Our last day in Fiji, we headed back to
the Marina on the Bula bus to wander around the shops. In between
another round of meat pies from the bakery, a round of drinks from
the Hard Rock cafe and icecreams from the New Zealand creamery we
found some bargains and headed back to the hotel.
We got off the bus at the Sofitel and
walked back past the Westin to check out their restaurants. After
eventually finding the Japanese we were looking for at the Sheraton,
we decided to eat at our hotel. The food was okay, the highlight
being the fresh food stations with shrimp stir fry and lamb cutlets.
Unfortunately, family stress ended up being the main memory of the
evening. We all went to bed early to get some sleep before the early
start for our flight to Sydney. Unfortunately our neighbours in the
hotel had other ideas with lots of banging and shouting into the
early hours. When confronted they were rude, prompting a call to the
hotel management, who were very concerned, if misguided in calling us
back twice (extending the late night further). At checkout, the
management apologised and removed our dinner bill.
Arrived in Canberra after an uneventful
flight to Sydney and a pleasant drive. Our apartment in the Griffin
has plenty of space, the kids even get their own bedrooms. Canberra
feels very cold and dry after the warmth of Fiji. After settling in
we wandered around Kingston, picked up a bottle of wine and settled
on Chinese in Portia's Place (one of our old haunts). Despite
appearing almost empty on first glance, we take the last table. Fully
booked on a Tuesday night! We enjoyed the scallops with black bean
and crispy duck that used to be our favourites and the kids even
still got Freddo bars. Good to see that some things never change.
After breakfast in the Kingston Grind
(great long blacks and banana bread), we headed up Black Mountain and
Telstra tower for a birds eye view of Canberra. We bought some
postcards, but weren't able to post them in Canberra's highest
postbox, as they had no overseas stamps! Then drove north to Gold
Creek and lunch in front of the log fire at the George Harcourt Pub.
Seeing the Christmas decorations in the Pub, we were reminded of the
Australian tradition of celebrating Christmas in July.
We then drove back into the recently
expanded Canberra Centre for more shopping and a search for internet
access. Had great coffee and hot chocolate (including marshmallows)
at the City Deli, whose wireless network was having problems.
Resorted to paying for use of a PC, but still no hotel booked for
Sydney.
Headed down to Wanniassa to check out
the old neighbourhood. The impact of the drought was clear to see,
with the flourishing gardens we remembered now dusty patches of dirt.
Wanniassa Hills Primary seem little changed from the outside, with a
staff meeting foiling our thoughts of seeing inside. We then headed
for dinner with old friends. Despite circling the area a number of
times, we were initially unable to find their house and had to resort
to seeking directions. We were still fashionably late and had a great
night of reminiscing.
The next
morning we had a “chocolate breakfast” at All Things Chocolate
and then the girls went to get their hair done. After some more great
Aussie meat pies for lunch, we used the laundry at the hotel to
improve the balance between clean and dirty clothes and finally got a
hotel booked in Sydney. After a quick wander around the Parliamentary
Triangle and a partial climb over the New Parliament House (the top
is no longer accessible), we headed back to Wanniassa before a drive
out into the sticks to rural Burra for dinner with friends. Although
we managed to avoid hitting any wildlife, we didn't get to see the
much talked about goats. Luckily it was (beef) lasagna for dinner!
The next morning we packed our bags and
said goodbye to Canberra and set off back to Sydney. We stopped
briefly at Lake George to see if we could spot any water before
taking lunch at Josh's Cafe in Berrima. We had forgotten how trendy
this little place is and after trying three other places, finally got
a table despite having no reservation!
