Road Trip – Canberra, the Capitol of Australia and Australian Politics
The next morning we made our way to Canberra. Canberra, (pronounced Canbra) is the capital city of Australia. It’s about 280km southwest of Sydney and 660km northeast of Melbourne, and is Australia’s largest inland city. It’s about the size of Austin with a population of about 345,000. The site was chosen as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s two largest cities. This and more historical information on Canberra can be found on Wikipedia using the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra .
Jack and I took a tour of Australia’s Parliament House. It was opened on May 9, 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II. Paraphrasing from the Self-Guided Tour brochure, “the building combines art and architecture to represent the unique country and the parliamentary system which governs it.” The very modern architecture of Parliament House represents the history of Australia, from its ancient beginnings to current times. The building itself is, in our opinion, ultra-modern in design, and we couldn’t help but compare it to the Texas State Capitol building on our tour. While we appreciated the very thoughtful approach to the design of the building, we didn’t get a sense of history from it as we do when we’re in the Texas capitol. The building is pretty new, however, and will eventually get some interesting history behind it. Here is a link to an article that explains the legislative process in Australia. http://teachit.acreekps.vic.edu.au/cyberfair2002/parliamenthousecanberra.htm . We liked Canberra a lot and found it very interesting.
Politics in Australia have been pretty fascinating since we have been here. The night after our arrival, all hell broke loose. Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister, held a press conference around 10:00 pm, and announced he was calling a meeting to hold a confidence/no-confidence vote on him continuing as the Prime Minister. So, at 9:00 am the next day, the Labor Party ministers met, voted him out, and voted in Julia Guillard, the first woman PM. From what I can tell, Mr. Rudd was having some popularity issues regarding various policies that were implemented during his tenure, and regarding a mega-tax on the mining industry. Upon being sworn in, Ms. Guillard immediately began reversing some of those troublesome policies, and renegotiated the mining tax to what seems to be a more reasonable level.
About two weeks ago, she called for new elections to be held on August 29th, so she could be elected Prime Minister by the people, in her own right. Now the campaigning has begun. The campaigns seem to be a lot like the campaigns at home. Her opponent from the Liberal Party, Tony Abbott, says “With her you’ll get this…… and then this will happen.” Then she says “He has a bad record, don’t trust him, He doesn’t respect women”, etc., etc. The big difference is that campaigns only last about 30 days or so. Yes, that’s right, 30 days.
During the time since she became PM, some interesting facts have come into the public forum about Ms. Guillard. She is 48 years old, single, never been married, and has no children. She lives with her boyfriend, who, if elected, will move into the official residence with her. And, she is agnostic, and will not claim a faith that she doesn’t have. There has been a little bit of disapproving talk about her personal life on the morning shows, but no one is horrified, or really even sees these things as issues. I believe this would cause endless, endless debate in the US, and probably derail any serious discussion on the issues. What do you think?
Showing posts with label Road Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Road Trip. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Road Trip
Road Trip - Overview
It has been a few weeks since I uploaded a post, but Jack and I have been pretty busy the past few weeks. First, we rented a car in Sydney and drove to Adelaide, over 1920km, which took a week. After a stop-over in Adelaide for a few days of exploration, we took a train trip up the center of Australia to the Outback and Alice Springs, where stayed in a hotel over a tavern for a few days. Next, we flew to Cairns, where we stayed for a week and took some tours of local points of interest and into the rainforest. Our last week in Australia is where we are now, Port Douglas. We took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef where we did some snorkeling and have had some pretty awesome downtime. Of course, we have taken pictures the whole way.
Road Trip – Getting out of Sydney – Picking up the rental car
After three weeks in Sydney, we rented a car to drive to Adelaide. Jack and I both enjoy road trips and felt it would be good for us to be on our schedule for awhile, instead of on the public transportation schedule. So, we picked up the car, said our prayers over the fact that we would be driving on the left-hand side of the road, and started out.
We managed to make our way out of Sydney, after getting lost, of course. Even though we had been all around the city on the buses, when I’m not doing the driving I really don’t pay attention to the route. Also, the buses twist in and out of all the little side streets to make sure everyone gets good service. Traffic in Sydney was fast and the lanes are narrow. And our car was wide, wider even than what we were used to back home. But, I only went the wrong way one time (that day), and fortunately, there was no on-coming traffic. So, after much consultation with the map and with help from a very nice lady Jack saw walking down the sidewalk, we managed to point the car in the right direction and get out of the city without further incident.
The first day, we only made it to a little town called Goulburn, about 200km down the road. We both decided that we were so stressed out and tired from what I term as ‘driving left-handed’ that we stopped early for the night to recuperate from the day’s adventures.
It has been a few weeks since I uploaded a post, but Jack and I have been pretty busy the past few weeks. First, we rented a car in Sydney and drove to Adelaide, over 1920km, which took a week. After a stop-over in Adelaide for a few days of exploration, we took a train trip up the center of Australia to the Outback and Alice Springs, where stayed in a hotel over a tavern for a few days. Next, we flew to Cairns, where we stayed for a week and took some tours of local points of interest and into the rainforest. Our last week in Australia is where we are now, Port Douglas. We took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef where we did some snorkeling and have had some pretty awesome downtime. Of course, we have taken pictures the whole way.
Road Trip – Getting out of Sydney – Picking up the rental car
After three weeks in Sydney, we rented a car to drive to Adelaide. Jack and I both enjoy road trips and felt it would be good for us to be on our schedule for awhile, instead of on the public transportation schedule. So, we picked up the car, said our prayers over the fact that we would be driving on the left-hand side of the road, and started out.
We managed to make our way out of Sydney, after getting lost, of course. Even though we had been all around the city on the buses, when I’m not doing the driving I really don’t pay attention to the route. Also, the buses twist in and out of all the little side streets to make sure everyone gets good service. Traffic in Sydney was fast and the lanes are narrow. And our car was wide, wider even than what we were used to back home. But, I only went the wrong way one time (that day), and fortunately, there was no on-coming traffic. So, after much consultation with the map and with help from a very nice lady Jack saw walking down the sidewalk, we managed to point the car in the right direction and get out of the city without further incident.
The first day, we only made it to a little town called Goulburn, about 200km down the road. We both decided that we were so stressed out and tired from what I term as ‘driving left-handed’ that we stopped early for the night to recuperate from the day’s adventures.
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