Capitol Hill

On to Canberra it was, through the Great Dividing Range. Well, we didn't know that till we saw the road signs and saw how steep the road was. A real test for the van, but we were chugging up the hills at about 40 kph, pulling over every so often so that the following cars could get by. Half way through we stopped at Braidwood, an historic town for lunch and a look around. Once a month they have a market day there and people from Canberra drive down for it. We got there a little bit too late to shop around the market stalls. Before we got to Canberra, we passed through the NSW city of Queanbeyan, from where we could see the huge water fountain in Canberra 20 km's away and the restaurant tower overlooking the capital. We found Leslie and Linda Abbott's house close by the Canberra Stadium, not far from Belconnan and they made us welcome. So we had quite a chat catching up on all the goss since SOCSPO and Linda cooked a great roast chicken dinner for us. Next morning, we met up with Nat and Dave from SOCSPO – they live at Queanbeyan, for a big breakfast. Dave drives a bus for Murrays and he had to go on a trip to Sydney and back in the afternoon. Good to catch up with them also. The breakfast was just what we needed for the days touring ahead of us because Leslie and Linda treated us to a drive to the lookout where we could see all of Canberra laid out in front of us. Then it was off to the National War Museum and what a wonderful experience that was. There is so much to be seen that you get to a point where you suffer from information overload. The modelling of some of the battle scenes was just amazing. After that, it was the Capitol Hill, to see Australia's Parliament Buildings, again an amazing structure. We were all quite tired and so made it back to the Abbott household for a cuppa. Nice to have a soft bed to sleep in too after our days on the road. That night it rained heaps and it was a sight to see Linda and Leslie doing a celebratory rain dance out on the patio. Well, I must admit, Canberra does look a bit dry

So we left Canberra on Monday 26^th and headed back through the Great Divide for the coast, leaving a thunderstorm in our trail to keep Leslie and Linda happy. Thanks guys, we really enjoyed our stay with you. Brilliant.