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 | Canberra Parks /Gardens / Lakes Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 34 |  |
 | |  |  | Parks /Gardens / Lakes: Get a perspective from Mt Ainslie | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
A visit to Mt Ainslie (846m) ties in well with a visit to the War Memorial, which it overlooks. The view gives an excellent perspective of the Parliamentary Triangle (National Library, Parliament House, National Gallery area) as well as the War Memorial and Anzac Parade and the main city area. If you have visited the National Capital Exhibition (see tip) it should all drop into place for you. For my money, this view is better than that from the Black Mountain Tower, because it is more central - see my heading panorama. And it's free, what's more! Just to briefly explain what you see in the photo, the reddish area is the median strip of Anzac Parade. At the camera end of it, you see the back of the War Memorial. In line with it, on the other side of the lake, is Old Parliament House and, behind that, New Parliament House. Also across the lake, to the right, are Questacon (partly obscured by trees) and the National Library, while to the left are the High Court and National Gallery. In the distance, slightly to the right, you can see a high rise office block at Woden Town Centre, one of Canberra's satellite urban centres. Beyond that are the Brindabella ranges, giving Canberra a marvellous mountain backdrop, often with snow on top during winter. Address: Mt Ainslie DveDirections: Drive to the east from the War Memorial on Fairbairn Ave (ie keep the War Memorial on your left) for about 1 km, then turn left into Mt Ainslie Dve. Continue up the hill to the carparks on the top.
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| | | | Parks /Gardens / Lakes: Australian National Botanic Gardens | Tip Rating: | | | | |
The ANBG is a multiple winner of the Ecotourism Award for the Canberra Region. I also recommend their multilingual website for information on Australian plants. After many years of talk and later preparation, the Australian Botanic Gardens were opened in 1970. Since then, extensive developments and plantings have led to the development of a truly excellent public attraction. On a walk through the grounds, you will see flora plantings and ecological groups representative of different parts of Australia. It’s entirely your choice whether you see it on a tour led by Volunteer Guides, or whether you take a self-guided walk. The gardens have about 7,000 of the 17,500 known plant species in Australia: if it can’t be grown outdoors here, it is grown in hothouses or under cover, with a managed microclimate. The entire gardens can truly be seen as a ‘living experiment’. On our most recent visit we had a reunion get-together lunch with some friends who were with us on our Antarctic cruise, at the café which is licensed and ideal for pleasant outdoor lunches (or breakfasts). As we took the short walk from the carpark to the café, we passed the Rainforest Gully and the misting systems came on: it was really delightful. Entry is free, but there is a charge for parking (which goes toward the Gardens). The Visitor Information Centre has changing special displays and an excellent bookshop has a wide range of botanical and gardening-related books, as well as nature-related publications, souvenirs and gifts. The Botanic Gardens opening hours (0830 - 1700 daily except Christmas Day) are slightly longer than for the visitor information centre, bookshop and café. Address: Clunies Ross St, Black Mountain.Phone: (02) 6250 9540Directions: The entry is adjacent to the turnoff for the Black Mountain Tower, a short distance north in Clunies Ross St.Website: www.anbg.gov.au/anbg
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| | | | Parks /Gardens / Lakes: The great voyage | Tip Rating:  | | | | |
This art work, a map of the globe depicting the voyage of Captain James Cook where he came and mapped parts of Australia, is a reflection of how history was taught when I went to school. There was basically only one person who found the whole of Australia and that was Captain Cook. This conveniently ignored all the explorers and traders, mainly Dutch and Portugese, who had been bouncing off our shores, sometimes literally, for nearly 200 years before the English arrived. However, as has often been writ, history is most often written by the victors and, in this case, the English were the first Europeans to colonize the place and they were, in the climate of the times, disdainful of any claims that people who had been living there for tens of thousands of years might have had. So Australia was colonized, English became the language, Cook was immortalized, pictures of the reigning monarch of England were in every public building. These days, things are changing, though the monarchists have had their way for the time being and monuments like this will remain for some time to come. There is one thing that Cook can always lay claim to though and that is that he was one of the finest explorers that ever sailed around the globe. Mindful of the state of his crew and his ship, he set a fine example for those who followed. Leave a Comment
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