Time in the 'berra

First a few photos to tempt you before I start my yapping!

Hey everyone,
My time in Canberra gave me a chance to get used to being in Australia again, to catch up on a little bit of sleep, to catch up with my sister 'good and proper' and to see some wonderful sights. I really love Canberra. There is so much to do! I went ballooning - thanks to some of Lauren's awesome connections, ate the best pizza ever (yes, even better than real Italian pizza), checked out Floriade, did a little bit of shopping for a new jumper - let's be honest, we're all sick of my blue one... (I must have forgotten about my luggage limit in the process of the shopping trip as my dear sister had to bring a number of kilograms of MY gear when she came to Tassie a month later...), went on a trip to the Bateman's Bay to attempt some whale watching, went on a wine tour where Lauren wants me to tell you that I drank almost all of her wine as well as my own when we sat outside to enjoy a glass - I was only tasting hers to decide which one was better so I could buy the best one... it did take me a few tastes to eventually decide... at which point a large percentage of her wine had disappeared... I must add that I did offer her my glass to compensate!!

I also visited a few of the typical Canberran tourist stops, including the National Gallery. I went there after having visited quite a number of world class galleries overseas, hoping that the Australian National Gallery wouldn't be a disappointment... and it most definitely wasn't! I was super impressed! It's definitely way up there, in my opinion, and definitely competitive with the National Galleries of Europe. I enjoyed my visit so much! Be sure to take some time to go there next time you are in Canberra :)

I had the BEST time with my favouritest sister in the whole world. Below are some photos of our adventures... so very unfortunately you won't see everything... somehow, when I copied them onto my computer, most of them disappeared... and I only figured this out AFTER I had deleted them off my memory card...I was sooooooooooo disappointed. The only good thing is that it happened right at the end of my trip rather than while I was still travelling... still a shame though. I had taken some great shots at the War Memorial and also some really tops ones of Lauren and me... oh well! Canberra is much easier to get back to than most of the other places I've visited :) Now I have an excuse to go back!

Lauren, thanks heaps for having me, looking after me so well and for everything you did, I loved spending time with you at your place. Oh, and thanks for being my pack horse, you're rather good at that! hee hee. Love you, can't wait to see ya soon

Love Sarah xxx

Flying over my own country for the first time in months! Love the canola fields

Canberra airport... even smaller than Launceston! Well, almost...

My very welcoming bed :) A super comfortable one too! Lauren certainly has one of the best beds in the world - it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than mine :)

Lunchtime at the lake

Canberra from Mount Ainslie - we walked (read bushbashed) up there because Johnny found an new track that turned out to be a non-track

The balloon being prepared

Lauren being the ballast at the end (see the other balloon? It's a European Union one... wondering if it's telling me I should be somewhere else?!)

Far too early to be taking photos really...!

Look at that flame! If you were there you'd be able to hear the cool noise aswell :)

About to take off! Can't wait :) Wearing about 7 layers! Travelling didn't put THAT much weight on me :)

We drifting!!! YAY!

Beautiful lakes around Canberra and a beautiful balloon to top it off!

A pretty famous building that we flew straight over!! I always thought it looked impressive from the ground but check this out. Definitely far more impressive from above :)

See - I told you we flew straight over!

My fabulous driver

Us with our celebratory champagne - we made it through the landing! Note: I look the most average, my eyes are are little like slits in my face.... Note 2: Lauren looks far too glorious for such an early morning... come to think of it, she usually does look pretty good first thing in the morning... Note 3: I never look that fabulous in the morning, my brothers would attest to that!

Heading to Floriade - aka The Granny Festival - we won't mention that I visited there three days in a row...

A cool chick I met that was willing to travel around with me for a few days - it's amazing how you meet cool people all over the world! Here she is in front of some of the stunning flower beds

A quick shot of the two of us

Just a few of the gorgeous flowers

Reminding me a lot of Keukenhof

Beautiful colours

So neatly organised

This is made of sand - incredible hey!!

Two comedians that we watched who made us laugh ourselves silly!! They were called the List Collectors and were absolutely hilarious! Bubble, granny, flaps, monkey, festival - anymore Lauren?!?!?!?

The ferris wheel looking amazing at night, casting a delightful glow over the flowers

This is an alligator, you can tell by it's snout. That's very important to remember. You can always tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile by looking at their snouts. An alligator has a wide, u-shaped snout while a crocodile has a long, narrow, v-shaped snout. So, remember the snout!

p.s. blog not finished yet :)