Snowy Mountains/Canberra

It took a good 2 weeks to get fully adjusted to Sydney time after our trip back to the States. This was partly because we got nasty colds pretty soon after getting back.  Sydney winters are pretty mild, but it seems that just as many cold and flu germs get passed around as in KC winters.  Luckily, Sydney is having an even milder winter than usual.  So, the bright, sunny days have helped us battle through the jet lag and bouts of illness.

Photo from a walk I took on Cremorne Point on August 1.  Seasonwise, that would equate to February 1 in the Northern Hemisphere.  So.....this is Sydney in the dead of winter.

This is one of my favorite shots of the Sydney Opera House.  

We planned a weekend getaway pretty soon after getting back.  Sean was excited to get down to the Snowy Mountains.  He had to see for himself that snow did actually exist in Australia.  Plus, we wanted to check out Australia's capital city, Canberra.   We didn't want to make it a major trip, since we had just been away for a month.  So, we fit it into a quick, weekend trip.  

We booked a hotel in Canberra for Friday and Saturday nights (August 2nd and 3rd).  We planned to leave Friday afternoon and travel the 2 1/2 hours to Canberra.  On Saturday, we were going to drive the other 2 hours to Perisher ski resort in the Snowy Mountains, check out the snow, and then drive the 2 hours back to Canberra.  On Sunday we planned to spend much of the day seeing what we could of Canberra and then make our way back to Sydney.

The blue dot is close to where we live in Sydney, Canberra is where we stayed, and the red pin is where we went in the Snowy Mountains.

Friday did not work out quite the way we planned; our car wouldn't start when we were all packed up and ready to go.  We were hoping to leave early enough to miss rush hour traffic out of the city.  My friend, Kinsey, saved the day by coming over to jump start our car.  The bad news was that we were 2 hours late leaving, we hit full-on rush hour traffic, and it then took 2 hours JUST to get out of the city.  Overall, this added 3 hours onto our trip down to Canberra.  We didn't get there until almost 10:00 Friday night.  It wasn't a great start to our journey, but we were glad to pull into the motel that night.

Saturday morning we got up and headed further south towards Perisher Ski Resort on Mount Kosciuszko.  Mount Kosciuszko is 2,228 meters high (7,310 ft) and it is the highest mountain in Australia.  We could feel the elevation rising throughout the drive.  By late morning we reached the mountains.  We actually needed winter coats!  At least the kids and I did, Sean and his insane amount of body heat is another story.  It was 0 degrees Celsius and the wind was blowing when we got into Perisher.  After not experiencing a "true" winter in a year and a half, it felt downright cold!

Lake Jindabyne just outside the Snowy Mountains

The kids playing at a playground at the water's edge in the town of Jindabyne

Carter standing on a monument to the Polish explorer, Pawel Strzelecki.  He was the first European to explore the Snowy Mountains in 1839 and named Mount Kosciusko after Tadeusz Kosciuszko.  (Interesting fact I learned in researching this: Tadeusz Kosciuszko was a close friend of Thomas Jefferson.  Kosciuszko fought and was a hero of the American Revolution.)

A photo of the landscape just as we were getting close to the Snowy Mountains.  Mount Kosciuszko is the snow capped mountain in the distance.

Carter at Perisher

Snow angels!

Carter was trying to scoop enough snow together to build something, but the snow was too icy and packed.  

I was freezing!

Carter and Sean got a kick out of some of the cool snow vehicles.

We got our fill of being out in cold pretty quickly.  On our way back to Canberra, we drove past a sign that said the Snowy Mountain Winery and Microbrewery was about 12 kilometers off the main road.  Sean and I love to visit wineries, especially when there is a microbrewery involved.  So, off we went.  Driving to the winery was an adventure in itself.  It was a dirt road that had sheep grazing around without any fences.  It truly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.  It was very cool, but at the same time, we wondered where the heck we were going.  We ended up at the winery and it was really nice.  Sean and I got to sample the products while the kids got to pet all the animals they kept in a little petting zoo right outside the cellar door.  It was perfect; everyone was happy!  

Driving down the dirt road with the sheep all around us

We finally made it!

Aubrey's favorite was petting the pony.

This was the ornery goat that simply walked in and out of the fence when he wanted to.  It freaked the kids out the first time they saw him do it.  Both kids stopped in their tracks and said in unison "Ohhhhh Maaaannn".  

A mob of kangaroos we saw driving back on the dirt road.  They were as interested in us as we were in them.

On Sunday, we headed out to explore Canberra.  Canberra is a planned city located outside of all the Australian states, like Washington D.C.  The area it is in is called the Australian Capital Territory.  It was decided to be the capital in 1908 as a compromise between the two largest Australian cities, Sydney and Melbourne, who were each competing to be the capital city.  The city was designed by Chicago architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.  The city has a very geometric design as is clearly evident in a photo of a map of the inner city around the capital. The circles, hexagons, and triangles were designed around the natural topography of the area.

The Parliament House is located within the circle that states Canberra.

Sean was very excited to visit the Royal Australian Mint.  Carter has a fascination with money, so he also enjoyed this.  Afterwards, we toured the Parliament House and learned more about the Australian government.  We were slightly amused to see how the government is set up as an independent, democratic government, but it is still a part of the British Commonwealth with Queen Elizabeth II as the Queen of Australia.  She is represented by the Governor General at the federal level and by Governors at the state level.  I won't go into more on how the government is set up, but Sean and I found the similarities and differences to the U.S. government very interesting.  

Carter outside the Parliament House

The House of Representatives; the color is green to represent the color of eucalyptus leaves.

The Senate; the color scheme is similar to the House of Lords, but it is changed slightly to represent the earth and the colors of the Australian outback.   

Closeup of the Seal of Australia in the Senate

The view from the top of the Parliament House.  The white building is the Old Parliament House.  The building in the distance is the Australian War Memorial.

Carter and Sean on the roof of the Parliament House

Aubrey was in a silly mood after going through that "boring" tour.

Sean and I on the roof.  And, yes, that is a lawn on the roof of the Parliament House.  It is kind of like an earth contact home.

We spent a lot of time in the car over the course of the weekend, but we got a couple of things checked off of our Australia "to-do" list.  It is always fun to get out and see more of this beautiful country.  And now Sean really does believe that there is snow in Australia.