Our last day in Australia’s capital was a cool and cloudy one. Steve’s cold was not improving but he was game for going on the late morning boat excursion around Canberra’s artificial lake, Lake Burley Griffin. The one-hour cruise was on an electric powered boat skippered by a tall lean gentleman of indeterminate years with a wry sense of humor and an incredibly detailed knowledge of Canberra’s history and that of Austalia.

As we circled the lake, he had a story about every building, every object, every politician and citizen who had played a role in making that object or piece of land important to the city’s history. The greyness of the day made it difficult to take memorable pictures, but I will share the one below if the Carillion.

To those, like me, who spent much of their lives in the environs of Washington, DC, the word ‘Carillion’ probably brings to mind the Netherlands Carillion in the Roslyn section of Arlington, Virginia. I first saw it on a visit to the nation’s capital with my parents as a boy and loved the music its bells produced. The Canberra Carillion has fallen on troubled times. Two new bells were added to it and these seemed to have somehow thrown off its musical balance. Then during Covid, one of its elderly players lost her life to the virus. There were only two expert players in the area. Now a talented young musician has been found but his studies do not allow him to be available. Sadly, very few young musicians have the skill to make these complicated instruments ‘sing.’

Today we bade farewell to our luxury digs in Canberra and headed for its clean, modern airport for our flight to Tasmania. But I must not leave Canberra without expressing a few thoughts on this very unusual capital city. I often thought of Columbia, Maryland when I walked around Canberra’s broad and leafy streets. The quiet was almost eerie when compared with the hustle and bustle of Washington, Paris, or London. But I was also dismayed when I thought of how well a new city can be planned and constructed when I compared it to the unfortunate results of the “edge cities” that grew up around Washington, DC during the time I called that remarkable region my home. One needs only look at Crystal City, Pentagon City, Tysons Corner. in Virginia. Even consider the “redevelopment” of Bethesda, Maryland, and the traffic mess of its northern neighbors. How did they get things so wrong? Sure, Canberra may seem quiet and perhaps, a bit sterile compared to some other capitals, but it’s new capitol has only been open for 35 years. Give it time, I tell myself. Its people are filled with Australian charm and good-will and I suspect that it will continue to grow and become a bigger and better city as time goes by.

And now, on to new adventures. We were surprised by the smaller scale of Hobart’s airport, upon our arrival. It reminded me of regional airports in the US in days gone by. The drive from the airport though had WOW around every corner. The countryside of Tasmania is breathtaking, and I hope I get to enjoy some of it during our time here. Our digs here are, to say the least, interesting. We share an entrance with the Chinese restaurant two floors down but have our own hallway (shared with the other flats) and a modern looking, if not sounding, elevator. The neighborhood is ‘interesting.’ But I am going to give it a chance. More to come, I hope.

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