Monday, November 26 - Exploring the City with Ian

Bob got up early and was able to hear the Browns vs. Steelers game live! And the Browns managed to win!!


We again drove over to the Botanic Gardens, as breakfast yesterday was so good. We ordered two eggs Benedict and one order of croissants and ate on the terrace as the White-winged Choughs and Red Wattlebirds circled around for crumbs. I hoped to see the male Gang Gang, but I think the pair Bob and Hil saw were the last ones to leave Canberra for the mountains where they breed.

Red Wattlebird

 

Helichrysum elatum

 

We walked to the rainforest section and were in the middle of the walk when the sprinklers opened up and produced a drenching shower! Just like the real rainforest.

 We dried off walking back to the café where we were to meet Ian McCauley, a classmate of Hilary’s from the Kennedy School of Gov‘t at Harvard ~25 years ago. He has lived in Canberra for since 1972, raised his family here and worked in the field of public finance.



He drove us over to the National Art Gallery, a large and very spacious museum. We saw the extensive Aboriginal collection of natural pigments on eucalyptus bark, and more modern painting with acrylic paint on boards, and a marvelous exhibit of hollow log coffins (tall decorated poles).

 

 

We also went to a hall of European Australian artists with paintings of Sydney and other places familiar to us, but 100-150 years ago. The cities look quite different, but the countryside depicted could be today.

Aboriginal hollow log coffins
 

We had sandwiches at the museum, and then set off for the Parliament Building, which is set into a hill overlooking Canberra. Ian couldn’t find any place to park but whipped his car around and we parked in a tiny “secret” lot he knew about and we hiked up a trail through woods and were suddenly in front of the Parliament. We went through various security checks and got in line for the House of Representatives, and there we were! With amazing luck, it was the afternoon Question Period and we were able to see Julia Gillard, the feisty PM, battling with the Opposition Liberal (conservative) Party. Labor kept bringing up important issues, such as taking care of the Murray-Darling River basin, and the Liberal leader would come back accusing the PM of illegal activity when she was a lawyer setting up incorporation for the AWU. Then Julia accused the Liberals of being sleazy, causing great outrage and noise from them! Great theater!!


Parliament

Ian drove us around to see various embassies and then dropped us off at the hotel. We’re driving over to his house for dinner at seven.
We arrived at his house which is quite near the Parliament Building and met Helen, his wife. Their house consists of a series of room, mostly full of books, that surround a central patio that has netting overhead to keep the pesky Aussie flies away. The temperature was perfect with a light breeze.

We had hummus and crackers and then a wonderful salad of mango and macadamia nuts. This was followed by Ian’s beef curry with all sorts of things to eat with it, including his sweet chutney. Helen had made pappadams (flat Indian bread) and we drank much wine and had a great meal. We discussed birding, eclipses, Australian life and government vs. USA until we found it was almost midnight! Hilary skillfully drove us home with a few confusing variations, but fortunately traffic was light and we arrived safely.