Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

According to what I've been told, when Australia first became an independent county, there was a huge debate between Melbourne and Sydney on which should be the capital. To settle this, they created a capital city. So ACT is like a little independent state within NSW. My family and I just did a day trip to it from Sydney by car. It's kind of in the mountains so it is a lot colder there than Sydney. It is so oddly remote for a country capital.

They asked me if I wanted to see it and I said sure why not? Another city to add to my travels and it is the capital. Surely it will be interesting? My family is so funny. They were like 'well honestly our capital is quite boring. It is mostly just for government and there isn't much there to do. Everything closes at 5 or 6.' We had initially thought maybe a weekend but they were like no you will get bored, just a day trip will suffice.

Well I won't say they were completely correct. I wouldn't have minded just one more day in Canberra. I think in two days you could probably do everything of interest in Canberra. Canberra is a very quiet city. I don't know if it was because it was cold but I hardly saw anyone outside. I also felt like I went back in time. The architecture of the buildings are very dated.

Parliament House

Of course I had to go see their Parliament Building. They building is definitely unique. Rather than more traditional almost Grecian inspired buildings I'm used to, this one takes on a more modern or should I say contemporary feel? To me, it kind of looks like a space station. It sits atop a hill and the road goes around it. The front is very... I'm not sure how to describe it then it has a huge umm... it looks like an antennae almost on top of the building.

I did a guided tour of the inside. I got to see where the two chambers hold their meetings. There were certain floors that were still off limits, of course. I did get to go to the roof and see the view of the city from there. There were metal fences though so the pictures aren't all that pretty.

Australian War Memorial

This was recommended to me by a different relative. He says it is the most extensive war memorial in Australia. I don't know if that is true but it is definitely much bigger than how it looks on the outside. There are several floors and it goes into detail of Australia's history in all the wars it has participated in since becoming an independent nation in 1901. My aunt used to always say what young nation Australia was and I guess I didn't realize just how young it was until now.  I actually really liked this place and I do recommend it to foreigners because it was really informative and gave me a different view of the same wars the U.S. had participated in.

Telstra Tower

My uncle told me that this was the best place to see the city and I would have to agree. The tower itself isn't very tall but location is key and it sits atop a hill right next to the city. 

That's pretty much it for what I did in Canberra. If I could have stayed an extra day, I would have liked to see more closely those monuments that line that road going towards the Australian War Memorial. Other places family had recommended were Royal Australian Mint and Questacon for kids. I would have liked a closer look at the old Parliament House and the gardens that surround it as well as some buildings close to it like the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia. A day trip for next time!