Ever Went on a Kangaroo Hunt Off-Road in a Tour Bus?

After Kakadu, we spent a few more days in Darwin (see Darwin post) before getting on another 2 planes and heading to Canberra, the Washington DC of Australia. Every time we meet Aussies, they always ask why in the world we are going to Canberra, but I found it pretty interesting! Originally, when we were in the International Business class, we were supposed to leave Darwin on Thursday, but our new History class was scheduled to leave on Wednesday. Sarah and I attempted to change our flight, but it was going to cost us too much. Kate, one of our program supervisors, told us she would be able to get us on the flight with the rest of the group. We arrived at the airport and were told we couldn’t get on the flight because it was full. Kate started to call Jan, the head program lady, when the ticket lady came slowly up to her, whispered in Kate’s ear, and walked off quickly. Kate smiled really big and informed us that Sarah and I were going to make the flight with the rest of the group! When we boarded the flight and saw that our seats were in the unaccompanied minors section, which the group found quite fitting for Sarah and I. After a long flight (3.5 hours… Australia is huge!!), a short layover, and another flight, we arrived in Canberra. We spent the first night at the hostel pub eating pizza (for the first time since we’ve left—Sarah was dying!) and drinking a little bit. We called it an early night and headed back to our rooms. This was BY FAR the nicest hostel we have stayed in.

We woke up early on Thursday and had a busy day. We started off by driving to the highest point just outside of Canberra to learn about the layout of the town, which is a planned city. We drove back down the “mountain” and headed to the Australian War Memorial. I’ve been to Washington DC a few times, but this War Memorial blew me away. We were able to spend a few hours walking around learning about the wars that Aussies had participated in. One exhibit they had was over different airplanes the Australian Air Force has flown and I took numerous photos for my dad. We left the Memorial and headed down Anzac Parade to the New Parliament House. Canberra is set up in a really cool way. Parliament is on a slight hill and you are able to look straight down a long street (which is lines with more War Memorials and Statues) into the Australian War Memorial’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Our guide at Parliament told us this was designed so that every member of Congress could always look out their office window and remember what war does to Australia and its citizens. Both the Senate (Upper House) and House of Representatives (Lower House) were still in session and we were able to sit in and listen to both houses. Australian politics is really interesting in that they have a “question” session where any Member of Parliament can ask any other member any question they want. There is quite a scandal going on in Australian Politics involving a possible bribe and some false emails. We were able to sit in on question time during this point and it got REALLY interesting. There was a lot of commotion at several points in the House of Representatives!!

After leaving Parliament, we decided to do some shopping at the Target we spied earlier that morning. Someone in our group had the idea to cook dinner at the hostel to save some money. We made a group trip to the market to pick out our dinner, which ended up being a salad, potatoes, and chicken. Everyone pitched in on dinner outside on the balcony. Have I mentioned how COLD Canberra is?! We traded bikinis and tank tops for WINTER COATS!!! After dinner, we decided to take a dip in the pool/hot tub (which was actually hot this time… have I told the story about the “hot” tub trip in Darwin?!) before watching Role Models on my laptop in the common area. It was probably pretty cute to see six of us curled up on a couch watching a movie on my laptop!

Friday topped off our trip in Canberra. We started by taking a trip to the National Museum of Australia. It was neat to explore the museum, learning about Australian history and culture. Naturally, Sarah and I eventually “stumbled” onto the Children’s Section (oh we found it at the War Memorial too…..) and the Museum Store. While in the museum, we saw the bus driver hanging out. Sarah and I talked to him for a bit and informed him that we had yet to see live wild Kangaroos yet. He promised us that he would make sure we would see some before we left for Sydney. At first I thought he was pulling our leg (kind of like when he told us he worked at NASA and just drove tour buses on his days off..?), but we will get back to that thought later! We left the museum, grabbed lunched from a market, and headed to the waterfront to have a picnic. Then came my favorite part of the day: The Australian National Zoo!! We all thought we were just walking around the zoo until we were handed release forms to fill out. Turns out, we had a backstage guided tour to get up close and personal with the animals. The first thing we did was feed a 15 year old tiger raw meat!!! Next, we fed apples to an Eland (google it, I didn’t know what it was either). Ben’s day was made because the Elands lived in the same pen as the Zebras! Next, we met a giraffe and fed her some carrots. Talk about a long slimy tongue!! Next, we walked into this gate and discovered…… drum roll… KANGAROOS!!! If you walked very slowly, they would allow you to approach them and pet them. My day was made!! In this pen, we were also able to fed Emus. Talk about a creepy bird! They walk funny, stare you in the eye, and pluck the food out of your hand!! The Emu was the only animal I was uncomfortable able feeding!

When we left the zoo, the bus driver informed us we were going on a mission to find kangaroos. We stared by driving to the Royal Canberra Golf Course (a members only golf course).. in a giant tour bus. We left the main clubhouse and started down this road. All of a sudden, we took the bus OFF THE ROAD and through the grass looking for Roos. The tour guide didn’t disappoint. At the back of the golf course, just passed a fence, there was a “herd” of kangaroos eating. We got off the bus and crept up on them. They didn’t get us get too close, but we saw wild kangaroos!! We got back to the hostel, did a little more shopping (I wanted Uggs!), and headed to dinner. A few of us made the bad decision to go out Friday night, which I regretted the next morning!!! We left the hostel early (I intelligently didn’t pack the night before either) and headed towards Sydney, which was only a 4 hour (although very painful...)bus ride.