WHAT'S THE CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA?

it's gray and pouring rain in sydney and i'm cozy inside, drinking a cup of coffee, and loving it. do i write too much about the weather? maybe i'm just homesick this week.

what follows is a visual smattering of our excursion to canberra, australia's capital, and its surrounds. although it's the capital, canberra doesn't really feel like a city. it's quiet for one. and it seems more like a big suburb with lots of green - or should i say bush - and a repertoire of every style of 20th century architecture making up the various administrative buildings, embassies, museums, and malls. many of the houses are from the 1930's and are really charming. there is also a nice little lake that cuts through the city and which i had the pleasure of biking around.

one of the highlights of our trip was going out at six in the morning to the base of mount ainslie, a ten minute walk from where we were staying, to see kangaroos. and there were heaps of them! it was our first glimpse, apart from the occasional roadkill you see on the highways here (apparently they are like the white-tailed deer of australia). another highlight was driving out to a village called wee jasper - and it was wee. the drive was beautiful as we wound up and down mountains, through valleys, and across farmland that stretched for miles. oh yeah, and we may have seen a few sheep.

finally, on a walk into the city one afternoon, we stumbled upon a chocolate cafe called KOKO BLACK. the iced coffees were another highlight of our trip.