Canberra - Capital of odd bus shelters

This weekend I went to Canberra and had a fabulous time. Not because of the destination, just because of the company. First just let me say that our nation's capital is a very odd place indeed. One minute you are driving around Parliament House, the next you are driving up what seems like a freeway with nought but fields and trees on either side. It's truly bizarre. And a really strange vibe too. A little bit country town, but just a bit too fancy in some ways... I guess because most country towns don't house a population of rather wealthy public servants so they don't have much demand for fancy shops or restaurants. The roads are just vast and never straight and there's never any traffic! Driving in from the airport it felt like we were miles from anything with not a single other car in sight and yet it was 7pm on a Friday. First thing of course was to find a bar to drink in. We achieved that straight out of the airport :) Headed to Old Parliament House for a glass of red where we were served by a very young man who asked us "is that a red or a white?" when we ordered a Shiraz! Then we copped a bit of agro from a bloke when we took one of the dozen or so empty chairs surrounding him - apparently his mate was sitting in that exact chair and none other would do. Lovely. The wine was crap and it was freezing outside so we headed off for Civic (Canberra can't call city centre "the city" like everyone else, they have to call it 'Civic') and some Thai food. Met up with my bloke and he kindly chipped in with a bottle of white, so already the drinks mixing had begun...



After-dinner drinks at Hippo where entry was refused out male companion due to his shorts (no problem with the rubber thongs though apparently!). "It's a cocktail bar" we were told. And boy was it ever! I ordered something or other and it took a fair amount of bottle throwing and glass twirling to arrive. I say bung it in a glass and get it to me, but the man behind the bar had other ideas. So, one cocktail and then a beer later and it was home time.



Woke up the next day feeling not too flash at all. Ick. But, a bit of fruit for brekky while watching the SA Mixed touch team's first game of the day against my friend's Canberra team. Her team wiped SA all over the field and skipped off to their next game and things didn't get much perkier for SA all day. But we hung in and watched em all the same. Went home between games and brought ourselves out a picnic for the next match. It was raining on and off for a while there, but just drizzle and it wasn't day destroying. Canberra certainly turned on the charm for us though - that evening there was a thunder storm and the rain was so heavy that once we'd made it to the pub we refused to move anywhere for the rest of the night! Well, I refused anyway ;)