Capital City.

Another ultimate tournament brought me to a new place.  Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), is the capital of Australia.  The ACT is surrounded by New South Wales, between Sydney and Melbourne.  Those two cities had (and still have) a fierce rivalry, so the purpose-built capital city was created.  Partially following the designs for Washington D.C., Canberra has many geometric features with roads in a wheel and spokes pattern rather than the easy to navigate grid system.  One of the prominent features is the artificial lake named Lake Burley Griffin.  The lake is in the photo below, as is the National Carillon on Aspen Island.  This tower is one of the world’s largest musical instruments with 55 bronze bells, weighing up to 6 tonnes each.  It was a gift from Britain on Canberra’s 50^th anniversary.  My tournament was only a few weeks after Canberra’s centennial anniversary.

So that I would see a bit more of Canberra than just its ultimate fields/ovals, I drove down to the city a bit early.  I had an afternoon to grab a delicious lunch at a vegan café and check out some of the sights.  As Canberra is largely known for its museums and politics, we did a self-guided walking tour in the Parliament Triangle to check out the architecture and pop inside a couple of the major institutions.  I probably should have included some of the embassies on my mini tour, as many are custom-built with interesting architecture.  I did, however, see the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawn in front of Old Parliament House.  It was originally established back in the 1970’s.  In general, I was surprised by how quiet the area was; I expected to see more visitors walking around and inside the museums.

Canberra is Australia’s largest inland city, and being further inland it showed more signs of autumn than coastal Sydney.  The nights were cooler, and the leaves on the trees are starting to turn color.  That weekend was also the end of Daylight Savings.  Lately, I have been experiencing my biggest struggle with the seasonal differences.  To me, this time of year marks the period when days are growing warmer and longer.  That’s the direction I prefer, so it’s hard adjusting when things are going the opposite way here.

With this visit to the ACT, I have passed the halfway point.  I have now visited both territories (ACT and NT) and 3 states (QLD, NSW, and VIC).  Now only 3 states remain: Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia.  Which one should I visit next?