J+N [and Gang] Down Under X

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: Friday, August 2nd - Still here, on our 2nd day here in Canberra---or, our 1st full day here, if you know what we mean!---and we (and this time, it includes Wyatt, Caitlin, Jen and Jude!) can see just how prestigious a national capital Canberra is, most of the major governmental and national institutions are here.

Canberra is a planned city---almost too planned---and you can tell! Spectacular views of the lake with its installed water fountains (the lake is after all artificial, natch!), views of the city and suburbs from the surrounding hills...

The city of Canberra and its suburbs are part (in fact, the significant urbanized part) of the Australian Capital Territory. This area was selected seven years after Federation, and established eight years after Federation, out of the need for not just a separate capital from Sydney or Melbourne, but also a separate capital territory under the Crown's own jurisdiction.

Once the Territory was firmly federally established on January 1st, 1911 (ten years after Federation), the planning and construction of Canberra followed, and with the Parliament of Australia finally moving there in 1927 (from Melbourne, where it was temporarily since 1901).

The noted American architect and landscape architect Walter Burley Griffin was appointed for his competition-winning design of the city, its lines fluidly like those that had been designed long ago for Washington, D.C.

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Anyway, Nikki and I are gonna take the gang out to visit some notable landmarks and institutions---among them, the Australian National University, the National Museum of Australia, and both Old and New Parliament buildings.

We'll marvel at the wide major thoroughfares around Canberra Central (Capital Hill, City, Acton, etc).

We'll even revisit the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve where, back in 2010, Nikki and I frolicked with a herd of kangaroos and other native animals. Hope they're still there....!

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: Lessee.... we'll likely spend one more day here, and then we'll rise early and head northeastwards....

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Another what-if postcard and journal entry from two 2½th-year university students Jonesy and Nikki, along with the rest of the gang, exploring the Land Down Under.



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