Road Trip Part 1 - From Sydney to Canberra

Dieser Artikel ist auch verfügbar auf: Deutsch

Australia is, same like the USA, a country that makes me think of a road trip when I hear someone is going to one of these countries. To meet this stereotype, of course I had to start that kind of a trip during this year’s stay in Down Under. 😉

Travel report about a road trip in Australia (part 1)

So I went with a friend from back home, who coincidentally was staying at the same time in the Sydney metropolitan area, on this road trip to the Australian south. The plan was to drive the almost 900 km from Sydney to Melbourne and after that to go on another trip down the Great Ocean Road. But what would a road trip be without any spontaneous changes and because of that we made a detour and paid a visit to the Australian capital Canberra.

Arrival in Canberra

After a few breaks and comfortable driving we arrived in Canberra 4 hours later. The first question which came into my mind was why the hell is that the Australian capital? If you ask some Australians, they answer the question with something like that: in the beginning of the 19th century Sydney and Melbourne were fighting about who’s gonna be the capital. No one could decide it and so Canberra was build for exactly this need. Well then. Let’s take a look around the 8th biggest and apparently most important Australian city. Canberra itself is divided into almost two same sized halves by the Lake Burley Griffin and got some (more or less spectacular) sights to offer.

There’s something to tell about this picture. The man in the middle had set up his camera directly in front of the Parliament House to shoot a video for his loved ones at home. This, I think, should be the intro and he recorded himself at least 20 to 30 times with the same rehearsed sentence while we took some pictures. The nice guy was very entertaining. I wonder if he found the right scene while editing the video. 😉

By the way, this was Diego, our loyal vehicle and place to sleep for a few nights. The car was named after a very funny Italian guy who my friend met at a hostel in Sydney.

Besides the Australian War Memorial, the Parliament House and some other government buildings, there is the Black Mountain Tower (former called Telstra Tower), a very recommendable sight with an amazing view over Canberra and the surroundings. We arrived just in time for the sunset which is only a couple minutes away from the city center. To get to the observation deck you need to pay an entrance fee of A$ 7,50, but with this stunning 360 degrees view it’s definitely worth it!

My conclusion: Even if Canberra wasn’t that exciting for me, it was still a beautiful first day on this road trip. Next stop: Melbourne!