Canberra Country
09 March 2024 / Story: Linda Downing, Rose Smith; Photos: Rose Smith
Canberra Country Day 1 Tuesday 20th February Tomerong to Canberra
With the weather forecast for the next few days predicting showers, rain, fog, thunderstorms and temperatures in the high teens to low twenties for Canberra everyone anticipated the worst for this long-planned trip.
Rose, Geoff, Ian, Linda and Bob met at Coffee on the Double at Tomerong. A new venue for us where the café is an old Sydney double decker bus. Here, we were joined by Anne, Graeme and Paul who journeyed with us on the first part of this adventure. After coffee and cakes, we set off naturally tops up keeping a close eye on the weather.
Not long after turning onto Turpentine and Braidwood Roads, the predicted showers set in and the run up to Nerriga saw showers rain and mist intermittently. Onwards across the Shoalhaven River at Oallen to Tarago and Bungendore saw the sun start to break through. After an enjoyable run avoiding the many potholes, we arrived at Bungendore for lunch at the Woodworks café. Here, we were joined by Madhu and Mike from South Coast chapter who had come up from Batemans Bay and Rod Nicholas Canberra chapter convenor. After a nice lunch and a look around the beautiful, not inexpensive, crafted timber items in the gallery, we bid farewell to the day trippers to carry on our adventures in and around Canberra.
As the weather had now improved with sun coming through it was tops down as Rod escorted us into Canberra via a photo stop at the picturesque Googong dam, which is part of Canberra water supply that is situated in NSW. The final run to our accommodation at Tuggeranong was via the outskirts of Queanbeyan and into Canberra’s rush hour traffic. After checking in and a short rest it was off to the Vikings Club for drinks and dinner where we reflected on our first day. We were all looking forward to the next few days of sight-seeing and zooming around the scenic, green countryside roads of the ACT.
Linda Downing
Canberra Country Day 2 Tuesday 21st February
With our morning tea packed and MX5 tops down, the five of us set off for our drive on the windy back roads to the Cotter Dam via Tharwa. The countryside was unusually lush for February so we were all lucky to see the place looking so picturesque. While the boys stood around and chatted, Linda and Rose went for a walk to the dam wall, which was overflowing. We opted not to walk to the top of the wall and took some time to examine a concrete ‘thing’ that was deemed to be an artwork representing flow. We continued our stroll and did a loop around the picnic and playground area. Linda couldn’t resist the swings.
Whilst on our walk, five Canberra members joined us at the dam and most of the group spent some time inspecting a homemade 1930’s purple mobile home. The couple were interested in our cars and a good discussion was had about the cars and their mobile home. As it turned out, Rose knew one of them, so a good catch up was had.
Rod led us from here over some fantastic MX5 roads to Four Winds Winery in Murrumbateman for lunch. Once again, the countryside was beautiful, and the roads are worth a repeat visit. Delicious pizzas were the menu choice for all of us, basically the only menu item, and we all had a great time chatting over lunch outdoors amongst the vines. Non drivers were lucky enough to sample the Tasting Flights and left with a couple of purchases. Interestingly, this was Canberra’s first visit to this winery, and they were all questioning why they hadn’t been there before. We parted ways after lunch and the five of us continued to Old Parliament House where we did a self-guided tour of the building…. and Bob dressed up as Speaker of the House! He made an imposing figure!
On the return journey to our accommodation we battled our way through the peak hour traffic, nothing like Sydney, and after a brief rest shared dinner at The Streets of Asia in Tuggeranong …. another brilliant meal. Until tomorrow…
Rose Smith
Canberra Country Day 3 Tuesday 22nd February
Today was more about sightseeing with a short stretch of country driving in between the sights. After braving peak hour, on our drive into Yarralumla we began an Embassy drive. The group parked behind the British Embassy (Bob was not allowed in) and had a close look at Canada, China & Papua New Guinea…. where Bob did walk through the gates. Linda and Rose were concerned he might have been arrested, but after some persuasion, Bob returned safe and sound. Outside the China Embassy we had a most informative talk with a chatty security guard whose job is just to patrol the Chinese Embassy. He had many fascinating stories. We had to drive past the remainder of the Embassies as parking was limited. Bad luck for Geoff who was determined to call in at the Irish Embassy for a Guinness.
A short detour took us down the Governor Generals Drive which has a gorgeous avenue of trees surrounded by golf course. The it was on to the Arboretum for morning tea and a short tour. The building is architect designed and every piece of the roof is hand cut and no two pieces are the same. The Bonsai House must be seen to be believed. Rose spoke with a volunteer who was keen to pass on the stories behind the acquisitions on and many of the techniques for growing them etc. He even pointed out a recent birds nest that had 3 hatchlings this season. The Arboretum was a highlight for the group.
Out of suburbia and back on some country roads led us to Little Sutton Bakery for lunch. We had to defend our meals from a few very cheeky magpies who were keen to eat off our plates. Pies, sausage rolls, baguettes & cakes were demolished. This is a regular eating spot for the Canberra Chapter.
Last stop was the War Memorial. Although most of this is closed for renovation, our two-hour visit was not long enough. There is so much to see, we didn’t make it to the WWII Gallery. The highlight of this tour was The Last Post Ceremony. We had to vacate the memorial and move to The Pool of Reflection area at 4:00pm and wait 30 mins for the ceremony to begin. It’s a beautiful, peaceful area but unfortunately it was extremely hot….at least we had a spot in the shade. The ceremony we attended spoke about Captain Lincoln Leopold Bedkober and can be viewed at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=IMr6cX2EapE The ceremony starts about 5mins into the video. The five of us were pleased we had the opportunity to attend this ceremony.
The drive back to Tuggeranong was through peak hour traffic, but it flowed well. We shared another good meal and then said our Canberra Country run goodbyes., but not before deciding this would be a location for a repeat run.
Rose Smith
