The War Museum is a beautiful building in itself. It has a massive amount of Australian war history in all the exhibits, ranging from World War 1 right up to current peace-keeping missions. I found the World War 2 information and Vietnam displays the most interesting.

The photo above was just outside and displayed the rows and rows of names of those that didn’t come back from the war. Reading through all the information was pretty intense. Some of the stories were straight from journals and diaries that were sent back from the front lines or somehow lasted over the years and found their way to the museum.

One note that had me a little choked up was a young soldier writing to his wife. He had written in his journal the entire time but he was about to leave on a mission that knew he wouldn’t come back from. He packed up his journal and some letters and had them sent back to her. His last note said, “if this finds you before I do, I won’t be coming back.”

After seeing all the horrendous details from all the wars Australia has been involved in I’m glad I had no part with any of it. I’m incredibly thankful that I can live my life without being forced into a war and spending years in wet, muddy, death-filled trenches.

On a lighter note, there was only a bit of cloud today and it was mostly sunny and warm. I’m in Canberra for another day and then off to the Snowy Mountains to climb Mount Kosciuzko!

Bungendore is a sleepy little town with a bunch of shops and tons of arty galleries for everything from woodwork to painting and jewely. I’ve never seen so many arty stores on one block. They’ve got one school that has some football going on. I watched for a bit and instantly wanted to play again. 

By the time I set off with the family I met up with to their place in Queanbeyan, it was starting to get dark. I’m not familiar with the roads at all and it was the first time I’ve drivin in the dark here. It felt like the oncoming traffic was inches from my window. Not my idea of a relaxing drive through the countryside but we made it none-the-less. 

Some fine kangaroo meet was on the menu for dinner and it was my first time. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it wasn’t anything spectacular but wasn’t horrible either. With a bit of rice peanut sauce, it was a delicious meal. 

Tomorrow and Tuesday I’ll be cruising around Canberra talking a look at the sites. Apparently there are some fantastic things to see in the middle of the City including some galleries and memorials. I’ll be checking out the Telstra Tower on Black Mountain as well. I’m not usually a sucker for the places that offer a view for some stupid amount of money but this one intrigued me. I had originally planned on running up the mountain but found out there was  a road and large tower on it.

Recap: I flew into Sydney, took a train to Circular Quay, met up with a friend named Imogen and took the ferry over to Manly. Done.

I was at Manly Backpackers for a few days.  I went to the Commonwealth bank as soon as I could to make sure all my money was in order. 0 dollars? Damn. My money is not in good order. After activating the account, the money was actually transferred into the account and I was ready to roll. Next step, buy a car.

One of Imogen’s friends, Sarah, had mentioned gumtree.com as a good place to find cars so I hit that up. The hostel had a few good ads up on the bulletin boards in the front entrance so I checked them out as well. One of the ads was for a 94 Holden Commodore, 2100ish right in Manly. Perfect. Call him up. Awesome guy from Northern Italy. We took the car out for a drive. It’s got a bunch of camping stuff in in already. Seems to be in good working order. He says 700k to the tank, I say not likely, and I agree to buy the car. I didn’t want to rush into it so I get the car the next day. 11 the next day, 45 minutes in the vehicle registration place and it’s mine. Having a car radically distorts your view of the amount of stuff you have. We park on the beach and he piles all his stuff into his backpack and his surfboard bag. I don’t know where his boards are going to go but not my problem!

I have a car! Shit. Where do I park?

Still not really sure, I park up the street from the hostel. Hang out for a few on the internet at the hostel, grab a few things from the room and off to the car. Oh wait need some food. Off to the grocery store for a bit of food and then to the car. Ok. Go.

There are 3 headlands on the coast from Sydney that are all beautiful places to visit. South head, Middle Head and North Head. I had run almost all the way out to North Head from Manly beach so I decided to visit there. What a beautiful place. It was ridiculously windy, but still very pretty.

I parked again at the place up the street from the hostel and I didn’t end up with a ticket so I guess I’m either lucky or that was the right place to park. The next day was the start of the real adventure. I drove down through sydney and along the Hume Highway to Goulburn.

Wow, either I’m a small town boy or Sydney traffic is stupid. My brain was in OMG mode the entire time. The GPS guided me through it thankfully. I’m going to avoid that place while driving North.

Goulburn is an awesome town of 24,000. There is one main street that makes up downtown and the rest is small streets with houses on them. Driving is nice and relaxed. The best part about it? I giant concrete merino sheep that stand 3 stories tall. Check out all my photos on flickr if it doesn’t make it to this blog post.

A few facts about Goulburn It was the first inland town in Australia, made famous by it’s Merino Sheep. Goulburn Brewery is the oldest Georgian style Brewery in Australia( I don’t know what Georgian Style means). I had a light stout beer there earlier today. It was a different than what I’m used to but quite tasty.

Tomorrow I’m off to Queanbeyan in Canberra and the Snowy Mountains. After that it’s Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road.