Civilised Eating

Went down to Canberra for the Balloon Fiesta. Left early on Saturday morning, traveled down the coastal road to Wollongong, then cut inland to Moss Vale. In Canberra, we had lunch at my favorite eating suburb – Dixon. It was good to see a civilized Chinese restaurant. Even though the place was full of non-Chinese, everyone was eating with chopsticks, everyone knew how to use them and they understood how to eat the food. So much better than the Menzian era eating habits of those here in Sydney. Spoons and forks were never mentioned, nor was fried rice or dim-sims.

After checking into our hotel, we went to the Nighttime Spectacular at Manuka Oval. This was interesting, but I had the wrong lens and the timing of the balloon operators left a lot to be desired. We had a Italian inspired dinner in Manuka, a very happening place.

The next morning, met up at 5:30 AM to see the Balloons take off. However, even thought the wind speed was really good, the direction was not and they inflated the balloons, but did not take off because to do so would result in 30 or so balloons floating gently across Canberra Airport.

Later in the morning we spent an hour riding around Lake Burley Griffin. In the afternoon met up with friends of friends and had a good lunch and found a really great chocolate place in Kingston. We also went to the Mount Stromlo observatory, a place very worth a visit. Complete with ruins from the 2003 fires and kangaroos.

And then onto Black Mountain.

(Photo by Anna).

I have to say that I am impressed at how far Canberra has come. I have not been there much in the last 10 to 15 years and the quality of the eating places has improved immensely. (Even given that Canberra has always had one of my favorite Chinese eating places.)