Day 25 - 27 10,000 steps and "Kerstin, what kind of tree is this?"

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In and around Canberra - 0km (!)

It's Sunday evening and I just got off the phone with my Mum in Switzerland. As many of you know, she suffers dementia and lives in a nursing home. To share this Coddiwomple adventure with her over the phone requires a fair amount of creative verbalisation. It always takes a good ten minutes to bring her on board and to remind her that we currently travel by bicycle (I leave out the 'around Australia' bit). So when she asks me "have you started vintage yet?" I am gobsmacked that she remembers this significant time in the Australian winemaking calendar but I also think to myself 'here we go again'... "No Mum, there will be no vintage for me this year. We are travelling by bicycle." 

These last three days off the bikes were so colourful that we also need reminding that we are on a bicycle tour. There wasn't a dull moment and only when we spend a few hours mapping and planning our route onwards to Sydney, some slight frustration levels appear. It's the weather and the realisation that once Friday rolls around the good people of NSW have an urge for the outdoors and an unpowered campsite is harder to find than a road in Canberra without a roundabout! To cut the story short: we have worked it out but we won't be hitting the road until Wednesday (sitting out the next wet weather front).

The beauty of staying in the welcoming home of a local is that you get to do local things. Like walking 10,000 steps up Mount Taylor at 7am on a Saturday morning. We are clearly out of practice with the two feet on the ground motion as we huff and puff behind Iris and her neighbouring friends Sue and Claire up the hill. But we get the free guided tour, with informative and quirky background information about living in Canberra, plus great views from the top. 

Back to the conversation with Mum (ten minutes in). "Where are you?" - "We are in Canberra, Mum. The capital of Australia. It's a beautiful city with lots of greenspaces and lots of trees"...

Keyword 'Trees'. There are lots of them, 44,000 just at the National Arboretum Canberra. This is an absolute must for your next visit to the capital, tree lover or hugger or not. The concept of turning a 250 hectare site, after a bushfire went through in 2003, into a green haven for rare and endangered trees from all over the world, will leave you in awe. And this is coming from someone who can hardly tell a birch from an ash. The information hub is housed in the architecturally designed Village Centre where one can get a map of all the walking tracks and a listing of the 94 different forests. Just make sure you give the map to someone who knows a thing or two about trees. Not like me. I am good with maps but hopeless with trees. My two companions eventually gave up asking me "Kerstin, what tree is this?". The highlight for me was the cork oak forest, planted in 1913/1920. 

Quercus Suber - cork oak

Cork screw anyone?

The last three days also included another wine tasting experience that was so entertaining that it deserves it's own blog entry. Don't worry, we will introduce you to Guillermo, the Colombian. He, unknowingly, acted as the best warm up gig for an evening in front of the TV to celebrate all things Mardi Gras. 

Preparations for Mardi Gras TV dinner

I have got every reason to smile when Mum asks again, for the fourth or fifth time, where we are and I simply say "in Canberra, Mum, we are still in Canberra".

Comments

  1. FrancieMarch 7, 2022 at 4:31 PM

    Ah lovely to hear about Mum. Secretly pleased that you will stay off road till next Wednesday as, by then, you will see the weather pattern. By that I mean floods direction. It will be interesting to see how the flooded areas shape your planning. But enjoy Canberra.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 12, 2022 at 10:19 AM

    I echo the comment about being glad you were off the road for a few days. Stay safe out there!

    ReplyDelete

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