The day started out the night before. The news had Canberra described as in “lock down” with the impending arrival of the Obama circus.
A quick view of the Australian Parliament web site said that Parliament House was closed to the public from 12 midday … so that implied business as usual from the advertised opening time of 9am. That was good news for Ross at least, because the War Memorial opened at 10am.
The morning was planned with more precision that the arrival of Obama. Get to Parliament House by 9am (some how dodging the security and kaos) find the impossible car park, get out by 11am and head to the War Memorial. All too easy on paper.
The plan worked like a well oil machine, and we even have time for a quick chat to the Marijuana protestors on the lawn in front of Parliament House. The roads were all barricaded off and parking at Parliament House closed. The hidden advantage of having no real idea of where your going provided unplanned benefits … like a carpark about 200 metres from Parliament House; and free to boot.
Humourously, the front of Parliament House was blocked off, roads diverted and police everywhere. Around the back was a different story. A tactic obviously never previously used by bad guys is to simply head around the back where there were no road blocks and no police. Whoops … better keep that to ourselves. This unfortunately cemented Ross’s belief that Australias security is all about the “show” and not the “go”. So long as it looks like we have it covered, fingers cross, it will all work out in the end.
We joined in with a guided tour and the only part of Parliament House that was closed off was the Great Hall in the centre of the building as it was being set up of the state dinner and reception. Before the tour we even managed to sneak up onto the roof, past the rope barrier. (as attractive as it was, you need more than rope to keep Ross’s enthusiasm in check)
The guide pointed out the dark stone stone floor sections in the foyer which contained fossils, including a prawn at the base of one of the marble stair cases. On the way out we headed to the prawn spot and found the little bugger pressed into the floor. When watching the press conference latter in the evening on TV, we couldnt believe it when it was held on top of the prawn. Prawns on prawns. Ha
Daniel was the perfect example of a well behaved child and we didnt even threaten of bribe him.
In the lift on enroute to the roof, we discovered there is a floor in Parliament House called “RF” … the significance was not lost on Ross Fraser and he banged on about it for hours.
Ross took a picture of Uncle Malcolm, and with Johnny Howard (the greatest nerd to ever lead the country)
After a successful adventure around Parliament House, we headed down to the old Parliament House which is now the Australian Democracy Museum. Ross says you cant have too many Pariament Houses in one day … Barb and Daniel are not so sure that the first Parliament House wasnt one to many.
We even managed to get a candid picture of the Right Honorable Minister for War and the Right Honorable Minister for Recreation … you can guess which is which.
The building is jam packed with the sort of stuff Ross loves. He would have like a few days to explore this building. There are areas left as they were when vacated to the new building, including PM Bob Hawkes office in the Prime Ministers Suite just as he left it.
After a political over dose for Barb, we headed to the Australian War Memorial. The place is a credit to those that created it. It is nothing like Ross remembers it and is trully a quality dedication to our military history and something our fighting men and woman should feel proud of. The Tobruk exhibition was interesting, but wasnt as comprehensive as Ross or Barb expected. It was relatively small when considering it was advertised and described as “an exhibition”. That aside, Ross could have spent many days wandering around. The 4 or 5 hours hours didnt even put a dent in it for him.
For Ross, today was like a kid going from Luna Park to the Melbourne Show and then to the Cadbury factory.
The War Memorial has a kids/family discovery section. Where we found a few of the fine men of our front line troops. Some new thinking has provided serious budget savings in the army and navy.
They used the little guys in the trenches so they didnt have to dig so deep, brilliant !!!
Also the little guys can get into smaller subs, so there for less steel, brilliant !!! They also eat less, but the tend to complain a little more
Much to everones surprise, Daniel loved it and was visibly upset when the curators told us it was “closing time … so get out”
In the air war section there were three seperate light and sound shows using the full size fighters, bombers and historical aircraft hanging from the roof, along with movie features to combine into a very effective display.
The midget submarine that attacked Sydney Harbour in WWII and used to be displayed outside had been completely rejuvenated and was an exhibit of its own inside one of the great hall. The submarine has been in Australian hands since the war, and displayed outside the War Memorial for many years. During the relatively recent restoration process previously unknown items were recovered from inside the sub belonging to the Japanese crew. Just goes to show how serious the first round of restorers took to there task.
Ross would come back to Canberra in a heart beat just to return to The War Memorial. Canberra and Adelaide have always be the two places much maligned. Ross has been to Adelaide for work a few times and can confirm that one, but on our brief whirl wind tour of Canberra, maybe Canberra has shaken of the mantle …. sorry Adelaide.
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