Left Melbourne reasonable early on Boxing Day and headed north for Albury with stops at Benalla and Glenrowan, the latter featuring a giant statue of Ned Kelly in full armour!

On to Canberra the next day in mid-afternoon so wandered down to the main shopping area for something to eat and to orientate myself.

The next day, after toast and coffee at a cafe near the centre, along the shore of Lake Burleigh Griffin, avoiding the occasional Lycra clad cyclist and dog walker, to cross over to the government district where the first stop was at the Old Parliament Building, now a museum.From there, along to the new parliament building where I broke my rule about queuing for entry and was glad I did as I spent a very interesting time there, which included admiring the views from the roof.

The next morning was spent in the National War Memorial and museum before driving to Sydney where, after some confusion when the GPS and map failed to agree, returned the car and checked in to the hotel.

The next day, New Years Eve 2013, booked myself onto a harbour cruise to watch  the fireworks on the bridge. This is quite a long and drawn out process extending over some 6 hours.

Beginning with a carefully  choreographed procession of boats to the quay to load up, the 21:00 fireworks display is then followed by the illuminated boats sailing around the harbour before the main event at midnight.

Back to the quay around 01:00.

Written on the morning of 1 January 2014 over coffee at Sydney Opera House.