Canberra times - Part 2

The second half of our time in Canberra was just as full as the first part. Some might say too full...

Too much walking, too little food

But any reasonable person would say it was just the right amount of things to do. I even managed to fit in a Saturday afternoon nap at the hotel - that's what weekends away are for, right?

Canberra continued to be mostly empty...

But then an event happened right next to our hotel that seemed to bring all the Canberrans out! It was a food truck festival during the afternoon and evening of Saturday. It brought out more people than we'd seen all day.

Toby said it was like an anthill had been kicked over, and he wasn't wrong. But we went out and joined the crowds. It was a perfect surprise activity, as there were lots of local farms, wineries, and restaurants at the event.

Everyone was feeling much better after getting some snacks at the festival. It held us over to dinner, which - turns out - you have to book a table for. It was strange that for such a quiet down, EVERYONE comes out for dinner! Luckily a nice server let us sit at a reserved table if we promised to leave within 60 minutes!

The next day we checked out of the hotel and headed to the weekly Old Bus Depot Markets before we headed out of town.

But along the way, we drove through the Kingston suburb - photo stop!

The markets, as the name suggests, are held every week in a big empty building that used to be the old bus depot. They also seemed to be a big draw for the locals: we got there right as they opened, and when we left, there wasn't a parking spot to be seen!

But the markets were fun. There were lots of local food vendors and people selling the usual crafts and such.

Market time!

Right next door to the bus depot is the Canberra Glassworks. It's located in the old power house building. In this picture, you can see how they've redone part of the old smoke stack: the brick was replaced with glass to tie the new use of the building to its history. 

Inside the glassworks, there are big areas dedicated to different types of glass work. We stood for a while and watched some people taking a glassblowing class. And then we could walk through the other studios with other classes happening too. It was really interesting!

Displays for all the non-craftspeople to look at in the working areas

A work station in the studio

Some Aussie humour in the bathroom

Before we left Canberra, we walked down to the lake. Lots of people were out on the nice Sunday morning, and the lovely lakefront was perfect for a morning walk. 

Then it was time to head back down the road to Sydney!

But we did make one final stop on our weekend of fun! About an hour out of Sydney, we pulled over for a roadside sign of "best Riesling in New South Wales." I'm not sure we'd agree with that, but our little winery visit was fun!

This is how you get the credit card machine to work in the country

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

It was a great weekend adventure!

Canberra times - Part 1

After the craziness and busyness of the last few months, we decided that this winter should be a little more low-key. We want to take a beat, enjoy Sydney and areas nearby, and mostly chill out a bit at home. So this weekend we rented a car and took the three hour journey inland to the ACT: Australia Capital Territory.

The ACT is pretty much like Washington DC. It's technically a state, but it mainly consists of the capital city, Canberra. And even though Canberra is the capital, it's not very populated. It's the eight largest city in Australia, which is really saying a lot about how small it is. Mostly people live there because they work for the government, so visiting on a weekend can be an interesting experience. There are massive roads, tons of museums, and huge green spaces, but often no one else to be seen. T loves Canberra, and I think this is why.

Wide roads, no traffic

Basically zero crowds at any given museum

There's lots of public art in Canberra - primarily visited by wildlife

We went to Canberra a couple years ago around this time of year and went to a truffle farm to watch them harvest truffles. This time, we thought we might focus on some of the museums and galleries in the city. But we really went without much of a plan: besides relaxing and see what the weekend brought us.

First up on the Saturday morning after our arrival was to head over to the National Museum of Australia. It's a free museum that does a great job of capturing the key parts of Australian culture: the nature & wildlife, Aboriginal history, European history, and how Australia culture has evolved over time with all those influences. It was really well done and we both loved the Aboriginal exhibit the most.

National Museum of Australia 

The Uluru Line: symbolically connecting the museum to Uluru

Inside the museum foyer

Part of the Aboriginal portion of the museum: message sticks

It wouldn't be Australia without some slightly weird things. Like the wool of a sheep who was lost for three years and set the record for wooliest sheep once he was found.

We also booked tickets for a VR experience, where we could watch a David Attenborough documentary made for VR. It was a little surreal, just sitting in a room with a bunch of strangers and then putting your goggles on. Maybe this is the museum of the future?

Even though it was a little odd, we really liked the experience! Part of the film was about the Great Barrier Reef, so it was fun to feel like we were diving there and experiencing it again.

We'd planned to rent bikes and bike around the lake in the afternoon. But that day was the coldest day of the winter, and T wisely said it would be too cold to be fun. So we just had a stroll by the water instead.

The view really was pretty without our weird faces in it.

While we were nearby, we checked out a couple other public places. The kids discovery museum, Questacon, is a huge draw in Canberra, and it was a shock to the system after being in the quiet National museum. We didn't have the courage to actually go through it, but we walked around outside. 

We also checked out the Treasures Gallery and the National Library of Australia. Again, there wasn't a line to get in the door, but it was an interesting place. The "treasures" were mostly historic documents, but we did see a writing desk used by Captain Cook. And, no surprise, one of the Olympic Torches from the Sydney Olympics. 

View from the steps of the Library 

More to come....

Every visit to San Francisco gets better!

Instead of living the Sydney autumn here, I was back in San Francisco for a couple weeks. But I managed to fit in a 48 hour visit home, so that made up for all I missed in Australia!

My trip was mostly work, but I got lucky and managed to fit in some fun times in the city. First on deck was a great weekend with my cousin and her boyfriend. Lucky for us, he's local and had planned a picture-perfect agenda for our weekend!

I seem to get really lucky with my weekend weather in San Francisco, and this weekend was no different: it was sunny (and warm for SF!).

Slotted around great meals at fun places, we did checked some things off the tourism list: we rented bikes on Saturday morning for a bike ride across the bridge and an afternoon in Sausalito.

This little guy was ready to ride!

Chilling before the bike ride

Before riding across the bridge, we stopped at Fort Point. This is an old fort right at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was built to help secure the bay, but didn't ever see any military action. It's a pretty cool structure, and the bridge was built to go right over the fort so it wouldn't have be destroyed.

Fort Point

Inside Fort Point

View of the bridge from the Fort

View of the city from the Fort

Right under the bridge!

After the fort visit, we carried on with our ride across the bridge. It was a bit intense: there are lots of really serious bikers on the bridge (which I am not). So they tend to fly past all the tourists. It's also extremely windy and loud on the bridge, so I would classify this as a more arenaline-filled activity rather than relaxing! But once safely crossed, we got to coast down the hill and on to some lovely views of the bridge and city.

This dog also rode across the bridge 

Across the bridge, we discovered Cavollo Point. Turns out it's a really beautiful resort with views of the bay and bridge. It also had a lovely, big green yard, which was perfect to give us all a break from the biking for a little bit.

Then it was on to Sausalito! Sausalito is a little bay-side town where all the wealthiest of San Franciscans live. It's also quite the tourist activity, as everyone in the city seems to descend on the little town when it's sunny. The little town has a few restaurants and lots of little boutiques, so it was a great way to spend a warm Saturday!

After finding out it would be a 2 hour wait to take the ferry back with our bikes (as the original plan called for), we decided to splurge on a taxi ride. I think it was worth every penny!

The next day was a short one, as Megan was heading back after lunchtime. But we managed to fit in breakfast and a walk to beautiful Dolores Park. Even though it was sort of early, the park was already buzzing with people excited for the beautiful weather.

And then the rest of my Sunday was filled with actual work and a trip to a colorful local laundromat!

To cap off my San Francisco time, I got a bonus visit from another family member! I got to go back out to Sausalito for a dinner visit with Aunt Kaye, who'd been visiting friends a little up North. I left work early enough to have a few minutes for walking around in the now-tourist-free little town. And I could really appreciate the charm of it!

Cute little houses built over the water

Every yacht needs its own room, right? 

I got so lucky with my trip that it just so happened to coincide with a Tennessee celebration for my grandfather's 90th birthday. So two red-eye flights later, I arrived in Knoxville for a quick 2 day stay.  The time went by too quickly for many pictures, but it goes without saying that it was chaotic, fun, and so worth the flight times!

Now I plan to keep my two feed on the ground in Sydney for a good long while!