1818 meeting in Canberra

We left on Monday to come to this meeting of retirees in Canberra. As soon as I arrived I realised that I had left the cord that connects my camera to a computer. Today I had the time to go into Civic to buy a replacement. A sensible lady in Jay-what'it sent me downstairs to Ted's to buy a $5 USB card reader rather than sell me a $45 something from her shop. The $5 thingo works fine (so far.)


We stopped in Goulburn for lunch at the Paragon Cafe. It is amazing how different Australian towns are from Australian cities.

Lake George has some water in it . . . . way over on the other side.

We are staying at University House which is charming as usual. The atmosphere is unlike a hotel. Everybody is friendly and relaxed because they assume that you are here for the same meeting (Academy of Science meeting this week.) And the ducks are entertaining. They don't get into the water at night. Perhaps their toes get coi-ly nibbled.

On Tuesday we visited the National Museum. It is a silly building especially in the entry area where the furniture doesn't fit and the walls are useless but the area of the permanent exhibits is great as are they: all so well presented, clean, telling stories. We spent time in the Silk Road exhibition which was bought in from the US. The content is good (they even explain how an astrolab works) but the installation is flimsy. An event organiser could have done it better. I kept being distracted by the looming black of the ceiling peppered with wires and beams. The draw loom was interesting.

ANU seems to have a love affair with courtyards. Many are eating places nowdays. This one had a resident wattlebird who flew down to pick up the crumbs when people moved away from the tables. I thought they were wild birds!

Today we went, with the other retirees, to the National Gallery to the Von Geurard exhibition. (Why did they choose the only painting that was done in New Zealand to publicize this exhibition of his Australian paintings?) Lots and lots of paintings with lovely middle grounds and mountains but rather wrong coloured, formulaic foregrounds and his sky's aren't Australian (see Goulburn above.) Our docent whisked us off to the aboriginal art galleries in the new extension. They have natural light which is great and lots of space and overlook wonderful gardens. The new entry is a great improvement on the previous entry area. Of course, you aren't allowed to take photos.