I fell asleep sometime around 1:30am on Sunday night, so I was not ultra psyched about a 6am start, especially when I woke first at 5:20! If I have an early start, I tend to do that, worryiing that I might be late.
Petrol stop, picked up some L&P for the drive & then headed out to Chatswood to pick up my co-conspirator Kirsty.
OK, bonus point NO.1 comes because even though I was 5 minutes early at 7:25, she was well and truly ready. Bonus points No.2 through to about 247 because she had just finished cooking the bacon and egg sandwiches for us to eat for breakfast as we headed on the 3 1/2 hour drive to Canberra, the nations capital!
An hour later, anything that might be considered traffic was left in our wake, the cruise control was firmly set on 110kph, B&E sandwich in hand, iPod performing it’s appointed role and good chats were being had!
First stop was the lovely “Cockington Green”, which is a bunch of minaturised villiages from England (a house was maybe hip-height at best) and a whole heap of famous structures from around the world. I made sure to take advantage of the only opportunity to tell a girl that she looked huge, as Kirst towered over a bunch of buildings, churches & trees!
The icing on the cake was the English pub that happened to be right next store to Cockington Green. A pint of guiness finishes a morning spent looming over villages off quite nicely!

One of the streets @ Cockington Green.

The National Art Gallery was the real reason that we were in the ACT. Jackson Pollock, Picasso, Sydney Nolan, Monet, & a host of other stuff to cruise around & check out. We also enjoyed the special attention that we appeared to get from the security guards as they radioed each other & kept a keen eye on us as we moved from room to room.

Nothing says “Sexy” like posing behind a “Burial Pole”! Kirsty works the profile!

By this point, Kirsty & I were firmly establishing the fact that we were two individuals who epitomised class and sophistication. This was only enforced by our lunch-time stop at KFC! Canberra gets their own bonus point here, cause their gravy actually appears to be made from…. gravyish ingredients, as opposed to the brown watery substance that passes for gravy in the rest of the nation. The girl at the counter who also worked out how to get Kirsty’s custom combination for $1 cheaper than she usually pays, also rates a mention!
Lunch by Lake Burleigh Griffin was lovely in the shade, though the giant fountain that we had fleetingly seen in action as we passed throughout the day, remained shockingly silent as we sat within spitting distance of it. Possibly the only disappointment of the afternoon.

Enjoying a moments rest post-gustation, still, at this point, with the vain hope that I will see some action from the fountain. It was not to be…

What visit to the nations capital would be complete without a visit to the parliament. We decided that we have one of the cooler parliament buildings! Kirst & I walked up the right hand slope of it & sat under the flag to enjoy the view of the whole city!

For we are young and free!

So, all that remained was a 3 1/2 hour drive home. More good chats, a focus on Samba and Bossanova, and some hard yards in the eating stakes, as we had to work through the remains of a pack of almond M&M’s, sour skittles and gummi snakes!

A last furtive glance at the great day that lay behind us.

9:15, we pulled back into Kirsty’s drive. Our thirst for travel, art, adventure, B&E sandwiches, photography, and an overdose of sugar had been slaked! With wearyness clothing my bones like a tight suit, I limped on home, unwound for 20 minutes & then completed an almost perfect day by heading off to what proved to be the rarest of all treasures! More than 8 hours sleep!!!!
The holidays are almost over, but I’m ready now for the new year.