The night had been -6 degrees but the day dawned sunny and by 10-30 the temperature had climbed to 12 degrees with a crisp, fresh zing in the air . Perfect walking weather.
Lake Burley Griffin beckoned. This large, artificial lake is 11 kilometres long, but we only planned to do a short section from the Exhibition Centre to Blundell’s Cottage.
The Exhibition Centre is perched on a small hill overlooking the Lake and this is where we started our walk. Inside the story and history of this area and the creation of Canberra as the capital city of Australia unfolds in a fascinating display of photos, maps and detailed information going back 20000 years when the Aboriginals roamed this area.
Click on this link to take a virtual tour of the Exhibition Centre. http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/flash/nce_tour/index.html
Lake Burley Griffin is Canberra’s centrepiece, it was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra.[2] and a significant number of national institutions and national public places are located on or near its shores. (Wikipedia)
The trees have lost all their foliage in the grip of winter, but take a closer look and the sweet young buds of spring are starting to swell. Waiting for these frosty days to pass and when the sun warms the air they will burst into blossom and we will have to come again in a few weeks to see them.
We have not gone very far yet, but now we are onto the path that follows the Lake.
This is a very popular track for all sorts of exercise. We are just sauntering but the keen cyclists and runners whoosh by us.
Griffin designed the lake with many geometric motifs, so that the axes of his design lined up with natural geographical landmarks in the area. However, government authorities changed his original plans and no substantial work was completed before he left Australia in 1920. His scheme remained unfulfilled as the Great Depression and World War II intervened, and it was not until the 1950s that planning resumed. After much political dispute over several proposed variations, excavation work began in 1960 with the energetic backing of Prime Minister Robert Menzies. After the completion of the bridges and dams, the dams were locked in September 1963. However, a drought meant that the target water level was not reached until April 1964. It was formally inaugurated on 17 October 1964. (Wikipedia)
Unfortunately the cottage was closed on Mondays. It is open Thursday to Sunday. So we will have to come again on one of those days.
The circular walk right round the lake is 5 kilometres and can take approximately 50 minutes to all day. Well we have been almost 90 minutes on just this short section and lunch is calling, so we will turn round and come back another day to finish the circuit.
I hope you have enjoyed this very short walk. Join me again when the spring blossoms are out.
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I have joined Jo’s Monday walkers. They take us for walks all over the world. Join them in a cyberspace ramble.
Such an enjoyable walk, Beautiful photos of the lakeside.
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Thanks Amy pleased you joined me.
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I so enjoyed my morning walk too.. Its good to be among such good company 🙂
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Thank you Sue pleased you enjoyed this walk
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I live close to Canberra and have visited many times, but you have given it an almost exotic flavour with your wonderful photos. Thank you – and thanks for the reminder that it’s winter in Australia: I’m flying back tomorrow after three months in Eastern Europe.
An addendum: Frank Moorhouse’s deeply researched novel “Cold light” features the development of Lake Burley Griffin from the 1950s and is a wonderful portrait of Canberra from that time until Whitlam.
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Thanks for the book recommendation I will search for it in the library. It is still frosty nights approx. -4C but the days are glorious, no wind, clear and sunny. Good dog walking weather… 🙂
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Do you free camp on your travels or do a little of both? Thanks for the journey.
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When we did our round Australia trip in 2010 we did a lot of freedom camping, especially over in WA. We loved it and it is a good way to stretch the budget, we were travelling on our pensions.
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Here is a post you may like to look at, of one of the freedom camping areas and me cooking on the fire with a camp oven
https://pommepal.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/cooking-up-a-storm/
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It does feel strange Pauline tramping around in chilly weather with you 😉 it does look fresh .
Must have been a very cosy fire lit little cottage seeing the two chimneys there .
Lunch I trust was something warming …
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I was disappointed the cottage was closed, should’ve checked on Google. Oh well we will be going back when the blossom is out.. We went to China Town and had a curry…
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That little row of trees is going to look very pretty !
Sounds good that lunch 🙂
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It was yummy
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This looks like a most interesting and lovely walk.
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G’day Michelle enjoyed having you come along.
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It is a lovely lake to walk around, and you get good views of those buildings too. Thanks for the memories PP.
Jude xx
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It is lovely to have such a beautiful feature right in the centre of the city. I can imagine all the office workers and blue collar workers will enjoy it in their lunch times in the summer.
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Brrrrrr tats even colder than our night temps
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We both enjoyed the morning so I put a like on there for you.
Next time I will make sure I am logged in before I put a like, when using your computer.
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Jack, if ‘PP’ likes again it will remove her. I tried liking one of my posts to see if it would accept it and discovered that it does! (I didn’t think it would) So I clicked again and I was removed.
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Thanks for the tip Jude, it worked…
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Thanks for that bit of info.
I can use all the help I can get.
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🙂
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gee I don’t miss the cold weather, makes me feel cold at the moment thinking about it.
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It’s not too bad Toni when the wind isn’t blowing and you have a warm jacket on…
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Great little ramble, and interesting post, Pauline. I enjoyed the trees and the birds 🙂
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I’m looking forward to seeing the spring blossom Sue, and I can imagine autumn would be very colourful too
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Well, I shall look forward to your posts 🙂
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I think another 2-3 weeks and the blossom will be out, but depends a bit on the weather
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This is a lovely walk for all seasons, Pauline. Thanks so much for sharing my walks. Off now to the Visitor Centre. 🙂
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I always go to the visitor centre in new places they are a hive of information.
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