[Sydney Trip] Day 9: Canberra

Our accommodation at Albury was Siesta Resort. We stayed in unit #306, the biggest one in the complex. It’s a two storey unit – the first floor had living room, dining room, kitchen, washing area and common bathroom; while the second floor housed a master bedroom with attached bathroom and 2 other bedrooms with a connecting bathroom. Dining, cooking and washing utilities were provided in the unit, except for detergent which had to be purchased from the reception. The washing area was equipped with washing machine, dryer, iron and ironing board. The kitchen had fridge, oven and microwave. It even had this semi circle-shaped hole allowing the cook to pass some dishes out to the living room. The dining table was a long one with 8 white chairs. The living room had 3 comfortable sofas and a tv. The whole floor was covered in carpet.

Our unit at Siesta Resort Albury

In the master bedroom where I slept in, the attached bathroom was hidden behind a door that looked like a closet. It had an vintage-looking bathtub, a shower cubicle and two sinks. Wow! The whole place felt like a charming refurbished old house.

In the morning we took some time to explore the resort area and we found a huge chess board, mini golf area, playground and swimming pool.

At Siesta Resort Albury

We started our second leg of the Melbourne-Sydney trip at around 10am to reach Canberra for lunch. We had fried kway teow, fried rice, stir fried vegetables with tofu and laksa with char siew to share at Asian Noodle House, Dickson area.

Asian food for lunch

Then it's time for a brief Canberra city tour. Unlike Melbourne and Sydney, interesting places in Canberra were scattered all over the city. I suppose it's because the whole city was entirely planned for. At least there's no starting point which we could start at to explore the city on foot. At a glance, it looked soulless, a stark contrast when compared with Melbourne and Sydney.

My sister said that the main attraction in Canberra was its parliament buildings, governmental buildings and the various embassies, which I wasn't interested in visiting.So we drove by the grand Parliament House and then decided on whim to go to Telstra Tower (Black Mountain Tower), the most interesting place we could find in wikipedia on Canberra :p

Canberra city tour

The tower, 195m high, was located at the top of Black Mountain. We took some time to go up to its indoor observation deck and the two outdoor viewing platforms. We were awed by the panoramic city view and its surrounding countryside.

Panoramic view from the top of Telstra Tower

Another stop was made at Goulburn which was famous with its Big Merino, the world’s largest concrete sheep. Next to the statue there’re a petrol station, a Merino museum and a Merino cafe.

It was grilled chicken for dinner at Oporto, before we reached Sydney at 10.30pm.

Big Merino in Goulburn