Lakes Entrance (for Jan. 31)

We had in room Internet, so we bought an hour and caught up on email and other business in the morning, getting out of the hotel at 10. We returned to the National Museum, saw a couple of other sites, had lunch, and hit the road around 2:30, checking in to our new hotel at 8. The local literature bragged that “The scallops from Lakes Entrance are reputedly Australia’s best,” so we had a quick snack before bedtime.

The museum was quite good, but again I noted the similarity to Ottawa, where the emphasis is on fancy, expensive architecture and lots of empty space. One of the other sites we took in was a fountain in honour of Captain James Cook, who did much of the early exploration in these parts, as he did on Canada’s west coast. The fountain shoots a couple of hundred feet into the air, but is so expensive to run that it only operates for three 2 hour periods every day. On shore, there is a monument of the globe with Cook’s voyages traced out on its surface.

Leaving Canberra we continued in the dry hills with a few trees between two ranges of treed hills. The land became drier with fewer trees as we drove south until it looked like the Swift Current/ Maple Creek area, but with longer grasses. As we neared the coast, it became greener again until we entered rainforest as we descended from the high plateau we had been on. The rainforest persisted as we drove west near the coast. On the high plain, the main agriculture was grazing sheep and cattle. Along the coast, there were patches of agriculture that included grazing and crops.

The divided highway ran out soon after we left Canberra. It became much like the better NZ roads or Saskatchewan secondary roads, except the surface was good. And they were fairly straight allowing speeds of around 100kmph except for a winding section as we descended from the plain into the rainforest.

This town looks quite picturesque. I am looking forward to exploring tomorrow.

Canberra (for Jan. 30)

We were at the store with the road atlas shortly after opening at 9 AM, but our morning got strung out much longer than planned. We spotted a book store across the street, so compared atlases back and forth before buying one from the book store. Then we found a place to buy a phone card and called the Jones household to let them know how we are progressing. The other important call was to the tour company. We had purchased a number of hotel vouchers before we left. We don’t recall anyone mentioning it, but Celeste noticed that the vouchers for Australia and New Zealand are coded differently. We have been using the ones from the top of the pile, which turned out to be Australian. The hotel desk people in NZ should not have accepted them, but did. Now, most of our vouchers are for NZ and could be turned down in Oz. The tour company is going to resolve this over the next couple of days.

With these matters all resolved for the moment, we hit the road at 11. It took half an hour to get back to the airport before we could make any new headway. Three hours later we were in our hotel in Canberra. After a short rest and freshening up, we made our way to the National Museum. The tour begins with a film that goes far beyond politically correct to just plain political. It has a strong anti-business, anti-globalization, anti-development message. I always thought that national institutions had a duty to be balanced. We didn’t get all the way through before closing, but it is free, so we will go back and finish tomorrow.

From the museum we explored some more of the city. We walked the shore of their Wascana Lake and toured around the grounds of their Parliament, returning to eat about 7:30.

Canberra is very much like Ottawa. It became the capital because no one had the guts to choose between the two bigger cities that were obvious choices, so they picked a compromise hamlet in the middle of nowhere. Its only industry is government. It is filled with taxpayer funded institutions and littered with taxpayer bought art of dubious value.

Sydney at 9 AM was at least as warm as the hottest day we experienced in NZ. By afternoon in Canberra, it must have been over 30 degrees with a warm breeze.

Immediately south of Sydney we drove through rolling farmland. But we quickly encountered forest along the edge of a park that lasted most of the trip. As we got farther south the forest thinned out until it eventually became rolling prairie with just a few trees. Near Canberra we climbed into a range of dry hills with a few trees.

What a treat to drive on these roads! We had divided highway all the way to Canberra with a wide shoulder on the left and a right shoulder comparable to the widest left shoulder we saw in all of New Zealand. The speed limit is 110 kmph. There is much more trucking here also. All in all, the driving is much like at home, except on the other side of the road.

Sydney (for Jan. 29)

Travel day today, so not much to tell.

We went to a mall with a wireless hotspot in the morning and used up the last of our prepaid time to catch up on the blog. Then I got the haircut I needed before we left home. We tried to reserve a hotel room about noon (10 AM Sydney time), but our first two choices near the airport were both full. Looks like we will have to start planning further ahead.

We returned our car at 1 and got a lift to the airport. Our flight was running a little late, so we only got out about 4. The 3 hour flight was uneventful. We had a nice light meal with complimentary drinks. Air New Zealand is not Air Canada!

By the time we got through Customs, picked up our car, and got some money, (and including a 2 hour time change) we got out of the airport about 6:30. This was the beginning of a small adventure. I was under the impression that the car rental company provided maps with the car. That was certainly the case in New Zealand. I had purposely not bought maps at home because I thought they were provided. However, that turned out not to be the case here. We received a single page map of Sydney, equivalent to a Regina map showing only Albert Street, Broad Street, and Victoria Ave. In our hotel guide we had a map that showed the equivalent of Knowles Crescent or 18^th Avenue East. There are only clues where the latter fits into the former. With a little detective work and a couple of wrong turns, we finally found our place on the north shore about 7:30.

After checking in, we explored a nearby area that was like the Cathedral area with way more eating places. We found a place that had a road atlas in the window, so that will be our first stop in the morning.

Our new car is a Ford Falcon. Can I grin and bear it for a month? Will I be a Ford man at the end? Stay tuned to find out!

In New Zealand, we never saw a screen on a window and never had a problem with bugs, other than what I mentioned earlier. This hotel has screens on the windows. A portent of things to come?

A few more New Zealand afterthoughts. We never saw any noticeably homeless people any time during our stay and never encountered any panhandlers. The highways were rarely very busy. About the busiest stretch we encountered outside a city was the last leg from Timaru to Christchurch. There was very little divided highway or expressway in the whole country. There was about five miles entering each of Wellington and Dunedin and a few miles south of Auckland that we turned off of. There is very little trucking there compared to home also.

Schnitzel with Noodles

Since the motel doesn’t have a restaurant of its own they suggested the Tradies Café and Noodle House and the Tradies Bistro and Schnitzel House next door for meals. It advertised wiener schnitzel for $12.50 which sounded good so we decided to give it a go.

When we arrived at Tradies, they asked us if we were members. Apparently, it’s a club for members of the Tradesmen union but they have a deal worked out with the motel. Fortunately, for $1 they will sell you an honorary membership. Once we went in we realized it was also a beer parlor with keno, slot machines and a pool hall – quite the happening place. It also had a huge grill where you could grill your own steak - looked tempting but we opted for the schnitzel. It came with free salad bar – bonus. Another bonus - we’re now members of the Canberra Tradesmen Union – cool.

Damn birds

I now remember Carla talking about really loud birds that make a sound like a baby crying that start up in the wee hours of the morning. Well, I know what she was talking about – there were some in the trees outside our window. They started about 3 a.m. - worse than crows – louder and more annoying. Gets pretty tiresome after a few hours!

PS – Happy Birthday, Annette. Have a great one!