nobody else can take them for you.

It was such a beautiful sunset this evening. Swirls of icy contrails in the sky, their parent planes long gone. Low cloud, grey, indistinct against the salmon, orange and gold glow of the sky.

Hills, trees, eventually Black Mountain Tower silhouetted black-grey against the colours of the sun and sky.

After this morning’s perfect weather and the evening’s perfect sunset I regretted not flying, though the bending of the branches and the light spatter of rain on the windshield suggested that my regret was a little misplaced.

Too late now. I have finished my longest drive alone yet. It was relatively easy, though I was racing the dark (but not beyond the speed limit).

The rooms of the Pavilion Hotel lack warmth and character. There is a tiredness here that reflects the way I feel after almost three hours at the wheel. The nasi goreng and satay special was also a disappointment, I should have got the steak. Silly me.

Anyway, I’m here for work. Extravagance can wait for another time.