Australia: Day 10, Canberra and Aussie War Heroes

Like the past couple of days, we had rain in the early morning, which woke me up.  Thankfully, it wasn’t too early, and just before our alarm went off at 8:30 am.  Because it was Boxing Day, and Sunnyside Caravan Park was expecting to fill up later that day, we needed to move on and make our way out of the park.

Once breakfast was had, showers taken, we said good-bye to Ron and Sunnyside and departed on our longest drive of the trip, 428km, which was going to take us a little over 5 hours.  We also called our moms to wish them a Merry Christmas.

Since we weren’t able to find a place to sleep along the coast, we opted to take the road to Canberra, to see the Australian Capital Territory.  It was a boring drive, in which Josh and I alternated taking turns driving every hour.  The country roads just weren’t very exciting to drive along, though they were pretty!

We stopped in Cooma to fuel up, but didn’t stop to eat, though we were getting a little hungry.  We decided to hold out until we hit Canberra to grill our steaks and finish off what was in our fridge (this may or may not have included ice cream, Tim Tams, biscuits, etc.).

Thankfully the radio was able to pick up stations the whole way, otherwise we might have had a very boring drive.

We saw lots of open spaces on our drive!

We eventually made it to Canberra, and Josh was driving.  I wanted to go see the Australian War Memorial* before we went to the motor village, which involved a last minute course change and stressing out over finding a parking spot.  Josh’s hungry monster was present, so he did not go into the memorial with me.  I guess we were doing pretty good not to bicker up until day 10, having been together 24-7, but it definitely happened on this day. 🙂

Walking into the Memorial, you see a beautiful courtyard and reflection pool in front of you.  It’s a quiet and somber place, and with the weather as dreary as it was, it seemed fitting for the visit.

The commemorative courtyard

The Australia War Memorial was created to commemorate those Australians that had given their life in war.  The Roll of Honour lists, in bronze panels, the names of Australia’s heroes.

The Roll of Honour

Poppies are placed by visitors next to names of loved ones.

Close-up of the poppies

The memorial was beautiful, and since I was just walking around myself I didn’t spend the time to check out the museum like I would have liked.  I took pictures and then made my way back to the van to find Josh napping.

As we pulled up to the Canberra Motor Village it started to rain. Again. We checked in, got our Amenities key, and found our way to our powered parking spot.  We might have been in the parking spot for 5 minutes before it started pouring down rain!  Being forced to stay inside gave us some time to sort through our laundry, which is good since we needed to wash things before we got to Sydney.

Once the rain died down, I went to the front desk and got coins for the washers and dryers, plus washing powder, which cost $9 for all three!  While I was taking care of the clothes, Josh got the grill ready for us to grill steaks.  As I walked up, I noticed a few kangaroos hopping along on the outside of the village’s fence.  It was pretty cool to see them outside of a zoo or conservation-like setting!

After dinner we finished taking care of the laundry, cleaned out the van, and relaxed for the night.  We’d be leaving for Sydney in the morning!

* The Australian War Memorial is open every day, with the exception of Christmas Day, from 10am – 5pm.  Admission to the Memorial is free, so if you’re ever in Canberra, you should check it out!

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