Last month The Girl and I drove up to Canowindra to visit her paternal grandparents. It was a long drive but easy one along a familiar route – the same route as our trip to the Blue Mountains. This time though we kept driving through the Blue Mountains and further into New South Wales’ countryside. Regrettably I forgot to bring my camera on this trip so you’ll just have to imagine it. The area is vast and open; the most vast and open landscape I’ve experienced in a long time. If the fields were paving slabs, then the roads would be the dusty crack between them and you would be the tiniest ant slowly making your way from one edge to another. The whole sense of scale was intensified by the wide, clear sky and the bright sun beating down upon it. It was empty, but it was beautiful.

The grandparents house was amazing. They built themselves (or I suspect paid some men to build it) a few years earlier and in that time had turned their dry, dusty plot of land into an oasis. The vegetable garden was very impressive. We went for a walk through the quaint town of Canowindra. It was everything I’d imagined a small, country town to be like in Australia after watching The Flying Doctors all those years ago.

Later that evening we learnt about some family and local history. The family history first; The Girl’s ancestors helped out a local bushman called Ben Hall by giving him a horse. A bushman, if you didn’t know, is a highwayman. But Ben Hall is seen as being more as a hero than a criminal because of the circumstances around him. Next we learnt that during the Second World War there was a Japanese POW camp nearby. One night a lot of the prisoners escaped into the surrounding countryside. Some were killed, some were caught, sadly many committed suicide. Amazingly not one member of the public was harmed, though four Australian soldiers were killed.

Two weeks later we drove down to Canberra to meet The Girl’s father. We spent our Saturday on a walking / driving tour of Canberra were we saw wild kangaroos in a park, the embassies of the world and the surrounding countryside, which again, was lovely. For dinner we went to a tasty Thai restaurant and then to a Belgian beer bar for my first truly delicious beer since I arrived in Australia. I savoured every drop of that beer.

The next day we all went to Questacon – a children’s science museum. The Girl had fond memories of going there as a child and wanted relive / share those experiences with me. Her first words inside were “It’s a lot smaller than I remember. “, but we all had a great time. I even went on the death slide along with seven screaming tweens. Afterwards we all went on a Segway tour around the lake. I thought I’d take to the Segway like a duck to water, but I really struggled to get my grips with it. The Girl however, contrary to what I thought, was whizzing all over the place like a professional.

When we travelled down on Friday night it was already dark and stormy so we missed all of the countryside. Driving back Sunday afternoon was a treat though. It was a clear, bright afternoon. Hills and valleys were bathed in the rich, golden light photographers and artists dream of. Lake George (which isn’t a lake all year round) looked gloriously wild and rugged. Again… no camera. So just use your imagination.

Before I left for Canberra, a few people joked about Canberra being the worst place in Australia – that it was dull and lifeless. I think that is a little unfair. It is certainly quiet, the quietest capitol city I’ve ever been to. But it’s pretty too – if in a Stepford Wives way. It boosts plenty of sculptures, museums, parks, tree-lined avenues and the impressive Parliament House. The surrounding countryside, a collection of small hills, is also beautiful. If you were pushed for time, I wouldn’t recommend Canberra as a must see city. But if you were in the area, it’s certainly worth ducking in for a bit.