AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY - 4 TO 8 MARCH 2021

 CANBERRA

4 March

We spent the morning packing for the south trip. After stopping for petrol and food we finally hit the road at noon. A bit of a late start.

The drive down was relatively pain free and we arrived at Cotter Campground in the ACT at about 5 pm.

We sat down by the edge of the Cotter River and chatted with a few drinks.

A long day travelling! After dinner, I crashed! Haha.

5 March

I had an early kayak on the Cotter River which was short due to shallow water one way and a weir in the other direction. Still, it was very pretty.

We had breakfast then went on a hike to Cotter Caves. The scenery along the way was very pretty – a track with varying vegetation and a shallow clear river to our left. At Cotters bend we crossed the river and followed the track and trail to Cotters Cave. The caves were closed but the viewing platform above it was open. Nice panorama! There was another track leading back to the camp but it was very overgrown so we decided to backtrack instead.

Back at camp I had a swim - it was very cold – and a short snooze.

We drove to the Australian Arboretum where we met up with long time friend Mark and had coffee. Great view!

We drove back to camp, where I had another river swim and dinner.

An excellent day!

6 March

We had breakfast and drove to the Arboretum for a bike ride. The tracks were flowy in sections with some great views. Mark had met up with us part of the way.

We had lunch in a pretty garden café with heaps of birds flittering about.

Back at camp, I had a swim and later in the evening we lit a fire. It was nice watching the flames flicker while we drank some wine under a starry, starry night.

On going to bed Jacinta noticed that the fridge wasn’t working. A job for the morning.

7 March

Last night the refrigerator wasn’t working. Well, it didn’t turn out too bad.

We packed and left Cotter Campground. We drove till we found a quiet spot with reception and rang the NRMA. After an hour, the mechanic arrived. It turned out that the problem was the battery. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a deep cycle battery but he recommended Battery World to get one. We rang and they were open and they had the battery we wanted and could install it. Lee the battery world attendant was great and in about an hour we were off. We all electrically good again! An amazing experience and luck was with us as it was a long weekend in Canberra and most places were closed.

Next stop was food, followed by a camping area. We stayed at EPIC in Canberra _ $35 pn for a powered site.

8 March

A good sleep and we awoke to rain. It only lasted a short while.

Off on the road again to Jindabyne.

AUSTRALIA - CANBERRA - THE JOURNEY AND THE A.C.T. - 27 to 28 december 2013

27^th December 2014 Friday

 We loaded the campervan, filled with petrol, picked up a coffee and we were on our way on our ‘South Trip’.

We arrived at Canberra and camped at Cotters Camping - $12 per night.

In the afternoon, we drove to Tidbinbilla – entry fee. It is a great place for walks. We drove to the refuge section of the park and walked around the wetland areas. There were a number of different types of b birds. The brolgas were the highlight.

Distance 2.71 km

The sunset on the way back was awesome across the kangaroo dotted grasslands with mountain backdrop.

28^th December 2014 Saturday

The first stop was Stromlo Mountain Bike Park. I started the ride at the top and Jacinta picked me up at the bottom. It was a fast and fun ride from beginning to end. One stack at the beginning with a slight chunk of flesh missing.

Distance - 2.62
Time - 14 minutes
Av speed – 17.2 km/h
Max speed - 24.8 km/h
Elevation range – 146 m

After the ride, we drove back to the top for the café and the great views towards the west.

AUSTRALIA - CANBERRA - 2/3 February 2013

The girls and I drove to Canberra to view drawing portraits.

It was pouring rain most of the way down but cleared from Goulburn onwards. Along the way, we watched a group of parachutists glide over the highway.

We visited the portrait gallery but there wasn't any drawing drawing potraits. Still, it was interesting.

Next., we walked across the road to the National Gallery and viewed the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition. That was very good and the girls found what they wee looking for.



We drove to the Cotter campground and set up for the night. Mark G. dropped by and we made arrangements to cycle the next day.

It was very cold that night despite being in the middle of summer.


Mark called around early and off we went to Stromlo. We went better than last time. Personally, I managed to get to the top much easier than last time. The ride down was insane!






11km
36 mins
18.24 km/h av speed
31 km/h max speed

We went back to the camp area, packed up and after a stop at the Stromlo Cafe we drove home.