Exploring Canberra

On day two in Canberra we were greeted by a day of changeable and chilly weather.  We were destined to do inside activities.  We also realized  that we needed to find warmer clothing as the weather is unseasonably cold.  First stop...the mall where we knew that coats, hats and gloves would be readily available, it being November!  True enough in the Northern hemisphere, but in the southern...not so much.  Bikinis, tee shirts, beach buckets a- plenty...but no warm clothing at all!   I managed to find a long sleeved shirt...but Paul found nothing at all!  We decided we would have to layer up as the temperatures were soaring towards 11°C!

We continued our day with a drive to the New Parliament Buildings.  

This very impressive structure was built in the 80's and was therefore not in existence when Paul lived here.  We visited the marble hall, sat for a while in the senate gallery and viewed the art work in the various halls.

Then we made our way to the Australian  mint where Paul once worked.   We joined a fascinating tour where we learned about the history of Australian currency.  This was fascinating!  When the British first arrived and established Australia as a penal colony, there was no currency at all.  The Aboriginals had a barter system which was foreign to the British.  The soldiers developed a rum based monetary system originally.  This was replaced with currency made from Spanish silver coins, and subsequently with Pounds and pence.  Today, the currency is Australian dollars and cents, this system having been introduced in th 1960's.

During our tour we saw the medals from the Sydney Olympics.  These were of great interest to me as I was doing communications work for these games back in the day.  The medals were struck at this mint, and the bronze medals were made from decommissioned 1 and 2 cent coins.

We also saw samples of the blank coins that are used in the minting process.  When Paul worked here he inspected the blanks before they were struck.  Truly a walk down memory lane.

Our next stop was the Telstra tower, an imposing structure atop Black Hill where we had been told to go to the revolving restaurant.  This telecommunication tower is on a hill which could give good city views and provide a good meal....was our thinking.   Once we arrived we discovered that the tower was closed (and had been for years) and the lookouts etc. left to go fallow.  It was deserted except for a few hikers and the view blocked by overgrowth!  We had a good laugh...dodged the rain, found a spot which gave a small view point.  Then we made our way back.

We were staying in an apartment hotel which was well appointed and this gave us a chance to do some laundry and repack our bags.  We used up our groceries and relaxed for our last evening in Canberra.  We were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow...and a visit from a loud and interesting bird