Quick Guide to Canberra

Originally Australia did not have a capital city, leaving Sydney and Melbourne to spend approximately 7 years in the early 1900's arguing over who should be the Capital city. This argument came to nothing, so a separate state, now known as the Australian Capital Territory (or ACT for short) came into existance.

An international competition was held to find a bold and exciting design for this new city. Work began in 1913 and was finally completed in 1927, the date the new parliament sat down for the first time in the capital city of Australia, Canberra.

CAPITAL

Australia's newest city has a larger population that the city of Hobart with approximately 315,000 people. It is known for being full of city parks and resembles a modern garden city. It's the only house of parliament in the world which has a grass roof and you can walk right over the top of it as well! The name for the city comes from an original Aboriginal word 'Kamberra' which means 'meeting place'.

CLIMATE

Canberra is land locked and the average summer temperature is approximately 26 degrees in the daytime and in the evening it's about 12 degrees. In the winter months the temperature ranges from freezing to 12 degrees so bring a hat and a jacket!

Below is a list of some of the interesting places to visit if you decide to pass through Canberra on your Travel Wheels campervan holiday.

• Old Parliament House - This was the original seat of the government until the new building replaced it in 1988.
• This is one of the only places in the world when you can walk right over a politicians head as the new parliament building has a grass roof and you are free to walk right over it
• Aboriginal Tent Embassy - This is a very poignant reminder of how the oldest civilisation has been treated and marginalised in australia!
• Visit some of the great museums such as the National Museum of Australia and gets a hands on experience when visiting the national science and technology centre,
• Australian Institute of Sport - This is the home to many of Australian's gold medal winners who use the world class training facilities
• National Gallery of Australia - See some original australian masterpieces!
• Namadgi National Park - A bushwalkers paradise with over 160kms of walking trails in a sub-alpine wilderness