Australia : Canberra & Wollongong
Posted by stuandamy on May 7, 2008
Stu :
Canberra (31st Jan – 3rd Feb)
After enjoying our fix of small-town Australia it felt about time to get back to the safety of the big cities! So back on the train and Eastwards to the capital city of Canberra. Everything I head heard and read about Canberra indicated that it was a relatively boring, purpose built kind of city. Surely not we thought……oh yes indeed ! My word this city is boooooring. Now don’t get me wrong. The lake in the middle of the city is all very nice (see attached photo) but everything is so….functional. There is no city centre to speak of so the city really has no heart and just seems to merge from office to shop to home to office. What made it even more frustrating is that the city was designed to use circular streets instead of a grid setup. This made it really confusing to travel around so much so that we were wandering around making confused noises and were stopped by an elderly chap who kindly enquired if he could help. We asked him if he knew where such and such a street was and he said “yeah sure – follow me”. It was at that point that we noticed his shades and white stick…..talk about the blind leading the blind !
I have nothing really of worth to say about Canberra so I won’t pretend to try and make anything up. We did however find a nice Irish pub that sold a cracking pint of Kilkenny so that was a bonus.
Wollongong (3rd – 7th Feb)
After a couple of weeks away from a good surf beach we decided to head back to the coast and visit Wollongong which is a beach town 80kms South of Sydney. I liked Wollongong. The city centre wasn’t the nicest and looked as though it wound benefit from a bit of a face-lift but there was a nice feel to the place. It had no pre-conceptions of being a big city and seemed to concentrate on the more laid-back surfy lifestyle.
The motel we were booked into for a few nights was only a couple of blocks from a great surf beach so I found myself nipping down for an afternoon session of body surfing most days. I just love the surf beaches they have over here. I could really get into that scene if only Wellington had a decent surf beach to speak of.
Anyway – after a couple of chilled days walking along the beaches and enjoying our surroundings Amy fancied jumping on the train to visit Nan Tien Buddhist temple nearby which is the largest temple in the Southern Hemisphere. I have to say this was a cracking place to wander around and you couldn’t help but adopt a calmness of being….even in a spiritual heathen like myself. That being said a juicy steak would have been a welcome addition to the veggie-only temple restaurant. Alas the closest I got to some wholesome meat was a rather large black hair in my noodles…..yum.
On our trip around Oz we have been unable to carry many food extras like salt, sauces butter etc with us due to weight etc so we have found ourselves “stealing” salt, pepper and sauces from local cafes. True to form I stuffed a handful of salt and pepper into my pocket as we were leaving the temple café. 10 minutes later I found myself bare-footed (they make you leave your shoes at the door) wandering around the main temple hall. It was then that I had to summon all of my inner strength to avoid yelping at the top of my voice as I stubbed my toe on one of the statues representing the Buddhist Gods. Kharma for stealing the salt ? I think so…..
