Are We There Yet?

The lead-in to the silly season begins here. We don't really do it in a huge way, but I do like the trimmings - the tree and the food. For some reason red and green seem festively-themed, so here is meal number one: roast beef with jalapeno dressing served with radish and edamame salad with horseradish sour cream.  

Roast beef with jalapeno dressing 

Radish and edamame salad with horseradish sour cream

Meal number two is also rocking the red and green theme.

Spicy Thai-style red curry chicken and noodle soup

 

On the morning of Him Outdoors' birthday, we went for a walk around a new-ish track, the Ian Loiterton Track. Named in honour of Ian Loiterton (surprise!), the walk features information boards which explain the history, flora and fauna, and geology of the land. Ian Loiterton majored in geology for his BSc degree at the Australian National University.

Another information board tells us that the first European settlement of Aranda Bushland was in the mid-nineteenth century, when Francis Mowatt was granted land here, in the distyrict known as Weetangera. There was never a homestead in this area, the nearest being at the foot of Mount Painter. Cattle and sheep were grazed, and several old fence posts are still visible on this walk, as well as two farm dams and a low stone wall, probably built to control erosion.

Finneran's Road divides the forested upper part of Aranda Bushland for the woodland and grassland below. It was one of the earliest roads in the district, servicing the farms along the Molongo river, including this area, later called Glenloch. From the 1960s, when the suburb of Aranda was established, the forested slopes behind the houses were progressively excised from Glenloch and added to Canberra Nature Park. Later still, part of the lower grassland was excised to protect a patch of snow gums, rare survivors of the many that used to grow at this level in pre-European times.

"This walk is located on Ngunnawal Country, occupied by the Ngunnawal people for tens of thousands of years. We recognise the special relationship and connection that Ngunnawal people have with this Country. For time immemorial they have maintained a tangible and intangible cultural, social, environmental, spiritual, and economic connection to these lands and waters.

"Within this forested landscape evidence of Ngunnawal occupancy can be found. This evidence includes stone tools, scarred trees, and a nearby 'ring tree' signposting an ancient pathway. Our walk has been designed to avoid recorded Aboriginal Heritage sites, and any Aboriginal artifacts seen must be left undisturbed. 

"The area contains a major creek running south west from Black Mountain, edged on the east by a stee rocky ridge. The predominant underlying rock is the Pittman Formation-Acton Shale, which contains bands of chert, a hard rock used by the Ngunnawal for making cutting and scraping tools. There are also bands of quartz, which also were used for scrapers, though more difficult to shape into fine designs."

As we finished our walk, we were farewelled by this fellow. 

Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata)

Later in the day, we went on a tram-based pub crawl for birthday celebrations, taking in six drinking establishments, with several friends and fellow imbibers. I'll write a full post elsewhere, but here are the highlights.

North-side birthday tram crawl

We had planned a Christmas Eve event, but unfortunate events meant we had to cancel. We did have a couple of friends (Dr Kay and Patience Itself - oddly not pictured) drop by to share in the canapes and festive drinks we had prepared. 

Salmon and beetroot bites

Goat-cheese strawberries

Truffle chocolates homemade by Patience Itself

Canapes with rosé sangria

While we had friends here, we were able to share the birthday boy's cake, which is great, as we will be eating it for weeks!

Christmas tree mud cake

Bloody Long Walk Part One

Restrictions are easing; pubs are opening; beer is being poured. It would be rude not to.

Beers with chums at To All My Friends

At the end of November I'm walking The Bloody Long Walk with friends. It's 35km and goes from the top of Red Hill, through the posh suburbs of Canberra where all the embassies are, skirts Parliament, and then round the lake. We have started doing some 'warm-up' walks so that we know the route and are aware of the distance. 

For Part One we walked from Red Hill to Lennox Gardens. One of the things I like about Canberra is that all the embassies are designed to reflect the architectural features of the country. Here are North Korea and India.

The route goes around Parliament, where people with guns patrol the grounds. I always feel anxious seeing people bearing guns, but they were all very pleasant. 

There are formal gardens on the eastern side of Parliament House (inspired by English and French formal garden designs). The gardens are guarded by a pair of lions, traditionally installed at the entrances or imperial and government buildings in China. They are usually found in pairs, the male resting a paw on a ball, and the female restraining a playful cub on its back. These guardian lions were a gift from the People's Republic of China in 1988. 

The traditional water feature in the centre creates gentle sound and movement and is surrounded by displays of annuals with approximately 3,500 plants, which are changed in spring and autumn.

We also walked past Old Parliament House, where the wisteria was still in bloom.

Across the choppy waters of the lake, the National Museum sits on Acton Peninsular. Design Diva told me that it was formerly the hospital for Canberra, which is not ideally situated as there was limited space for growth and only one way in and out. On 13 July 1997, the plans to demolish the old buildings went horribly wrong. Over 100,000 people attended the implosion from the other side of the lake; one of the largest crowds in the history of Canberra. Unfortunately, large pieces of debris reached across the lake injuring nine people and instantly killing Katie Bender, a twelve-year-old girl. The main building did not fully disintegrate and was manually demolished afterwards. There is now a memorial on the site to Katie Bender.

At Lennox Gardens we find the Canberra Nara Peace Park and the Beijing Garden. A distinctive feature of Canberra Nara Peace Park is its 'borrowed landscape', or the extension of the park's boundaries to encompass landmarks such as Lake Burley Griffin, Black Mountain, Mount Ainslie and Lotus Bay.

Toku was commissioned to celebrate the 1,300th anniversary of Japan's ancient capital, Nara. The sculpture has three main elements: a five-storied pagoda form which represents Canberra; a floating stone representing Nara; and the form of a small bird symbolising peace. The bird (on the left-hand corner of the second tier down) represents a Latham's snipe, a species which migrates annually between Japan and Canberra. The artist has created Toku to express the amicable relationship and mutual understanding shared by Canberra and Nara as sister cities. 

Toku (2010) by Shinki Kato

It seems the Chinese like to create statues of animals coming to harm. Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow is regarded as a national treasure; a famous representative sculpture from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). The original sculpture was unearthed in Wuwei County, Gansu Province. Apparently, 'this reproduction depicts the Heavenly Steed of Chinese legend, in dynamic flight with one hoof stepping on the back of a swallow, accentuating the speed and power of the horse'. 

Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow

At least these cranes look unharmed

I liked the four celestial symbols, which are creatures in Chinese mythology that represent the four cardinal points and the four seasons. They are the Black Tortoise (north/ winter), the Azure Dragon (east/ spring), the Scarlet Bird (south/summer) and the White Tiger (west/ autumn). Representations of the Four Celestial symbols date from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of China (475 - 221BC).

One particularly odd thing was the Stone of Appreciation from Tai Lake. The plaque informs us that limestone from Tai Lake has been prized as garden ornamentation since the Tang Dynsaty (618-907 AD). Also known as Chinese scholars' stones, rock specimens are admired for their convoluted forms and the balance of strength and delicacy.

The Stone of Appreciation displays the four recognised qualities of fineness (shou), openness (tou), perforations (lou) and wrinkling (zhou). I'm pretty sure I display some of those qualities too. Design Diva pointed out that the reciprocal colonisation process continues as the stone appears to be a breeding ground for local spiders. 

The Stone of Appreciation

There's also a small section of the gardens planted with colourful azaleas and rhododendrons, bordered by dainty little pathways.

More red and white azaleas

We finished our walk by returning to the start point (where we had left a vehicle - the organisation of parking cars at each end was a bit befuddling that early in the morning) and having a hearty breakfast at the Redhill Café & Bar.

And we finished the weekend with bubbles and soup at the home of Dr Kay and Patience Itself, where we celebrated their beautiful spring blooms for Azaleiade.