Australian Capital Territory - 21 May to 29 May 2000

I spent over a week in Canberra doing research for my political science thesis. It was definitely a shock going from a touring group of 82 to a group of 1. I stayed at the Australian National University, which was incredibly cheap and in a nice location. I spent most of my time at the National Library of Australia, but that didn't stop me from doing the tourist thing. I look a bike ride around the lake that divides the city into two sections, and saw all of the public monuments in town. I also went to some of the museums and toured the parliament buildings. The highlight was Question Time in the House of Representatives. The parliament had been out for two weeks, so there was plently of fodder for heated debate. The Deputy Opposition Leader had to be publicly disciplined by the Speaker, and the Prime Minister kept interrupting his junior ministers - it was great. I took a train back to Melbourne, with a five-hour layover in Goulburn, NSW, a provincial town out in the highlands. My suitcase had a longer layover there, because my train for Melbourne left after midnight, but we were reunited the next day without incident. It had been a great trip, but it was time to go back to the States.

The National Library and High Court buildings, on the shore of Lake Burley Griffith in Canberra

ANZAC Parade and the Parliament Buildings, from the base of the Australian War Memorial.

The Old Parliament Building, now a political museum