Maybe visit an Embassy and other Canberra, Australia Off The Beaten Path Tips

If you are visiting Australia from overseas, I guess there may be a chance that you will be able to visit your own country's Embassy. In any event, most Embassies have the occasional "public open day", but you would need to be lucky to time your visit to coincide with it (or to know about it)! Sadly, because the details would change yearly, it isn't possible to cover them in a VT tip.

But most Embassies have some reference to the national building styles or arts of their respective countries. None more so than that of the Peoples Republic of China, one of Canberra's newest and largest. We were fortunate to be able to visit with our historic vehicle club, as part of the celebrations of the Chinese Spring Festival (New Year). Our group was made most welcome, we were served Oolong tea in accordance with the Chinese tea ceremony (and very tasty too, for something which looked almost like water in colour), then we were given a very enjoyable morning tea. Later we took the Embassy staff for an Australian barbecue lunch in the country (at Cotter, separate tip).

I have included some photos of the Embassy here, and will include more in a travelogue.

Leave a Comment

When the ACT was chosen as a site for the national capital, it was necessary to do a detailed survey. This was carried out by a team of surveyors led by Charles Scrivener, the Commonwealth Surveyor in 1909. They worked from a small camp they established on the slopes of Capital Hill, not far from the New Parliament House. The camp is long gone, but to ensure the safety of their plans they built a small concrete building: that building remains and is the oldest building built by the Commonwealth Government in the ACT. The building is now heritage listed and it and the former camp area are now in a pleasant little park, where a series of display boards give the story. You will find it on the New Parliament House side of State Circle, just behind the Papua New Guinea High Commission.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.idealcity.org.au/a_nation_needs-5-the_site.html

You won’t find The Cotter Loop mentioned in the tourist brochures, that is the name used by vehicle enthusiasts, who love this excellent driver's road. It refers to the road trip out from Canberra past Mount Stromlo, The Cotter, Canberra Deep Space Centre, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve (see following tips) and back via the old village of Tharwa. All those places merit stopovers and if you have time, maybe also take in the former Lanyon Station and Nolan Gallery just before you enter the southern end of the Canberra suburbs. Heading back to the city, you pass the satellite city centre of Tuggeranong where there is a shopping mall.

The overall trip is about 60km of winding and undulating road, through some lovely scenic country in the lower hills south of Canberra, and there are some interesting places to visit. Follow the Tourist Drive 5 signs, beginning by heading down Adelaide Avenue past the Prime Minister’s Lodge, then diverting onto Cotter Road. From there, it is little more than a matter of following your nose! Put aside a full day for this trip if you include the side visits.

Addition 9 March 2008: I have now replaced the sketch map with this poster map, to which I have added annotations. NB also that the old bridge at Tharwa is now closed for ongoing repairs, so the route is shortened as I have marked it.

Leave a Comment

Mount Stromlo, just outside Canberra’s south western suburbs, began in 1924 as the site for the Commonwealth Solar Observatory. In 1946 it became a stellar astronomy observatory and since 1957 has been part of the Australian National University School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Canberra people have always held it in great affection as a popular tourist drive and the gleaming white telescope domes were a part of the horizon.

The firestorms of January 2003 destroyed all but one of the telescopes at Mt Stromlo, as well as the workshops, design and administration offices, library and archives; even the elegant old Director’s residence, built in the late 1920s. Some of the saddest losses were the 74inch reflector, built in 1954 and until 1974 the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere; and the 26inch Yale-Columbia refractor telescope, used to measure the distances and motions of stars.

Ever so slowly, Mt Stromlo is being rebuilt (see travelogue). The visitor information centre and café are now open and, if nothing else, you can see the ruins of what used to be. Entry is free. Visiting hours are Wednesday - Sunday 1000 - 1700 (except Christmas Day). Weather permitting, there are night programmes for visitors on Saturday (but you must book through the phone number below).

Leave a Comment

Phone: 02 6125 0232
Website: www.mso.anu.edu.au

What’s the Murrumbidgee River Corridor I hear you say…. Well, the Murrumbidgee travels 1600km from the Snowy Mountains to the Murray River. For about 66km of that distance, it is in the ACT and much of that distance is available for recreation. At most public recreation areas there are toilets, mown grassed areas, picnic facilities with free barbecues, shelters and walking tracks. Depending on what takes your fancy, you also can go swimming, take your dog for a walk, go fishing (no licence required, but some restrictions apply), go canoeing, or even rip off everything and legally go skinnydipping (at Kambah Pool). Just be sure that what you do is permitted where you are doing it!

This photo is at Casuarina Sands, a popular swimming area in the warmer months (the photo was taken in late Autumn). You also can go swimming at many other spots, from Uriarra to Tharwa. The Casuarina Sands reserve is off the side of Cotter Road, after you have passed Mount Stromlo – be careful as you leave the main road, the exit is on a hairpin bend.

General enquiries Canberra Connect 13 22 81
Murrumbidgee River Corridor (02) 6207 2425
Fishing enquiries (02) 6207 2425

Leave a Comment

Phone: See above
Website: www.cmd.act.gov.au

The Cotter Reserve is one of the most popular Canberra picnic areas, located near one of the main reservoirs for the city (now viewed from a lookout, once you could walk along the dam wall). There is ample parking, barbecues, toilets, and grassed areas for recreation. You reach Cotter shortly after Casuarina Sands and only about 20km from the city. It is sheltered among the hills and is pleasantly cool in summer. With its huge deciduous trees making a picture of colours during the autumn, you could be anywhere in the world rather than in the Australian countryside. Even during winter, with the sun coming through, we have had many enjoyable barbecues there.

Campers might care to note that there is a low cost camping area in delightful surroundings alongside the Murrumbidgee River, located between Casuarina Sands and Cotter Reserve. The camping fees are low and are paid into an 'honesty box'.

Leave a Comment

This is more generally known as Tidbinbilla Tracking Station. It is one of three main NASA tracking stations around the world (the Deep Space Network) set up for tracking deep space probes. It also provides back-up communication with manned space activities from the former Apollo missions to the Space Shuttle and Space Station. The main dish (seen in the main photo) is enormous and several other smaller (but still large) dishes are spread around the complex.

Tidbinbilla tracking station has a small but very good display area with models of space probes (the full-size replica Mars rover is very impressive - see second photo), the latest space photographs, and real 'used' space hardware. You also can watch a space movie. The display is open to the public every day - entry is free. There also is a small souvenir shop and cafe with windows overlooking the big dishes (see "restaurants" tip).

The address is Discovery Drive, Tidbinbilla. Follow Tourist Drive 5 from Canberra - from the north via Cotter and Paddy's River Roads; from the south via Point Hutt Crossing Rd and Tidbinbilla Rd. It is about 45 minutes' travelling from the city.

Open daily (except Christmas Day) from 0900 - 1700. The cafe is open 1000-1700.

Leave a Comment

Website: www.cdscc.nasa.gov/Pages/pg01_overview.html

One of the real highlights of the Tidbinbilla Tracking Station display (prior tip) is to see the piece of genuine moon rock, brought back by the Apollo astronauts. It is a curious feeling to be able to peer closely at the unexciting looking piece of 3.8 billion year old grey rock and to think of the excitement of returning it and the cost involved in doing so. And how strange it is to watch young people, born since the moon landings, wander past it with so little curiousity (guess it's just 'old news')!

Leave a Comment

Eleven kilometres beyond Cotter, you will find yourself at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve – shortly after you pass the turnoff to the Tracking Station. The TNR encompasses a large valley, set between 1500metre peaks, it is a truly impressive setting. There is a ‘Nature Discovery Playground’ for children, roads where you can drive or bicycle to a lookout for panoramic views, and walking trails of varying distances from a few hundred metres to several kilometres (and requiring different degrees of fitness). Most importantly, you can expect to see a diversity of Australian wildlife, including koalas.

The entire area was devastated in the 2003 fires, leaving none of the previous facilities and only one badly burned koala. Gradually the bush is coming alive again: the gums are re-shooting, the wildlife is returning. A new visitor and ranger centre has been constructed at the entry, containing a small but very good museum which includes dramatic examples of the effects of the fires.

Entry is free to the TNR, which is open daily except Christmas Day, from 0900 – 1800 and, during daylight saving, from 0900-2000. The Visitor Centre opens from 0900-1630 on weekdays and 0900-170 on weekends.

Leave a Comment

Phone: (02) 6205 1233
Website: www.environment.act.gov.au

Canberra is well situated to use as a base for trips to quite a diverse range of places and scenery. Anywhere within the ACT (see separate tips) can be reached within an hour's driving. Within one hours' road travel from Canberra, you can visit the following towns:
Braidwood
Bungendore
Cooma
Goulburn
Gunning
Queanbeyan
Yass

If you're not interested in towns, how about visiting a winery (see following tip) - they are out there, under an hour away.

Leave a Comment