Canberra - "Little Brussels"

With Meg having grown up in Washington DC, and us having previously taken a mini-break to Brussels we headed to Canberra feeling fully prepared for the Government Capital of Australia.

Canberra was born of a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, both competing to become the capital of the newly independent Australia. And much like Brussels and DC the clean city has great museums but a slightly sterile bar scene.

Nonetheless, our guidebook promised of a small brewery and pub in Canberra which produced several styles of beer including "real English ale", so following a quick look around Parliament House and taking in a view of the city from its grass-covered roof, we made the final steps of our pilgrimage for a proper pint of beer.

We excitedly ordered pints (not a "midi" or "schooner") of Bulldog Best Bitter and tried not to laugh when the barman warned us "it's not cold like normal beer". It was a pretty decent beer, as were their other ales on tap and after a few hours of enjoyment we headed to a nearby curry house which really made us feel at home!

The next day we checked out the art galleries and museums where the highlight had to be a showcase of Rolf Harris' wobble-board at the National History Museum. Unfortunately we subsequently couldn't get "tie me kangaroo down, sport" out of our heads for the next few hours.

On our last evening we went out for Chinese dinner at a restaurant near Capital Hill and found ourselves on a table near to Tony Abbott, the leader of the Opposition Party and potentially the Australian Prime Minister the next morning. At one point we were startled by his cackling laugh but the most concerned diners in the restaurant were the three burly men on the table behind us doing a bad job of looking undercover, and scrutinising Mark as he took a sly photo of Mr Abbott (below):