How wonderful it is to be back “on the road” even though we are still here just north of Canberra! It does make one wonder how we will cope with a sedentary retirement when the time eventually comes, however we shall not worry about that now.
I woke
early to the premature song of the magpies, premature because the songsters
were soon shut up by their feathered cousins telling them it was still too
early. A family of Eastern Grey kangaroos grazed peacefully out from our
kitchen window until a throng of twelve year old boys were let loose from their
cabins. Even the galahs who had roosted over night in the gum at the edge of
our site and left their calling cards all over the landcruiser, made a hasty
retreat.
After a
prompt breakfast, we found ourselves in the thick of Canberra traffic and were
glad we had set off so very early. Normally we don’t leave camp until after
nine, in an attempt to miss the commuting workers and students. This morning we
arrived at the Belgian Embassy with oodles of time up our sleeve, met with the
ambassador, a jolly sort in more ways than one, and signed the papers required
for our grandchildren to be registered as Europeans. This will hopefully give
them an edge in life; a legacy from their deceased grandfather.
By 10.30
am we were parked close to the parliament and soon checking out the sitting
schedule for the Senate. Unfortunately the Representatives are not sitting this
week and so the Senate would have to suffice. Bookings for Question Time were
not necessary; there is not as much interest in the senator’s version of the
daily circus.
From
this grand structure on the hill, we walked down past the Old Parliament and on
down to the Portrait Gallery with the main intention of catching the exhibition
“First Ladies: Significant Australian
Women”. This excellent collection of twenty six portraits celebrates the
diversity of the depth and achievements of Australian women over the past 100
years. All but Julia Gillard, the current prime minister and Gail Kelly, the
CEO of Westpac Bank, are Australian born. These two were born in Wales and
South Africa respectively.
It is
appropriate here to mention that Canberra is celebrating one hundred years of
its existence as Canberra, the
county’s capital, this year and there are a myriad of exhibitions and events on
this year to celebrate that fact. No doubt we will happen upon some more of
these during the next couple of days.
After
enjoying this special portrait exhibition, we wandered through a few of the
other galleries and were delighted to find yet another jewel; a portrait of
Queen Elizabeth II celebrating her diamond jubilee The portrait by Australian
born artist, Ralph Heimans, has her standing in Westminster Abbey, the scene of
her coronation, still robed and crowned, thick and matronly with maturity,
revealing the fatigue and burden of her position and the passing of the years.
It is a wonderful work and the light upon the scene in the otherwise dreary cathedral
is quite beautiful.
After
lunch we walked back up to the parliament and joined a tour. We did one of
these tours when we were here about ten months ago and enjoyed it immensely.
There is only so much info one can retain at a time so we were keen to do it
all again and of course, a different guide offers a different perspective to
the experience. The tour wound up outside the Senate chamber just in time for
us to check in our bags and umbrellas and seat ourselves before the bun fight
began. It was a full house of politicians and every bit as wild and demented as Question
Time in the House of Representatives. Actually we were quite appalled at how
little control the President had over the house. It was as bad as any bad film
you have seen of an ineffective teacher controlling a wayward class of ten year olds. We were quite
delighted to find how many politicians we could identify, although it was
disappointing to find they were as naughty or out of control as the worst. Alas
standards always seem to fall to the lowest common denominator.
After an
hour’s entertaining, all but about four senators and the President remained in
the chamber beside the few spectators two journalists and a couple of
busloads of children in the galleries. We stayed to hear three of the senators,
women, screech across the house at one another before electing to come home to
the preferable screech of the cockatoos here at the camping ground.
I was
pleased to catch up with Olly and our Belgian grandsons on Skype tonight; alas
the little one’s had to be satisfied with us telling them about our visiting
roos; there were none to show them out the windows tonight. The school boys
were screaming around like a swarm of bees and no other wildlife in sight.
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