Parks /Gardens / Lakes

 Lake Burley Griffin, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Canberra Campervan Hire

inventunsuitable (contributor)

I will update this tip with details of the 2014 Floriade when they become available so that you can plan your trip !

An annual flower display of truly international standards. If you are in town during Floriade you should not miss it though it is probably better to say if you are in town when it’s on you won’t miss it as, chances are, that will be the reason you are in town!

This magnificent and immensely colourful flower display of exotic bulbs and annuals is held every spring (2013 -14 September to 13 October 2013). Floriade 2013 was an extra special display in Canberra’s centenary year with the overall design strongly influenced by the geometry of Canberra’s original plan by Walter Burley Griffin and the theme Beautiful Innovation . The layout of the flowers in individual garden-beds was inspired by the great institutions of Canberra – the Australian War Memorial, Old Parliament House, the National Gallery, the National Library and may others. To be honest some of this inspiration was easier to see than others but the flowers were beautiful throughout.

Floriade began in 1988 as a spectacular commemoration of Australia’s Bicentenary and Canberra’s 75th birthday – so this year also marked Floriade’s 25th birthday.

Floriade attracts thousands of interstate and overseas visitors each year with the result that hotels rooms in Canberra are scarce and at a premium price-wise. You are well advised to book early.

In addition to the wonderful garden beds and flowers there is a great range of other street style entertainment, gardening demonstrations, lots of food outlets from basic to high end, rides for the kids and gift shops. A great family event.

This year saw a major improvement in the range of quality entertainment at Stage 88 in the park – my final picture is of an excellent gospel group the repertoire of which included a moving rendition of South Africa’s national anthem.

Don’t become so intoxicated with all the flowers that you miss out on the garden gnome display (you can paint and display your own) or forget to sit and listen to the Australia Fair Street Organ. Hopefully both items will feature again in 2014 as they have for many years.

Allocate at least half a day for your visit.

It really is impossible to pick five pictures to represent this event. For more pictures (from 2012) have a look at my 2012 tip – Floriade 2012 which I will retain for the record.

Nightfest

In more recent years Floriade has also opened its doors (ok, gates) on a number of nights for Nightfest. This year (2013) night opening was 25-29 September. The flowers came alive again with a spectacular light show (an illuminated wonderland !) and crowds were entertained by live bands on Stage 88 within the grounds while all the other entertainment and activity also continued into the night.
Nightfest is, alas, not free. See below for opening hours and costs.

Location:

Floriade is held in Commonwealth Park, a five-minute walk from Canberra’s city centre. This is the best way to get there and is well signposted. Parking at Commonwealth Park is limited. Bus services available – including a free service from the city centre.

Opening hours:

Day time – 9am to 5pm weekdays; 9am to 5.30pm weekends and public holidays; Last entry is 30 minutes before close. You cannot do it justice in 30 minutes.

Admission charge: Free

Nightfest – 25 -29 September 2013 – 6.30pm to 10.30pm.

Admission charge :
Adult A$25 (17yrs plus)
Children A$10 (5 -16 yrs old – under 5 free)
Family A$50 (2 adults, 2 children)
Some concessions were available.

balloonbahoochie (contributor)

Bit of a misnomer – I actually mean, and will review, a walk around the central basin – a circular walk of 5kms crossing the lake via Commonwealth and King’s bridges (bridge to bridge). This is an easy walk along flat (apart from going up and down onto the bridges to cross the lake) sealed paths and is a favorite for locals and tourists alike. Please look at my separate review (still to be written)on a cycle tour around the whole lake – some 35kms though shorter options are also mentioned there. Off course nothing stopping you walking the lot.

While this is a beautiful walk and very highly recommended especially in early morning with (or without) a mist on the lake or at dusk letting you see a large number of the major sights of Canberra as you pass, I am actually going to use this review to link to other reviews (as I write them) for each of the sights you meet along the way – as such turn your two hour stroll into a day or three. Dining and restroom facilities are available at all the more significant sights.

You can start the walk anywhere you like, though for the purpose of this review I will start at Regatta Point as it is easily accessible from the city and via bus and parking (timed) is available. Sights are listed on the basis that you walk in a clockwise direction.

I will also take liberties and include links to reviews of sights that are a little back from the lake though well within walking distance e.g. Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial.

Right at the beginning of the walk there are three sights worth visiting.

Captain Cook Memorial Fountain – If it’s not operating as you start it mostly like will at some stage of your walk – just keep and eye out as you proceed.

Captain Cook Memorial Globe

National Capital Exhibition

Commonwealth Park

Floriade – An annual world class flower show – not a sight unless its on!

ANZAC Parade – about 200m away from the lake path

Australian War Memorial – about 1km from the lake path via ANZAC Parade

The hill behind the War Memorial is Mount Ainslie – go here for, in my opinion, the best view in Canberra

(While I have included them here, I actually recommend that the three sights above be seen by themselves and are worth a day in themselves)

National Emergency Services Memorial

Blundell Cottage

Merchant Navy Memorial

HMAS Canberra Memorial

National Carillon

National Police Memorial

Department of Defence and Bugs Bunny – Australian American War Memorial

Cross over Kings bridge at this point.

National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery Sculpture Garden
NAtional Gallery – Within Without

National Portrait Gallery

High Court of Australia

National Flag Display

Go for a Segway Ride

Aboriginal Tent Embassy – about 300m away from lakeside path

Old Parliament House – about 300m away from lakeside path

Rose Gardens – about 300m away from lakeside path

Curtain and Chifley Statue – about 350m away from lakeside park

National Archives – about 350m away from lakeside park

Parliament House (New) – Interior and Exterior – about 700m away from lakeside path

Questacon

National Library of Australia

Cross Commonwealth Bridge back to Regatta Point. Good views of Black Mountain (separate trip) from the bridge.

Getting to Regatta Point – Any bus from the city centre heading south over the Commonwealth Bridge. Get off just before you cross the bridge.

Hateuchar (contributor)

Let me state upfront – if you are coming here to see banks of mature trees as you might find in other arboretums then you will be sorely disappointed. Apart from a bank of mature Himalayan cedars and Cork oaks all the other trees are less than (most significantly less than) 10 years old. Why is this so? You ask.

This arboretum is a true phoenix from the ashes of devastating bushfires which raged through this area of Canberra on 18-22 January 2003. In addition to taking the lives of 4 people and around 500 buildings the fire blazed through a pine forest where the Arboretum now stands. One of the outcomes of the review was that pine forests would not be grown around Canberra again. The establishment of an arboretum here also settles a long outstanding component of the Walter Burley Griffin plan for Canberra. The Arboretum was formally opened to the public in early 2013.

Once one understands the youthfulness of everything one can then appreciate that over 35,000 trees have been planted on the 250 hectare site in the past 10 years – with species from over 100 countries represented. It is a popular tradition now to get visiting dignitaries to plant a tree.

Given the lack of trees one does get some excellent uninterrupted views of Canberra across Lake Burley Griffin (picture two) and the mountains in the other direction – best views from Dairy Farmers Hill.

The Arboretum is also home for the excellent National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia. See my separate tip on the Bonsai collection.

Also within the Arboretum are two interesting sculptures, both worth a look. On top of Dairy Farmers Hill is a large metal – found objects – mostly abandoned farm machinery – sculpture of an eagle on its nest (picture four) – by Richard Moffat and entitled Nest III (where I and II are, if they exist, I don’t know!). Across on the other side of the visitors centre (Village Centre) on top of the hill near the Himalayan cedar forest, is a metal sculpture of the words “Wide Brown Land’ taken from Dorothea Mackellar’s well known poem – My Country (picture five).

I quite like the poem – here is a part there-of. i hope you like it too.

“I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!”

The arboretum is well laid out and you can easily get around by car or on foot (if you like walking only). There are a few worthwhile walking tracks including one through the Himalayan cedar forest and a number of free guided walks leave regularly from the Village Centre (visitors centre).

So what do I think?

A visit to see the bonsai collection; admire the views which give a new perspective on the city from those you get from Mount Ainslie, Black Mountain and the other traditional viewpoints; see the artwork and have a look around the Village Centre (visitors centre) where you can find a native demonstration garden, a discovery garden, a couple of eating outlets and a souvenir shop provides sufficient to do for a couple of hours while you wait for the trees to grow!

Not a must do just yet but if you have a couple of hours to kill, go for it.

The Arboretum is located at Forest Drive, off Tuggeranong Parkway, Weston Creek – 6 kms for the city centre.

Opening times: Arboretum open daily: 7am-5.30pm and during daylight savings from 6am-8.30pm; Village Centre/ Bonsai Collection open daily except Christmas Day 9am-4pm

Entry Fee; Free to everything but you must pay for parking at the Village Centre

Parking fees: $2 an hour, maximum $7 for the day.

An anticipated bus service from the city does not seem to have eventuated yet and the Arboretum’s website states that a bus service to the Arboretum is expected to operate by 2014. Check with ACTION bus company if interested.

reach_hissing (contributor)

The National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia

My previous review for the The National Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia related to a somewhat smaller collection at its former home – Commonwealth Park in Canberra. I have now mothballed that review.

In March 2013 the collection was moved to its new and permanent purpose built facility at the National Arboretum about 6kms outside the city.

The collection has also been significantly enlarged given the extra space now available. It now contains perhaps a hundred of the finest miniature trees and forests that you will see anywhere and certainly the best I have seen anywhere in Australia.

I am always amazed at the skill and effort the owners put into these living sculptures to have them look so beautiful. One of the amazing things is that the display has even managed to capture Canberra’s seasons – so the miniature European beach at picture three is not dead! It has lost its leaves, as it’s now autumn in Canberra.

The collection contains a mix of both Australian native and exotic species.

When I wrote about the display when it was located at Commonwealth Park (in the city) I strongly recommended you see it at that location though questioned whether I thought it would be worth the hike out to the Arboretum to see it, unless you were a diehard bonsai fan. Having now visited the display at the Arboretum, which is significantly larger than it was in the city, I wholeheartedly recommend you go out and see it. My praise for the Arboretum itself is less glowing – but that is for another review.

A musician beautifully playing some form of Chinese woodwind instrument was a nice touch during my visit earlier today.

The Arboretum is located at Forest Drive, off Tuggeranong Parkway, Weston Creek – 6 kms for the city centre. You access the bonsai display via the Arboretum’s visitor centre – “the Village Centre”. Restrooms, cafe etc are available at the Village Centre.

Opening hours: 9 am to 4 pm seven days a week, except Christmas Day

Entry Fee: free (donation at your discretion) as it is for the Arboretum itself but you must pay for parking: $2 an hour, maximum $7 for the day.

An anticipated bus service from the city does not seem to have eventuated yet and the Arboretum’s website states that a bus service to the Arboretum is expected to operate by 2014. Check with ACTION Bus company if interested.

gangsmolly (contributor)

Mount Pleasant Lookout and Royal Australian Artillery Memorial

Mt Pleasant is one of four lookouts over Canberra city and the surrounding area.
It is probably the least visited of the four. Perhaps people are nervous and put off coming here as you have to drive through the grounds of the Duntroon Royal Military College. While there is security here there is absolutely no problem driving through Duntroon so please don’t let that deter you.

While I feel the best views of Canberra are from Mt Ainslie Lookout the view from here is still very worth the drive – giving a different perspective and a new angle as evidenced from the attached pictures. Looking backwards you also get good views of Duntroon Royal Military College and Jerrabomberra Wetlands.

Unlike Mt Ainslie and Red Hill Lookouts which are just that, atop this hill you will also find a memorial to gunners of all ranks of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery – more commonly referred to as the Royal Australian Artillery.

Inserted into the stone wall, symbolic of an early fort, you will see plaques naming the conflicts in which Australian Gunners served. The guns are 64-pounder RML Mark III guns manufactured in the 1870s and originally part of Sydney’s harbor defenses at Middle Head. This is a designated saluting station from which Australia’s Federation Guard still provides 21-gun salutes on ceremonial occasions.

The Memorial was dedicated by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 9 March 1977.

One the road up to the lookout visit the grave of General Bridges, Australia’s highest ranking soldier in World War I. – see my separate tip on General Bridges’ Grave.

While you are at Duntroon I also recommend a stop at :-

Changi Chapel and the ANZAC Memorial Chapel of St Paul. Click on links to see my review of each.

kyivgas (contributor)

The Australian Capital Territory Government has, of late, taken the view that the citizenry of Canberra needs more art and culture. This has, to a large degree, manifested itself in a plethora of new statutory most of which is lacking in any sort of taste, art or culture or whatsoever. The shot-gun approach however does mean that a least a few of the new statues will hit the mark. The subject of this review, Sir Robert Menzies’ statue, is one of those which certainly hits the mark for me.

A significant number of ex-Prime Ministers have had Canberra suburbs named after them. Not Menzies though which is rather ironic as he is one of the handful of Prime Ministers who have actively supported the growth and development of Canberra – a true apostle for the city. In fact, Menzies specifically requested that a suburb not be named after him. Instead this life-size figurative bronze statue by Peter Corlett was unveiled in 2012 in Commonwealth Park alongside Lake Burley Griffin which he championed the creation of, and dedicated in 1964. Menzies was very much at home here and enjoyed many long contemplative walks along this lakeshore – now called the R.G Menzies Walk.

Sir Robert was Australia’s longest serving prime minister – his two periods in office totalled 18 years, five months and 10 days. That said, Menzies is more celebrated in Canberra for his development of the capital than for his longevity in office. On the unveiling of the statue the current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, stated “For those of us who call this lovely place home, it was Sir Robert’s ambition to develop Canberra as a worthy national capital that will be regarded as his most visible and enduring contribution” while Opposition Leader, Tony Abbot, described him as “the capital’s greatest builder and supporter.’

Within Menzies’ second term as the Prime Minister, Canberra’s population grew from 28,000 in 1954 to 93,000 in 1966 and in addition to the creation of the Lake Burley Griffin in 1964, a number of significant cultural institutions including the National Library and the Canberra Theatre Centre were founded during this period.

Peter Corlett (all of whose work I admire for its realistic subject interpretation) has three others works in Canberra – Sir Edward ”Weary” Dunlop and Simpson and His Donkey at the Australian War Memorial and Prime Minister John Curtin and Treasurer Ben Chifley in the Parliamentary Triangle.

Tonyovert (contributor)

Why don’t people promenade any more?

I took stroll though Commonwealth Park last Saturday morning and was somewhat taken aback by the paucity of people out enjoying this beautiful park. I often wonder (and I have been here 12 years), as do visitors, where do Canberrans go at weekends. Why are they not the out enjoying the delights of this great city? Their loss is the visitor’s gain.

Commonwealth Park, located on the northern side of the central basin of Lake Burley Griffin took shape in the 1960’s when the lake was created and it became the city’s premier garden. It stretches from Commonwealth Avenue (Bridge) to around the southern end of Anzac Parade.

This park is a very well maintained and beautiful garden- 34.5 hectares – with its own mini lake – Nerang Pool. It is well laid out with numerous paths, seats and a kids play area. In addition to its horticultural beauty, the park contains many other sites of interest to the visitor including the National Capital Exhibition, Captain Cook Memorial Fountain and Memorial Globe, Blundell’s Cottage, and a number of pleasant sculptures including one of former Prime Minister Robert Menzies on what is now called the RG Menzies Walk along the lake shoreline.

While I normally only give tips on things that I have personally seen or experienced, with your indulgence, I will make an exception here. There is one piece of artwork in the park that you won’t see – a set of six polished aluminum tetrahedrons by Bert Flugelman, similar to his work in the sculpture garden at the National Gallery of Australia but buried permanently in March 1975 in a trench( close the the Kangaroos pictured here) for reasons not explained by the artist.

The large (39metres) flagpole, which you will see in the park, is a gift from the Canadian government and Canadian timber industry – a douglas fir weighing some 7.1 tonnes. If you happen to the in Park on 1 July (Canada Day) you will note that the Australian flag which normally flies on the pole is replaced with the Canadian flag.

The annual springtime Floriade Festival (not to be missed) turns a large part of the park into a sea of colour derived from the million plus bulbs and annuals planted just for the festival.

Highly recommended for visitors (and any locals reading this tip!)

cocopity (contributor)

The National Emergency Services Memorial was dedicated by Prime Minister, John Howard, on 12 July 2004 to honour those who have served and were injured or died in Australia’s emergency management and service organisations.

The raised wall symbolises comfort warmth and shelter while the three dimensional frieze of images reflect the diversity of emergency personnel and their experiences. The frieze is a visual expression of a story and experience of national emergency management based on the underlying principles of Prevent, Prepare, Respond, Recover.

The east face of the memorial wall is highly polished revealing words that embody the values and professionalism of the emergency services personnel.

Australia, as many readers will know, is a land prone to significant natural disasters in particular flooding and fire both with often devastating consequences. The concept of a memorial was translated to a reality following the tragic loss of lives in the Victorian bushfires of late 1998.

Emergency services honoured here include but are certainly not limited to paramedics, fire, police and State Emergency Service, search and rescue, welfare services, community response and help agencies, animal rescue and environmental protection personnel – a very wide cross section of society.

This Memorial located between Commonwealth Park and Kings Park and at the southern end of Anzac Parade and about 100m from the edge of Lake Burley Griffen and Blundells Cottage.

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