IN CANBERRA TO CELEBRATE

When we left Sydney we headed down the highway to Canberra for my college reunion. It was a super road, no doubt because politicians use it often. 

Canberra is our national capital and it is situated in country NSW in its own territory called "Australian Capital Territory". At the turn of the 19th century when Australia became a Federation there was debate about where the capital should be, Melbourne or Sydney so it was decided to be placed in between the two state capitals in a territory of its own.

You know you have arrived in Canberra when you see the giant flagpole rising from the top of Parliament House. This is a side view where you can see the grass that grows on top of the building.

This photo from the web shows the front of the building. It is a huge complex.

That night there was a "Meet and Greet" of our old friends from 50 years ago, who all attended ASOPA* in 1962/63 destined for the classrooms of Papua/New Guinea and the Northern Territory. It was non stop chatter, reminiscing and catching up.

The next day we walked through the Botanical Gardens full of native Australian flora. The weather decided to turn cold.

My ardent commenter, Colin is also an ex student and he is here amongst the Banksia flowers with Margaret, wife of Peter, another ex student.

There were so many beautiful native flowers here are just a few.

We could see another icon of Canberra from the gardens.
The Black Mountain Tower.

Lazing around the water hole were lots of these lizards.

I think they are Water Dragons.

I love their prehistoric skin texture.

Then we bumped into some more of our crowd in the rainforest section. From L to R Dave and Lorraine from Adelaide, SA. Margaret from Maitland, NSW. Sue and Bill from Victoria, and Colin from Brisbane, QLD.

The whole group about 40 all met together for lunch in the cafe at the Botanical gardens. More talk fest. Not many of us stayed in teaching and we have followed an interesting range of occupations although many of us are now retired. Rory on the left has a huge cattle station and farm stay property in the Northern Territory. Ian on the right worked for the American Government in Japan and the list goes on.
Thanks to Ian and his helpers Bob and Jeff, who now live in Canberra and organised this 50th anniversary event. They had special caps made for us with the ASOPA logo and 50th Anniversary embroidered. A nice memento.
*ASOPA = Australian School of Pacific Administration