(This post backdated to the date it happened, not the date I wrote it.)

Marita, Justine and I got a lunchtime flight out of Melbourne, and got to Canberra, Australia’s capital city, a little less than an hour later. Straight off the plane, through baggage claim and into a cab bound for Kingston, and the serviced apartment we were staying in.

They kindly offered us a discount voucher to Cockington Green, a miniature village nearby. Obviously as three people who had come to Canberra to catch up with friends and take in a few galleries and national buildings, it was very difficult to convince ourselves that we shouldn’t drop all those plans and spend our limited time going to look at miniature English village buildings.

After settling in we set off walking. It was mid-afternoon, quite cold (though not as cold as a few days previous when I’d observed Jim Middleton on the ABC News reporting from Canberra in the middle of a snow storm). A reasonable walk got us to the National Gallery of Australia. I snapped a photo of the big ball-like thing hanging in front of the entrance, then wished I’d kept the camera out and primed for another 20 seconds, as two helicopters thundered by behind it at low altitude.

The NGA building was pretty uninspiring from the outside, but inside was a wealth of great stuff. We wandered around, admiring some great art, including that of McGCubbin, probably my fave John Brack, Brett Whitely, a Picasso or two, Pollock’s Blue Poles, some Heidelberg School and some great Aboriginal art. An Albert Tucker caught my eye, with its portrayal of a Melbourne number 6 tram. Then I noted the body parts strewn on the ground around it. Hmmmm.. Not sure I quite understand that.

After some time in the NGA, we decided to walk over to the National Library of Australia, primarily for the great coffee shop, famed in song and fable. It was closed … D’oh! But on the way we did note a monument to Vincent Lingiari, which had a tinny speaker playing Paul Kelly’s From Little Things.

It was now about 5pm, and we noted that the Canberra rush hour in that particular part of the city seemed to entail up to 5 cars in a row. The whole place is very spread-out (more about that later), and there were funny round bus stop shelters dotted about the place.

We were now in dire need of a nice hot cup of tea, but none were to be found, as the cafes attached to each building had shut up for the night. We walked back past Old Parliament House and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and headed for the Kingston Shops, where we bought supplies (including tea).

After a cup of tea and a rest, we headed out again for the Manuka shopping centre to look for a nice place for dinner. Eventually, we found it: Christophe’s, a French provincial restaurant, serving just precisely the kind of food you want on a cold night. Not cheap, but hot and totally delicious. I may not know how to pronounce it, but I can tell you the Beef Bourguignon was superb, as was the Crepe Suzette.

Full, we waddled out of the restaurant and staggered back to the apartment. To say it was cold would be a gross understatement, but at least we walked off some of the food.

I’m off to Canberra until Sunday. Be good, and don’t burgle my house.

PS. 12:05pm. Courtesy of Justine, hello from the Melbourne Qantas Club. Woo hoo, free Internet!

PPS. Sunday 12:40pm. Well I just flew back from Canberra, and my arms are tired. Will post about it soon. In the mean time, Tony and Rae have some great news… Albert has arrived.

Here it is, the house in all its glory…

(more…)

Blogging is starting to be taken seriously by product promoters. Some time back I posted (rather bitterly I admit) about the exhorbitant price of a TV theme mobile jingle I bought. Someone at the TV listing company that had linked to it (not the actual jingle company who got the money) saw that post, tracked me down and sent me a refund.

A few months ago, a company that makes a multimedia CD for teaching Australian English spotted my much-in-need-of-an-update Guide to Australia and sent me a review copy.

More recently I mentioned that well-known organic chocolate maker Green & Black’s had been bought by Cadbury. This prompted a note from the guys at Cocolo, makers of fine Swiss organic chocolate, letting me know that their product is available in Australia, and asking if I’d like to try a sample.

Would I? Ha!

There’s something about this chocolate that I can’t quite put my finger on. Something that makes it utterly delicious. It could be that unlike most brands, you get just a hint of the cocoa within, without it dominating. The Dark Chocolate Orange in particular had a rather lovely tangy aftertaste, which showed up a few seconds after I finished chewing, and left me hesistant to take another bite, lest it vanish. The other one, the Milk Chocolate, seems creamy but without being overly so, and leaves the bog standard Cadbury chocolate (which I like, mind you) for dust.

Both of them have the kind of taste that you could enjoy immensely in small doses, without wolfing the whole packet down in a hurry. This is great stuff, and I’ll be watching out for it in the shops.

I had a sudden moment of philosophical mortgage angst yesterday morning on the train. Reading the paper I found myself pondering if I was doing the right thing, signing up to borrow ARGH thousand dollars, to spend the next 25 years paying it off. Working for The Man, money goes in, money goes out… is this all there is?

BOOM! Mortgage, working, time wasted, life gone, mortality… it all hit me. I’m about to turn 35… my life is now mapped out until I’m 60. Should I be doing other things? Making more of my life? (Indeed, what if it turns out this is all there is to existence? Whoa… heavy stuff!) Enjoying my family, friends, hobbies more? Finding some entrepreneurial superJob that will earn me zillions (or at least pay off the damn mortgage) with little effort?

I was brought back to earth as the train pulled into Toorak, and a work colleague boarded and came over for a chat.

Pondering it some more later on, I know I’ve wanted to own my own house for a while, and I’ve snagged a good one, where I know we’ll be happy. I’ll pay it off as quickly as I can, maintain the short working Tuesday thing as a nod to the work/life balance, keep trying to ensure my work and extracurricular activities are challenging, stimulating and making a difference.

Petrol prices are hitting record levels, something that’s been predicted for some time by the Peak Oil people.

On Sunday I took the kids across town to visit their grandad’s/my dad’s place, for his 74th birthday. With my last petrol fill-up costing over $60 (thankfully it’s only about fortnightly), my public transport travel already paid for and cheap Sunday train tickets now available, and his place only a couple of minutes’ walk from Coburg station, I decided we’d take the train. It took about an hour each way — by car would probably be about 45 minutes via the tollway, so it wasn’t too bad, though we had a bit of a wait between connections on the way home… this needs improvement.

Given the wet weather and the chaos in Kingsway (something I got caught in on Saturday afternoon), it was a good way to go. Plus we got to talk, interact, look at things (must get a picture of that very groovy wooden building near Jewell station), and use our feet (if only for a short distance at one end; admittedly at the home end we drove to the station to avoid a downpour of rain). Plus we got to see that most amusing of city-dwellers, the lost Collingwood fan.

I’m probably more inclined than most to consider the public transport option. But as petrol prices are now over a dollar per litre as a matter of course, and still heading upwards, we must be reaching the point where more people who have a choice start to curb their car use.

I dreamt I was the coach for the local junior football team. Instead of playing on a conventional oval, it was a kind of L-shaped ground, like two ovals stuck together, possibly reflecting a park nearby to the house I just bought.

There was a game going, but only about half a dozen kids playing in this huge ground. The umpire decided it needed some pepping up, and arranged for several more sets of goals and balls to be added to the game. This was done (apparently by magic), and then lots more players appeared too.

It looked a bit like a football version of Heath Robinson’s “Multi-Tennis” cartoon.

Thank you Harry Potter and JK Rowling, for knocking bloody Dan Brown off the top of the best seller list at last.

On another topic, read a very interesting article on how to prolong your life. The 13-point plan at the bottom of the second page is particularly interesting. Now, where in this house might I find some nuts? (via Cameron)

PS. Sunday 10:30pm: the subject of the long life article, Dr Aubrey de Grey, was recently featured on the G’Day World Podcast.