It’s hard to really see a place when you’ve known it your whole life… especially when you’ve been trying to escape it for almost as long.
So what happens when you make a choice to be right back - smack bang - in the middle of that place? Can you learn to love it when you’ve struggled to in the past? If so, how?
I spent 14 years of my childhood in Canberra, then 17 years in other places, and now I’ve returned. I want to reconnect. I want to seek out the good bits and rediscover a city that I think I know but really don’t. My mission is to open up my heart and mind; to learn to see the Can, the Berra, Canberry with new eyes.
But I can’t do it without your help!
Have you ever lived in Canberra?
Have you ever had fun in Canberra?
Do you know someone who has or does?
What’s your number one Favourite Canberra Thing to do?
I pledge to embrace your Favourite Canberra Thing as my own. Or at the very least to give it a damn good go. I’ll even document my progress so that you can see how this town and I are gettin along.
It’s sink or swim people, so please help me get beyond a dog-paddle!
Send your Favourite Canberra Thing to canberrachachacha@yahoo.com and stay in touch with the adventure right here.
And please please please spread the word to anyone you know who has a Canberra connection.
Cheers,
Claire
OK, I bags taking you to the EPIC markets one Saturday morning!
ReplyDeleteHey Claire,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you've been feeling a bit glum and need a heads-up to reconnect with your inner Canberra.
I only have FOND memories of 'Our Nation's Capital'. Maybe because i was always on holiday there and never actually lived there.
I admit it's a strange, clinical place .. but scratch the surface, and there IS a heart-beat.
I was actually planning a trip down there this weekend for the Multicultural Festival (have been there for the last two years) .. http://www.multiculturalfestival.com.au/
.. but alas my car didn't pass rego (RUST) and my slush fund is being redirected to the nearest 'Automotive Welder'. Boooooooo.
Get yourself down there for a funky good time. There's music, food and people from all corners of the globe. From mid-morning > late into the night, over the weekend ... and it doesn't have to cost a heap.
Your coming into the best time of year for Canberra, that transitional phase from soaring heat > frigid winds, fresh off the alpine ranges. Right in-between, is Autumn. And in Canberra, Autumn means perfect blue skies, warm days - but with chilly mornings - and those leaves.
One of my most memorable 'feelings' from Canberra is that sense your not in your own country. The trees are largely imported (non-native) and as such are deliciously deciduous, with changing colours (that's got to excite a visual girl like yourself), then they crumble and fall in unison .. paving the streets and lawns and parklands with a golden rusty hue.
A carpet of fiery colours. That doesn't happen everywhere in Australia.
Embrace what you've got there CoCo ... remember Sydney and Wollongong and Melbourne are all pretty accessible from where you are.
Oh, & don't forget all-day breakfasts @ Gus's Cafe (Bunda Street, Civic).
Hope to see you some time soon Claire, whether in the Bra, La Gong or Olde Sidonee Town.
Take Care, Todd (ariel).x.