On the road

Fire hazard

We left Orange early this morning and hit the road for Canberra.  We've seen lots of warning signs about kangaroos but so far have only seen three dead ones by the side of the road.  Hopefully we'll see some live ones before we leave!  We also saw a lot of fire warning signs as its been such a hot and dry Autumn fire is a real concern just now.  Thankfully the risk isn't too high just now!

The roads are so long and empty here...we hardly see another car and hardly go through any towns...we are reminded just how fast this country is when we look at a map of the whole of Australia and see that in all our hours of driving so far we've only covered a tiny corner of the South East.  

We stopped in Canberra and visited the Parliament Buildings old and new and also the Australian War Memorial where we discovered an original copy of the Magna Carta from 1297 brought over from England and the only copy kept in Oceania.  Amazing!  We've seen copies in Lincoln and Salisbury but didn't realise they had a copy anywhere else.  

We've felt so welcome in Australia and been so impressed...most places the parking is free, the entry to the Parliament building was free and when we entered a lady handing out maps saw we were hot and directed us to the drinking fountains and cafe so we could rehydrate...we feel so loved! 

Now we are in Batemans Bay and resting up before our long coast drive tomorrow.  

Outside the new Parliament building