Me and Nikki got up nice and early this morning, and by the time the Beave' was finally ready (nearly 2 hours later), we all hired bikes from the hostel and went out for the day. First we cycled down towards where all the Parliament buildings are. We started by visiting the old Parliament Building and the Aboriginal Parliament House... which is a porta-cabin type building, stood next to the huge Australian one - it's quite funny to see.
Next, we cycled on to the new Parliament House, which is built into the side of a hill - meaning you can walk right over the top... we even ate our lunch up there! We had a quick look around and then went on a guided tour - getting to go into the chambers and Senate rooms. One of the funny things about the new Parliament building is that there are 2500 clocks - meaning that nobody has an excuse for being late when important matters are being discussed (an alarm sounds, people check the time and then they have about 4 minutes to get to where they should be). We were told that when the alarms ring back in England - they go off in the nearby pubs!
When we left Capitol Hill, we cycled on further to the Australian Mint, which is where they press all the money. We had a look around and learnt about how it's all done. We were told that there are mints in Canberra, Perth and Melbourne and the coins are identified by either a 'C', a 'P' or an 'M'. Before we left, we even pressed our own Australian dollar. It's a special one, which commemorates the 75th birthday of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932-2007)... bizarrely, it cost $2.50 to do!
On our way to our next site, we stopped in the hostel for a 'tea break' and then cycled on to the War Memorial. We got there quite late, so we weren't allowed to see the whole place, but we did get to see a closing ceremony, called the Last Post (which is played at funerals - it's to symobilse the end of the day, or rest). That was really cool. Afterwards we cycled back into town, where we stopped in the shops and bought some sushi for our tea, before coming back to the hostel. Tonight, we did some washing and rang my Mum and then just chilled out again before our journey back to Sydney tomorrow.
I can't believe we've almost made it back to Sydney - it seems like we only left yesterday!
5 comments:
I wish I had that kind of energy right now. :-) Sound like you had a wonderful time! I've always wanted to visit Australia. Hope to get there someday. I'm enjoying your blog.
It seems so strange reading this blog on some days,as though it was only just yesterday that we were there. even down to some of the photos we seem to have taken almost identical ones. We also did the 'end of day' ceremony at the war memorial and found it to be really emotional ( well I did but then you know what i'm like for letting the tears flow. xxx
Hi Ben and Niki
We have been following your blog every week.You seem to have done so much and really enjoying yourselves.What we dont read Mum keeps us up to date with.HAPPY BIRTRHDAY BEN
Sorry the above comment is from San and Paul but I pressed the wrong button I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN for Wed hope you have a smashing day.
Happy Birthday Ben for Wednesday.
Have a great time and remember you are nearer 30 than 20 so take it easy.
Love Chris, Trev, Steve & Mike xx
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