-- From Swan Hill to Goondiwindi

The road tracklog 
From Swan Hill to Canberra
from 2010/08/30 to 2010/09/05 

The first day of this week was a driving day to approach Echuca.

The next morning I briefly visited the port of Echuca by strolling in the old street bordering the port. In the lack of sun and by a temperature of 10°C tourists were scarce.

Entering a wine shop I discovered a Michelin poster of this era, which anachronism with the wooden wheel of a log carriage.

September 01 was a driving day to reach the border between the NSW and the ACT.

Canberra
The Australian Capital Territory

When the six colonies decided to federate in only one State in 1901, it was registered in the constitution to build a capital. Afterwards many political controversies and tergiversations the site was selected in 1908. The American architect Walter Burley Griffin was the winner in 1911 of a international competition for the plan of the city, his design was influenced by the drawing of Versailles with gardens, lakes, terraces and avenues. The majority of monuments are located around the lake Burley.
As of my arrival after the installation of my truck at the Canberra Motor Village I left for exploring the city by bicycle, distances are large and buses not very practical. Weather was unsettled with scattered drops of rain. I began with the Capital National Exhibition reporting, sometimes with humour, the history of the creation of the city.

Passing along the National Library I stopped at the High Court of Australia where I attended a session, in the hall a mural composition by Senbergs presents in a surrealist way the Federal Constitution of the State.

Then about midday I settled at the National Gallery of Australia which exhibits paintings and sculptures coming from all the countries, here as in the capitals of State, French art is well represented. I remained several hours there.

After that I climbed the Capital Hill to visit the Parliament House. The building is monumental but the forecourt is majestic. The interior is more interesting than the functional architecture of the whole.

One on the sides of the triangle of the plan go to the Anzac Parade heading to the Australian War Memorial with in foreground the Old Parliament.

Canberra was the first “artificial” capital which I visited. The first impression at the end of the day was hardly favourable. Buildings are out of concrete without grace and the set misses of cruelly life. Admittedly their interior fitting is more interesting. I returned to the camping harassed in the coldness in the late afternoon.

The following day I returned to the Parliamentary Triangle to continue the exploration of monuments. I stopped lengthily at the National Library of Australia to see the exhibition and the stained glasses. Then passingat the bottom of the National Gallery off Australia I did not resist to enter again to remake a tour of the rooms devoted to French paintings as well as the garden of the sculptures where was gathered some Rodin, Maillol and Bourdelle.

In some blows of pedal on the other side of the Lake Burley I visited the Australian War Memorial built for the memory of died for the country. The building gathers rooms dedicated to the WWI and WWII as well as a hall of the war aviation. The paramount is the central alley with the killed names of the 102600 as well as the tomb of the unknown soldier surmounted by a dome with golden mosaic.

On the Acton peninsula the National Museum of Australia does not have a remarkable architecture, it is resolutely modern. The climax is Circa, which presents an audio-visual in any remarkable point. The remainder is odds and ends of the recent and constitutive history of the Australian nation.

On the way back I stopped at Alliance Française to throw an eye on the weekly press in which I learned the loves of Albert of Monaco.
This second and last day in Canberra did not reconcile me with the city only I perceived again without heart. Admittedly the coldish temperature, 12°C or so at the altitude of 560m, the sky encumbered by black clouds did not support the blooming of townsmen and tourists. But the exhibited collections are worthy of a great capital.

The road tracklog 
From Canberra to Goondiwindi
From 04/09/2010 to 05/09/2010 

On September 04 and 05 I drove to reach Goondiwindi where there was a MAN workshop with perhaps spare parts to have my truck serviced before heading to Brisbane. The way was 950km or so in two days quietly.

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