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As many of you know, my partner and I work as house sitters in Sydney, Australia, and of course, our orders don't always match up perfectly. We have a two-day break between orders next week, and I want to go somewhere I've never been, so this is a great opportunity to visit the capital of Australia-Canberra. When I asked for recommendations for Canberra on Instagram, I got a few suggestions, but most of the messages were like: wondering why we should go there, and, frankly, little hope that it would be a successful trip. But I am a big optimist. I like to draw my own conclusions, and I also take it as a challenge
. Is it possible to have a good time in Canberra at all? Is this a good place for a short vacation? Will it be even a little interesting? We have a car, so we could technically go there. However, our car is completely filled with all our belongings. So it's completely impractical right now and I want to find other ways to get there. So I'm using Omio, the kind sponsors of today's video , to compare travel options from Sydney to Canberra and back. I would really like to take the train because I love trains, but there is only one evening train that day, and it would be great to arrive in Canberra before sunset. Look, you can even
fly to Canberra by plane. This is probably a short flight. But that's beyond my budget for this two-day trip. So, it seems that the best option is the bus. We're vacating the house on Monday at 10:00, so I'm thinking of booking a ticket for 12:30, that should be enough time to buy a snack and get to Grand Central Station. You can book tickets right in the app, it's just great. I'll also book my return tickets right away because I'd still like to take the train, and there are a few options on Wednesday, and I think the 7:00 AM flight would be perfect. So, everything is sorted out. I have a ticket. I really like that I was able to compare bus, train, and plane options in one app. This is a real breakthrough when it comes to planning my future travels. So, if you're
planning a trip, be sure to download the Omio app to conveniently plan all your transportation options. And if you use my code Christian12, you'll get a 12% discount on your first booking. So be sure to write it down. Now let's go see what Canberra is. When I was preparing for a trip to Canberra, I saw that you could rent electric bikes through the Share Bikes system. They have several stations in the city, but only one or two have electric bikes. The rest are just regular bicycles. And Ben and I love electric bikes. So we arrived at a very fancy hotel where we don't stay to rent our bikes. It was really easy. It's not
cheap, but it costs $54 for 24 hours. We picked them up the evening we arrived, and they will be with us all day tomorrow. We'll bring them back tomorrow night. Good morning. Okay, it shouldn't rain today, but it seems like it did last night. So I just wipe the bikes dry. I have a rough plan for today. I don't know if this is the ideal plan. This is my first time here. So, the first thing is, of course, coffee, because it's about 7:15 in the morning. Honestly, I have high hopes because the baristas look like they're straight out of Melbourne. I'm just trying to appreciate her. The taste is familiar. I know what it is. This is a special type of sugar that some very fancy coffee shops use. I think it's demerara sugar, it's not my favorite, but I'm not old enough to
drink coffee without sugar yet. Sorry. But the coffee itself tastes really great. It was a $7 cup of coffee. It was very tasty, but we usually pay around $6 for a strong flat white in Sydney. So, for now, it's a little more expensive than usual. We were n't originally going to do it first, because apparently hiking Mount Ainslie is a great idea at sunset. However, I think we have an even better idea for the evening sunset. So we changed our plans and climbed to the top of Mount Ainslie first thing in the morning. They say that the top offers one of the best views of the entire city. The mountain rises 842 meters above sea level. Although you only climb about meters during the hike. As far as I know, you can drive here, but we decided: "No, let's do some
exercise today and walk down." This place is called the Kokoda Track, named in memory of the Australian soldiers who fought in Papua New Guinea during World War II. Oh my God. How many is forty here? They are very noisy. Please don't poop on me . We reached the peaks. Almost exactly 2 km, and it took us 33 minutes to reach the top. Now that we're at the top, it's clear how carefully Canberra was designed. Unlike other cities that were built gradually, Canberra was specifically built as the capital of Australia. You can clearly see how the War Memorial, the old Parliament House, and the new Parliament House of Australia are aligned. Ben just told me that they
did this so that politicians would always see the memorial and remember the sacrifices made before they made any decisions. It worked out very well because we got down the hill at 10:05, and the Australian War Memorial opens at 10:00. This is one of It was officially opened in 1941 during World War II and is dedicated to the memory of Australians who died or served in wars and military operations interesting is that it's not just a memorial, but also a museum; There is no need to book tickets, and admission is free for both local and foreign visitors. So now we're just going to go inside and take a look.
Well, I didn't know what to expect, but it was fantastic. Inside, it was simply huge. There is so much here. There.is that a huge helicopter? And a submarine, and a rocket, and a plane.a very cool plane. And for someone like me, with the attention span of a child, the museum had a lot of interactive elements, which I really appreciated, because you can really get involved. But what struck me most was the "Roll of Honour", which commemorates over 100,000 names of Australians who died in service. And the bronze wall is dotted with thousands of beautiful poppies. This is really very beautiful. I just realized: since we changed our plan this morning, we hiked and visited the war memorial in the morning. This means we will miss the Last Post ceremony, but
they hold it every day at 4:30 PM. It would have been nice to get there, but with today's schedule, it wasn't possible. So, now we have an early lunch. I ordered fish and chips. We are at The Pedaler, it's next door, down Anzac Parade, a very popular pub. The fish and chips were only $20 a share. And I also had a glass of Riesling, a local Canberra Riesling. To your health. Here we are. We're going to this coffee shop, Marko Espresso Bar. How nice is it here, right? Perfectly. Not the best coffee. But it's cheaper. It cost $5.80 for my strong coffee, or $5 for a regular small. We reached Old Parliament House, which was home to the Australian federal parliament for over 60 years, from 1927 to 1988. Before Canberra became the seat of government, the
Australian Parliament sat in Melbourne. So this was the first purpose- built parliament building in the capital. Here's an interesting fact about this prime minister that Ben just told me, although it's not written here: this prime minister, Bob Hawke, holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest person to drink a yard of beer. This is about one and a half liters. It seems he went to cricket matches, the fans would give him beer, and he would drink it in one go. That's what he was known for. They didn't write about it here, but it's pretty funny. Very Australian. As I said, I love interactive museums. This is really cool. Here you can find out if you were able to vote depending on the year and certain circumstances. So, are you a man? No. Are you a white
British subject? Yes. Are you 21 years old or older? Yes. You can't vote anyway. Who can vote? Obviously. I didn't expect to be dressing like Beyoncé at the Old Parliament House, but here we are. Frida Kahlo. I think Malala's outfit will be too small for me. For context: this is a costume exhibition at the Old Parliament House dedicated to women who changed the world, which is pretty cool. You can try on their images. I wonder if Beyoncé knows that you can be transformed into her in Canberra? So, we conclude our tour of the Old Parliament House.
Now we are heading to the current parliament building. It's not always easy to find a place to park these bikes. We didn't see any bike racks there, so we hope it's fine. The top looks like a spaceship. I'm not really interested in politics or history, but it's a very beautiful building. So, we arrived a little early for the tour. She said it was at 3:30, and we don't want to wait that long because it's a whole hour. But she said there is a House or Senate session going on right now that the public can see. So we'll go see if we can get there. I'm not sure I can pull this off. I'll tell you frankly, for someone who never watches this on TV, it was really exciting.
First we entered the Senate chamber, and it was like walking into a room full of kids with a teacher. They were all just yelling at each other, picking on each other, and calling each other names. She just said, " Okay!" And one of them just ignored her, kept getting up, and she said, "You're disrespecting me!" I didn't know what to expect, but definitely not this. And then we went to the House of Representatives. We had to stand in line, but only for five minutes. Anthony Albanese was there, the Prime Minister was there. This was called " questions without warning." People bombarded the government with questions on any topic, which they had to answer without any preparation. And again there were many shouts of "order",
people laughing at each other. One man was kicked out of the hall for being disrespectful, his insults crossed the line, and he was put on trial. Listen, a member of parliament was involved in racketeering. It was.okay, I did n't expect this when I went to Canberra. And now we have climbed onto the roof. Look at this. The view we saw this morning was from the top of that hill, and we were slowly moving here: from the Australian War Memorial to Old Parliament House, and now to Parliament House-all in one line. It's really nice to see all these landmarks
so clearly. That's the whole point of Canberra, is n't it? This is the Canberra Triangle. That's exactly what it was designed for. To your health! Deliciously. Strongbow. I'm having a great day. And you know what would make it even better? What? Sauna. What floats on the lake. The bike ride was quite cold, so it's just great. In fact, someone on Instagram recommended this floating sauna on Lake Burley Griffin, and as soon as I saw the tip, I said, " Yeah, we have to do that." And that's why we had to change
our schedule for the day and start with a hike and end with this, because the original plan was that I wanted to start the day with this and end the hike at sunset, but you know what? This is perfect. We have a slot for 17:00. The slot lasts an hour. We actually booked a shared sauna, which costs $55 per person, but he said there were only two groups of two and two saunas, which meant Ben and I got the entire sauna to ourselves. So, we actually have a private sauna session for an hour , which is very nice. So beautiful. It was wonderful, it gave me strength. Glad we did it. Always useful. Sauna session. And now back to the bikes, and we're going to return them, because it's about 6:10 PM. Although, to be honest, we
still have them for another hour and a quarter. I think it will take us about 25-30 minutes to get them back to the Ovolo Nishi Hotel. We'll drop off the bikes and then probably stay in town for dinner and something sweet. Oh my god, look at this. As in Australian. We have n't seen a kangaroo in ages. We are still in Australia. No. Perfectly. This is a truly luxurious hotel and they have free sweets It seems like the food scene here in Canberra is really good. We went to a place called Ramen O, which I had just been recommended today, and I thought the ramen was a fantastic dinner. Absolutely beautiful sunset. We thought about going for a drink, but didn't think long before deciding, "No, it 's been a busy day, time to go home."
Surprisingly, the train ride back was a bit longer than the bus ride. But I liked it more. It was so picturesque. I saw kangaroos, deer, rabbits against the backdrop of hills. It was a very old train, but there was a snack bar. And I like that you have a designated seat and can walk around the carriage. It's a really enjoyable way to travel. But anyway, I'm back in Sydney. So, let's talk about Canberra. Listen, I had a great day. I expected the floating sauna to be the highlight, because that's totally my style. But what really impressed me the most was seeing Anthony Albanese live in Parliament, it was so unexpected. I honestly thought that the visit to Parliament would be the
most boring part of the day. I had no idea we would be able to get to a live debate, and to be honest, it was really interesting. I don't know if this will bother anyone, but for me Canberra was a bit like Perth, only without the beaches. It was great to ride bikes because it was spacious and quiet. It was a bit like The Sims. I don't plan on going back there anytime soon I think the two nights and one full day we spent there was the perfect amount of time. I don't feel like moving there or going back again right away. However, I definitely wouldn't be upset if I had to go again. Because, in my opinion, Canberra has a great selection of food and restaurants. Everywhere we ate was delicious, and my only regret is that we didn't visit more
establishments. But I wouldn't say Canberra is boring, at least not for one day. If you want to repeat our trip, I will display route and the cost of everything. The total cost was a little over $400 per person. Transport from Sydney and back, our accommodation. We stayed in an inexpensive Airbnb a 10- minute walk from the city center. Most of the attractions and museums were free, so we only spent money on electric bikes, the sauna, food, and drinks. I hope you enjoyed this video. I would like to know where you think we should go during our next home maintenance? I can say that it will be 4 days in November, and I want to go somewhere interesting. Thanks for watching, see you in the next video.
See you later.
