This clump of Banksia flowers captured at Castlecrag kind of reminds me of the fingers of a human hand.
flowers
Floriade 2020
In 2020, Floriade has been reimagined (due to COVID-19) with the celebration moving from its traditional home in Commonwealth Park to bloom across Canberra.
National Museum of Australia
The Floriade boxes are contains bulbs and annuals blooming under the museum’s signature entry sculpture, and complements the Garden of Australian Dreams.
Street Art
We found a fascinating lane called Tocumwal Lane in Canberra that leads into a square that is full of street art.
Canberra
We explored the Canberra city centre on our last day visiting Floriade. On the corner of Lonsdale and Elouera streets in Braddon, there are colourful boxed displays that rival the vibrancy of the rainbow roundabout that adorns Lonsdale Street.
Mt Ainslie
The Mount Ainslie tourist outlook, one of Canberra’s most popular, provides excellent views of central Canberra and Red Hill to the south and Black Mountain to the west especially towards sunset. According to an article written in 1922, this outlook ‘will afford an ever changing bird’s eye and panoramic picture of the city’s buildings and beauty spots, as well as of the lovely plains that run to join the Yass Plains on the north.’ An air beacon located at the summit is part of the national capital’s air navigation system guiding air traffic towards the nearby Canberra Airport.
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia’s national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia, and some conflicts involving personnel from the Australian colonies prior to Federation. The memorial includes an extensive national military museum. We visited early in the morning before it officially opened, so there are no one around apart from staff.
Parliament House Gardens
We were looking for the Floriade displays around Parliament House but I searched and couldn’t find any flower beds or boxes. In desperation, I asked one of the security guards patrolling the building. She said she did not know either but she said they might be at the gardens and gave us instructions on how to get there. The gardens are certainly a well kept secret, as there are no signs pointing the way, but they are worth it for the fantastic parterre and cherry blossoms.
Parliament House
The new Parliament House was constructed beginning from 1981 with an original budget of A$220 million and was supposed to be opened on Australia Day 1988. It ended up opening a few months later in May and ended up costing over A$1 billion. Despite that, it is an impressive structure that somehow seems smaller than it actually is as it blends well into the original contour of Capital Hill. We did not go inside but took some photos from the entrance.