With only six weeks to go, I began to feel pressed for time; there was so much of just Sydney, let alone the entire country, that I had yet to explore.
Coming back from Cairns, I planned to take one free weekend at home to recover from my time on the reef. But knowing my restless self, I should have been able to predict that I wouldn’t be able to resist the thrill of taking on the town.
Friday night was girls’ night at The Argyle. Emily, Britt, and I took a night off to go dancing by Sydney Harbour. Around two o’clock the next morning, we decided it was time to go home, but couldn’t resist a quick look at the Opera House by night, a decision that I certainly did not regret, even though it afforded me only five hours of sleep that night.
To recover from our late night out, Britt and I took a trip to the MindBodySpirit Festival in Darling Harbour the next day. Fighting to muffle fits of laughter during our Kundalini yoga class, we both decided that it was an experience that we were glad to have had, but only so that we would know to never do it again.
On Sunday, Emily and I took a trip to Cockatoo Island, which was about a 30 minute ferry ride from Circular Quay. This island formerly housed prisoners before hosting to a girls’ reformatory school. Currently, besides lacking cockatoos, it also has no criminals or girls and primarily serves as a stopping point for tourists looking for a good ghost story. As part of the trip, Emily and I took photographs as part of a photo scavenger hunt, a few of which are featured below.
One week of studying ensued, with midterm projects wrapping up and finals on the horizon. The approaching end was made even more tangible by the arrival of the UNSW wind symphony‘s trimester concert on Friday, April 12th. Even with less than seven weeks of preparation, our Lord of the Rings repertoire was rewarded by raucous applause, especially from my roommates, Emily and Soph, who made my day by making an appearance.
Unlike the last Friday, this one called for an earlier bedtime, because Saturday’s 8 o’clock bus to Canberra was not going to wait for Emily and I if we decided to sleep in!
Canberra? Why, Canberra?
As an exchange student, the most common question I have gotten from local Australians is, “So where have you been/plan to go?” With New Zealand, the response is very animated and something along the lines of “Ah yeah, I’ve never been, but I’m really keen to go someday.” Cairns is a little less enthusiastic, reflecting the novelty of the reef balanced with the dreariness of the town. But with Canberra, the question is always, “Why?”
As the capital of Australia, one would think that Canberra would be the center of Australia, bustling with shops, restaurants, and tourist attractions. But, as I found this weekend, Canberra is to Sydney is to Australia as Albany is to New York City is to New York.
After Australia’s establishment as a country on New Year’s Day in 1901, the nation needed to decided where its capital would reside. The two largest cities at the time, Sydney and Melbourne, instantly began fighting over which was more worthy of being the capital. In the end, diplomats decided to avoid the conflict altogether by building a new capital right in between the two cities. By 1913, this would become known as Canberra.
As most East Coast middle schoolers do with Washington D.C, I had come to find that most of my Australian friends were so put off by Canberra, because they had been forced to visit it with their year six classmates. So, believing that I had matured from my 12-year-old self, I decided it was going to be worth the three-hour bus trip, on an otherwise lazy weekend, to immerse myself in Australian culture.
Luckily, my travel buddy, Emily, had the same idea, AND she was ready to splurge.
Pulling me away from another possibly sleepless hostel experience, she suggested that we check out a new Airbnb on the edge of the city. The house had just been built in September of last year, and the accommodation was better than any hotel experience I have ever had. Upon our arrival, our host, Leoni, welcomed us to her home, and introduced us to her two boys, who were making candles in the colorful, retro-style kitchen. Then, she led us upstairs to our room, which contained a king-size bed and abutted a brand-new bathroom with a heated towel rack! We almost didn’t want to leave the house, but after checking our watches, we realized that we only had 24 hours to soak up everything that Canberra had to offer. Luckily, this didn’t end up being too much of a challenge.
After a quick lunch at a local shopping center, we hoofed it over to the ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) War Memorial. ANZAC is the name that is given to troops from Australia and New Zealand that, over the years, have joined forces to support their allies in various wars. The memorial highlights two walls that feature all of the names of ANZAC soldiers that have died in wars since World War I. These walls have been decorated with poppies, a symbol of death and renewal originating from the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae.
At the rear of the building was a display surrounded by a dome covered on the inside by vibrant mosaic tiles, as beautiful as any of the domes I had seen in French churches in high school.
Depressed by the meaningful, but sobering, exhibit, we decided to make our way over to the art museums across Canberra’s man-made lake. On our way down Anzac Parade, we walked by at least twelve more smaller memorials and became a bit overwhelmed by the persistent reminders of young death and sacrifice.
Next stop, the National Portrait Gallery. To get there, we needed to walk a rather far distance across Parliament Square and decided to take pit-stops at the National Library and the Old Parliament House, both of which we could have skipped, but afforded us some opportunities to slow down our pace. Luckily, the National Portrait Gallery was well worth the trip and ended up being my favorite museum of the weekend. It featured a diverse collection of portraits by nationally-acclaimed artist of various famous Australians, including Margaret Court, Lleyton Hewitt, and Nicole Kidman, represented in every medium imaginable.
As soon as the museum closed, we took a short walk by the water, then made our way over to the city center for dinner at Soi Noodle Bar. Optimistic talks about enjoying our one night out turned into dreamy plans to watch Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants in our nice, warm bed. Our feet certainly appreciated us taking the second alternative, after walking almost 15 miles around the city that day.
The next morning, Leoni surprised us with tea and overnight muesli and birch, the cherry on top of our lovely stay in Canberra. After numerous “thank you”s, we were off to explore the second half of Canberra. Crossing over to the Australia National University campus, I was amazed by the lack of hills, having only experienced the slopes of RPI and even steeper, if you can believe it, UNSW. Matched with the school’s vast expanse, modern buildings and tasteful fall foliage, I wanted to transfer immediately.
On the other side of the campus boundary was the National Botanic Gardens, which lacked in comparison to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The National Film and Sound Archive was another disappointment, housing very few open exhibits. Hoping not to strike out, we made our last stop at the National Australian Museum, which was dominated by a pleasant exhibit about Aboriginal culture. By the third gallery, our brains were saturated with history, and we decided to head back to pack for our bus back to Sydney.
Again, Why Canberra?
Despite everything that I was told by my Australian friends, Canberra was definitely worth the trip, but as with Cairns, do not plan to stay for longer than two days at most, especially if you do not have a car.
Even in the city center, the streets were eerily quiet, with all of the politicians back in their respective homes in Sydney or Melbourne and the students sleeping the days away. But, this was a welcomed change of pace from the hustle and bustle of Sydney. I was amazed by how much I had missed breathing in fresh, suburban air, and just for that (and our amazing accommodations), I would go back in a heartbeat; the museums and memorials were an added bonus. I wish that we could have stayed a few extra nights just to try all of the trendy restaurants that we had skipped over.
Easter Weekend
With the Easter holiday one week away, Australians have plenty of holidays ahead. Good Friday, Easter Monday, and ANZAC Thursday all serve as public holidays, which means no classes! So, Emily and I are off on a 4-day swag camping (think sacks, not glamping) trip in Uluru starting this Thursday. Let’s hope neither of us gets eaten by any bugs!
Study in Sydney 