Canberra over and out.....

We had a great deal of discussion as to where to go on our last day in Canberra but once again the weather dictated what we could and could not do.  I had seen advertised a two hour Lake Burley Griffin morning tea cruise that took you as far as the Governor Generals residence at Yarralumla.  It sounded perfect.  Right on 10.30 am, Captain Jim welcomed eight of us aboard the cute little electric powered boat named "Gull".  We chugged our way around the perimeter of Lake Burley Griffin with Captain Jim giving us a very enjoyable commentary.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  There is nothing better than a long time local to give you a well re-researched history of the city.  It's all the funny little snippets that keep you entertained.  When we reached Yarralumla the captain brought out tea, coffee and a nice array of biscuits, including Tim Tam's 😍 for us to munch on.  This was our turnaround point.  

Lake Burley Griffin is a man-made lake that came about once the Molongolo River was dammed.  It is 11km in length and the perimeter is 40.5km.  It is a fairly shallow lake with many different varieties of fish the majority being European Carp. We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and would recommend it.

After the cruise we opted to visit the National Portrait Gallery where an exhibition titled "Love Stories" was being exhibited.  I loved it but Philip, I think, not so much. There is a lot of reading and you should really spend many hours there.  There are some beautiful portraits and a lot of the stories are very moving.  I was particularly drawn to the Sarah Bernhardt/Nellie Melba story of friendship.  Nellie Melba is my only claim to fame as she was born a Mitchell that is my mothers maiden name and Dame Nellie is indeed related to this line of Mitchells. 

After all this culture we found we were very hungry.  We tried to get into the restaurant at the Portrait Gallery but on this cold wet day everyone else had the same thought!  So we got in the car and drove to......Maccas!  It has been months since we have indulged in this takeaway and boy was it great!

So, our Canberra sojourn is over.  We have enjoyed every minute but are totally "touristed" out.  We are now turning the car and van around and after six weeks we are now going to head in a northerly direction.