Canberra
After spotting an Alpine Funnelweb at our final campsite in the Alps, I was ready to hot-foot it to urbanity. Although not as deadly as the Sydney Funnelweb, and not as aggressive, Alpine Funnelwebs can make you quite ill. The helpful Ranger at Khancoban insisted that they will crawl around your hand quite harmlessly unless baited. Needless to say I was still hesistant to go outside the tent to spend a night-time penny.
To add to the fear of spiders in the night, I also had the perplexing experience of waking up to a snuffling noise next to my ear. It transpired not to be Rob (who does occasionally snore!) but a large mammal outside the tent, eating grass. At first I assumed it would be one of the many kangaroos that we had nearly squished on our way up the mountain. Then, after listening carefully to the snorting, snuffling and grass chewing I remembered the large hole nearby. Not unlike a badger set, I thought that I might be less than a foot away from a wombat. I never got to check because the call of nature had me unzipping the tent -enough to scare away all wildlife within a mile radius.
After our close encounter we headed for Canberra and were promptly stranded in a late-night bar (Mooseheads) by the massive storm. Following a warm day of 22 degrees centigrade, storm clouds loomed over Canberra and promptly dropped 2 inches of ice in two hours onto the nation’s capital. Hailstones and floodwaters beat down the streets and terrorised the brave individuals who still tried to obey Canberra’s no-smoking-indoors laws. A long-haired fellow who joined our pool-playing fraternity informed us that a bar round the corner had flooded through the chandelier.
At 1am when Rob, Jacob and Giddy (our new friends in Canberra) had beat everyone at pool and I had stopped chin-wagging with Kari, we trudged through the icy streets to the taxi rank. We got back to find our tent filled with water and our clothes line in the mud. A chilly and fitful night was spent uncomfortably angled in the car. The next day, we nursed hangovers, dried out and cleaned our belongings.
Today we have finally resolved to see something of the ACT. A trip to the Telstra Tower was cut short as they don’t take cards and they also charge $6 for a diminutive trip up the tower. Instead, we are at the National Library and within walking distance of Parliament House. News and reviews to follow…
p.s. Mooseheads was a great bar with international sport on TV, interesting cheap cocktails and a friendly pool-playing culture (we played doubles against several different strangers and teamed up with people out on their own). Highly recommended as one of Canberra’s only late bars (open until 3am during the week and 5am on weekends).
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