Zen and the Art of Living in Canberra for Longer Than 2 Weeks
Well, here I am again, perhaps a little more spiritual due to the fact I have had to survive mind numbing boringness for the past three months.
I will be stuck in Canberra for the whole holidays as well, due to the fact I am spineless and couldn't tell my boss that I didn't want to work for the next three weeks. This is one of the main barriers preventing people travelling. Not the fact that they think that they have to work and earn money, but the fact that they are spineless cowards.
Canberra is not too bad though, I am sure there is worse places to be. ( Well, that is what I tell myself in order to retain some semblance of sanity). In fact, I could name a few off the top of my head;
"The Dog on the Tuckerbox", 10km outside Gundagai, NSW.
For reasons unknown, every single bus running from Sydney to Melbourne will stop here without fail. Perhaps it is the lusty allure of the bronze dog statue (yes it is sitting on a tuckerbox {'lunchbox'}) or perhaps the challenge placed by the rival service station, "Dad and Dave", another bronze statue of supposed Australian outback heroes. Or maybe it is the emus, penned in 5 metres square, and threatening to bite your hand/head/clothes off, as a pre-lunch snack.
Another is perhaps Reading, England. If there was ever a town that could win an award for having nothing in it, but somehow fooling itself that it could host a music festival, this would be it. Oh, you have the Mars factory, which I must admit I did not scope out for free chocolate, but I didn't really want to stay around long enough to find out.
Enough whinging, perhaps I have offended.
I am eventually going to actually talk about Canberra. I thought I would just do a little filler first though, otherwise I might not fill the word count.
It is cold here at the moment, winter has arrived. In my opinion, it is actually colder than anywhere else in the world. Mainly because Australia is still trying to fool itself and the rest of the world that it is sunny all the time. This is government propaganda.
However, Australians seem to believe it. Hence in places like Canberra, where in winter it may not reach double figures, the majority of houses still do not have central heating. Stupid really.
If you are travelling here though, the hostels and hotels will be heated, so don't let that scare you away.
Canberra is good for some things. If you read the first installment you will see what I mean. A healthier aspect though, is the astonishing amounts of concrete.
This is not bad believe me. As a skateboard rider, Canberra is a dream. The hills roll gently (allowing for beginners) in most places. The paving is mostly all new, hence not many cracks. This is especially noticeable in the center of the city, where due to brick paving the rider is blissfully free from the usual clunk-unk, clunk-unk, clunk-unk of divided concert paths.
There are also a few parks, including half pipes, bowls and street simulations. AND we do have the biggest skate park in the Southern Hemisphere (which is probably not such a hard claim to fame). The location of these is hard to find as, for some reason, the tourist maps and even the local Street Directory and Telephone books have not listed them. So, here I have tried to make a general description of locations and I am sure that if you get lost, then you will be able to get directions from a friendly local.
City
In the far left corner of the main car park which fronts on to Garema Place and is to the left of Supabarn and Target(street and half pipe).
Belconnen
Down from the bus interchange at the Mall and towards the silly lake that some stupid town planner thought was a good idea at the time. Walk around the aforementioned lake to the left and you should run straight into it (this has a bowl).
Tuggeranong
If you do manage to trek all the way out to Tuggeranong you are either crazy or an inspired skater that really does want to see the biggest skate park in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also near another lake that another stupid town planner thought was a good idea at the time (I think they were all built in the 50's when the government needed somewhere to throw their nuclear waste). This is a good park. Busy most times, but never aggressive (perhaps this is because I am a girl, I have not had reports from boys on this matter). It has a bowl as well and it hosts a championship competition sometime in March.
Bladers and bmx's are also most welcome.
For bladers, the big lake, Lake Burley-Griffin (I think the reason for this lake being built was so that the Australian Government could build a tunnel beneath it. Then they could run secret documents from the Defence Department to the Parliament House and feel like they were transporting important top-secret documents), provides a good few hours roller-blading, the paths are good enough and when it is not too cold there is a fresh breeze off the lake. This breeze turns into an icy blast in winter however.
Ski Season
Before I forget, Ski season has officially opened in Australia. Snow does actually fall here and the fields have had enough for the season to open. It may not be as fantastic as where ever you are from but I stand by our fields, mainly because they are the only ones we have.
So you should check them out. The biggest ones are Thredbo and Perisher. But don't go this month as it is school holiday time and there will be billions of little kiddies running around making nuisances of themselves.
