canberra and bungendore

canberra and bungendore

13 May 2025

Easter came and went in a haze, so I was determined to go away for ANZAC Day and I decided to drive down to Canberra. I was interested in seeing the Ethel Carrick exhibition at the National Gallery, before it closed and the Fit to Print exhibition at the National Library of Australia. I enjoyed both exhibitions greatly as well as my dinner at Bar Rochford.

Canberra is much cooler than Sydney so the leaves had already started to change colour. In the morning I took a walk around the streets of Braddon so I could enjoy the autumnal hues before I drove back home to Sydney via Bungendore.

It's been 25 years since my last trip to Bungendore. We'd been out for dinner the night before and I had a very queasy tummy so I lay down on the back seat of the car for the whole journey from Sydney, so my memories of Bungendore are few. I don't remember it being so charming.

It was a grey, dreary sort of day. I parked the car and went for a wander down the main thoroughfare with my camera.

I found the retro looking Motel Bungendore, which has clearly seen better days.

My Dad loved nothing better than a long distance country drive, and we'd often end up staying in one of these roadside motels with their ingenious little cupboards containing the breakfast that you'd ordered at reception the night before.

There were other gems like the CWA Hall.

And the Royal Hotel. 

Just across the street was St Philip's Anglican Church. It looks peaceful but I took these photos accompanied by the squawks from a flock of cockatoos. 

I turned tail and headed down the other side of the street, past this rose in all her faded glory.

The next stop was the prettiest Police Station I think I've seen in NSW.

Surrounded by immaculate gardens.

Last but not least was the lovely Old Stone House.

The Old Stone House operates as a wedding venue and as a former wedding photographer, I would have loved to have photographed a wedding in its beautiful grounds.

After my little wander it was back into the car for the drive back to Sydney.

I hope you enjoyed coming along with me on my mini break in Canberra and Bungendore.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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canberra

canberra

31 Jan 2021

I took an extra day off work and ran away to Canberra last weekend. Originally I'd planned a visit to Brisbane but the QLD border was still closed to Sydney residents so I made a location change.

The border to the ACT re-opened to Sydney just before Australia Day so I booked a hotel, arranged tickets to the National Gallery of Australia and the War Memorial, made a dinner reservation, packed an overnight bag and hopped in the car for the 3 hour drive south.

I've been to Canberra a few times before, sometimes staying in Manuka and sometimes in New Acton. New Acton is close to ANU and has lots of good eateries. The hotel in which I stayed is just around the corner from Rebel Rebel where I'd booked dinner and Mocan and Green Grout where I had breakfast.

My first stop was at the National Gallery of Australia. It was a scorcher of a day so I was keen to stay indoors but was drawn outside to the Sculpture Garden and the imposing work by James Turrell, Skyspace.

I was wearing SPF 50 but I still managed to get burnt whilst strolling around the Sculpture Garden.

After dinner when it had cooled down a little I drove over to Parliament House, which was just about deserted.

I waited for about 5 minutes and had the place to myself.

The following day I had tickets to the Australian War Memorial.

The early viewing time and the booking system meant I was able to take photos of the Pool of Reflection with few people in my shot.

  The wall of poppies is one of my favourite parts of the War Memorial.

A last look over Canberra before the drive home.

I drove home via Collector, a little town that time almost forgot. It's over 10 years since my last visit and whilst new houses are being built there, Collector still doesn't have either a petrol station or a grocery store.

I did take a roll of black and white film with me that I'm yet to finish, so hopefully if they turn out okay I'll have a few more images to share with you in the next couple of weeks. 

See you all again soon,

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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australia day long weekend - canberra

australia day long weekend - canberra

2 Feb 2015

I found a good hotel deal online and decided to drive down to Canberra for the Australia Day Long Weekend holiday. First destination was the Australian War Memorial. I used to work in a Veteran's Hospital and heard many war stories during my time there. Both the good - the mate ship, and the bad -  prisoner of war stories from the Thai Burma railway. The AWM always has interesting displays, this time I saw Ben Quilty's After Afghanistan exhibition.



The War Memorial has a reflection pool and a Roll of Honour.




This is the Roll of Honour. Those walls of poppies and the names of the fallen, always tug at my heart strings.



The Australian War Memorial is quite an imposing construction but there are some gardens and leafy trees under which I took refuge from the heat of a hot Canberra summers day.



From there it was off to Bison's flagship store in Pialligo. 



I was given a personal tour of the store by Brian Tunks, Bison's owner and creative director.





Brian has been busily adding new items to his range and I've snapped up a few pieces in recent times both as gifts for friends and for my own home. I don't own any of the glass range yet, but I do love it so it's probably only a matter of time.





The apple jar is one of my favourite pieces.




There might be one of those jugs in my collection as well.



How could you go past one of the sweet milk bottles?



As my purchases were being wrapped Brian very kindly gave me a beautiful little wisteria bowl as a gift. I'm thinking of recipes which will highlight the colour, so look out for its appearance on the blog during the next few months.



Then it was time to check into my lodgings and check out the buzzing surrounds of New Acton.



Yes they are sunflowers and yes, those are garden beds. 




I'm pretty sure some of the produce featured in my breakfast from A. Baker. Poached eggs have never tasted so good. Last stop was the National Portrait Gallery for a wander before the drive home back to Sydney.

I hope you enjoyed my little trip to Canberra. Next week it's bake to baking on the blog.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Collector

Collector

10 Feb 2010

Collector is such a sweet little place that time forgot. I drove through Collector last year so I could have lunch at the Lynwood Cafe.  

As I'd had such a large breakfast that morning, I had no plans to lunch there on this occasion but I thought I'd take a few photos. When I drove past the restaurant it was shut but it had a look of finality about it. I figured it looked more shut down than 'we've taken the Long Weekend off' kind of shut down.

When I checked the website I discovered the Cafe closed for good last August, which means apart from 1 pub, Collector has no general store, no cafe, no petrol station, no nothing!

Undaunted, I roamed around the little village. I found 3 churches of differing denominations, with little graveyards attached. I didn't have time to visit them all but was enchanted by the Uniting Church. The graveyard was watched over by a beautiful apple tree.

I hope to return sometime soon so I can finish my ramble around the town but knowing my schedule it will probably be January 2011.

I'm not sure I'll be posting on Friday but check back on Sunday for a sweet little Valentine's Day treat,

Jillian

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Canberra

Canberra

3 Feb 2010

Canberra always looks so dry and dusty in summer. My first stop was the Australian War Memorial. I've been before but it was many years ago and a new pavilion has opened since then. It was so busy inside and as I'm not very good with crowds I visited the Love and War exhibition and marvelled at the size of George, the Lancaster bomber, in the Anzac Hall.

I really loved the new Anzac Hall and how it hugged the land. When I did a bit of research I discovered it had been awarded an architectural award.

From the heat of Canberra it was off to locate my hotel, the Realm. As hot as the weather was, cool was the only way to describe my room.

Do you remember the shopshoot I did of Bison Ceramics? My room contained 3 pieces of Bison including the highly covetable sky blue dish you see on the coffee table. I managed to fight the urge to slip the dish into my luggage because I don't do that kind of thing (and it doesn't match my home colour scheme).

After a monster breakfast and a visit to the NGA I made my way back to Sydney via Collector. I haven't finished preparing the images yet so check back next week for part 2 of my trip to Canberra.

I'll be back on Friday with a Friday favourite so until then,

Jillian

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