We spent some time last night organising a loose itinerary for today. Originally we thought we may use public transport to look around, as we had noticed that parking in the city was $3.00 per hour, however on a closer look at the bus website, we found that there was a daily travel ticket that would cost $9.60 each. We would not spend that much on parking, so we decided that it was easier to take the car.
We awoke to another very smokey hazy sky, which sadly meant the views were not as clear as they could be. The smoke in the air meant the sun appeared as a glowing red ball.
We decided to start at the Australian War Memorial. We arrived too early for it, but we were able to have a look at the displays outside. We have both been here before so we were not too disappointed.
The view from the War Memorial to Parliament House is impressive. We then decided to see it from the top of the hill behind the war Memorial. We drove up to the lookout on Mt Ainslie.
From the War Memorial, we drove to the National Art Gallery We had to pay to park here so paid for an hour that cost us $3.20. We wandered around looking at the displays and we can say we have now seen Blue Poles 🙂
I had intended to visit the High Court and the Portrait Gallery while we were in this area as well, but as it was now around 10:30 am, I chose to go to Parliament House, as there was a tour starting at 11:00 that we wanted to do. I knew the parking here was free for 2 hours.
We arrived at Parliament House. with time to spare only to discover that the tours now start at 11:30am!! We had plenty of time to look around before the tour. The 40 minute tour was very informative and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
House of Representatives 
Senate 
The Great Hall
The website for Parliament House has some good Virtual Tours
After the tour ended, we decided to head back into the city to have lunch at 65 Northbourne, a restaurant that we had a voucher for. We parked at a carpark we had seen the day before from the free bus and decided we would get 2 hours parking. Being in the middle of the city, parking here was $9.00
The menu looked really good, and we decided on Entrees and Mains (but decided against Wallaby Shanks! ) and a glass of wine each. We were not disappointed, the meals were amazing.
Trio of Dips & Turkish Bread 
Scallops with Prosciutto and Balsamic 
Veal Saltimbocca 
Turkish Marinated Lamb Cutlets
After lunch, we were going to head back to the Art Gallery but decided against it as was just too hot (35 degrees today), and we still wanted to visit the Royal Mint.
The mint was very interesting with lots of information about the history of our currency. We arrived too late to join a guided tour, but the guide book was helpful and each display has good informative signage.
Back in the car, we headed to Woolworths to get some cheese and crackers for dinner and top up our food stocks for the next couple of days travel.
We arrived back to the apartment at around 5:00pm and both had showers to cool off before watching some TV and having an early night.
