travel plans derail – new adventures happen
Having passed through Old Parliament House briefly years before, this time I wanted to have a good look.
It’s a lovely building, I think, anyway. There’s a warmth and comfort about it, not something you’d expect considering what it was used for, politics not being particularly warm and comforting. It served as the home of the Australian Parliament from 1927 till 1988.
While waiting for The Cartier Exhibition to open, I wandered along Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin in the sunshine.
Last week, I took the 7-8 hour drive up to Canberra for the Cartier Exhibition at the National Gallery.
Louis-Francois Cartier founded the firm in 1847. It was taken over by his son, Alfred in 1874, who was later joined by his three sons, Louis, Pierre and Jacques. By the early 1900s, they had branches in Paris, London and New York, and the House of Cartier became the world’s most prestigious designer of jewellery, luxury accessories and timepieces.
Just a short walk up from my hotel in Canterbury was the Westgate, the largest surviving medieval gate in England and the city’s only surviving gateway since 1830, as well as historically being the entry point for all visitors coming from London.
A flourishing Roman town once stood beneath the streets of modern Canterbury. The town became covered because people used to build on the rubble of previous houses, shops and cellars, and on the rubbish dumped in yards and gardens, raising the level of the modern town.
I dragged myself away from Chichester and caught the train to Canterbury. At least, I caught the train to London and then back to Canterbury. Why I thought trains would be waiting to take me exactly where I wanted to go, I have no idea, but I did. Never mind, I saw some lovely scenery on the way.
Not having had time to go anywhere to write about in the last few weeks, I’m returning to my trip to England in September 2016, where I had arrived in Chichester and spent the first morning walking the city walls and beautiful Priory Park. To read that post, click here.
Anyone who’s not interested in cathedrals should click off now as I’m besotted with them and am likely to become a bit boring.
Continuing my exploration of Victoria’s Gippsland, I decided to check out the historic gold-mining town of Walhalla.
After my exploration of the villages along the South Gippsland coast, I stayed at Yarram, a short distance north of Port Albert. It’s a spotless town, with the wide streets that Australian country towns have, and all amenities needed to make it, I would think, a very comfortable spot.
After a very busy Christmas, I took a couple of days break in South Gippsland. Even though I grew up in West Gippsland and have lived in Victoria all my life, I’ve never really explored south-east of Western Port Bay before.
