artistic bedroom furniture ironing stuff

I can’t wait to get all the paperwork and moving out of the way. I still have several things to do before I can feel more settled and spend my weekends doing exciting things and seeing some more of Australia. Today I made more progress, obtaining a Medicare card and ordering a bed (Go Harvey Norman, GO!!!). Next weekend will be moving in and then the weekend after will be, hooray, a trip to Melbourne.

I spent nearly $800 today, mostly on the bed but also a few knick-knacks and clothes. I bought the bed in Fyshwick, which is purely a suburb of Canberra devoted to warehouses and superstores. Virtually every ad on Aussie TV is for some “SO CRAZY WE’RE INSANE” sale for a store in Fishy. It’s not the most beautiful of places in Canberra but I guess everything clumped together in one place preserves the rest of the city. It’s a bit tricky to tour Fyshwick without a car, but I made do with the hourly bus and my feet. Whilst waiting for the bus back (without a bed I hasten to add…it’s being delivered) I killed some time in the servo (service station) and bought a map of New South Wales, which is inspiring me to plan some trips. I am really craving getting out into the bush, I can picture it now, me standing on a plateau overlooking millions of gum trees and creeks cutting their way through the forest. Thankfully the bush is never that far away from anywhere in Canberra…in fact there are snippets of it scattered all over the city.

After a combination of ironing and re-sorting all my belongings ready for moving wasted all of the morning, Sunday afternoon I walked along the lake to the Australian National Gallery. It was kind of what I expected really…a mixture of artwork by Australians and some foreign pieces. Probably my favourites were the bush landscapes and the old photos and pictures of Sydney. Of course, there was more abstract work but a couple of splodges of paint randomly thrown onto a canvas doesn’t really do it for me.

The sculpture garden outside was very soothing, set amongst gardens beside the lake. This is me as a work of art! (reflected in some shiny cones so the it is a bit distorted!).


There is a real burst of colour at the moment, with a bit of an England/Aussie spring combo. Like home there is pink and white blossom, and buds sprouting forth on deciduous trees. Then we have the more traditional aussie scene of eucalypt and wattle, which is the most vibrant yellow. The smells are pleasing too, fresh and minty with a tinge of honey!