Thursday, January 7, 2010
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Floriade Flower Festival
I always heard from people and colleagues here that, there is nothing to see in Canberra. But, some said that Floride - Flower Festival which is celebrated in the capital city of Australia in the month from mid September to early October is the only thing to see (adding a sarcastic smile).
After thinking twice and thrice, my wife and I decided to visit the capital city for the first time after living in Australia for more than a year. My colleague also would liked to join with us.
19th September, 2009 was a sunny Saturday with mild clouds passing by, making the weather not so hot. I rented the car and started little early in the morning at about 8:00 am from West Ryde. Went to Sydney CBD to pick my colleague - Arun, who was waiting at our office. We then proceeded straight to Canberra. On the way, Arun drove for some distance.
I had a great expectation after watching YouTube videos and google images about Floride (just like the above picture). At least 50% of what I saw in Amsterdam's Tulip Garden in 2004.
With that in my mind, we reached the actual spot - Commonwealth Park where the flower festival is held. We faced a real challenge parking our car. It took about 30 minutes strolling in the parking bay and finally one old lady signalled us that she is going to move. Parking the car, we had our lunch at 13:30 and then proceeded towards the garden. It was crowded. We went inside and it was somewhat similar to the Royal Botanical Garden. I should say that it was much smaller than that.
After a short while, we all realized that, we made a big mistake. We wasted our money, time and energy driving all the way to this place. It was not that great enough to fascinate the tourists. Too much of hype has been given to disappoint the visitors. We decided to head back to Sydney; however, we thought of having a peek to Parliament. After taking few photographs of the flowers, we proceeded to Parliament and took a round about the Parliament and headed straight to Sydney.
That's all our trip was. Not even one day. We felt that Canberra was chosen wrongly as a capital of Australia. It should have been Sydney. At least Sydney has Harbour Bridge and Opera House (LOL).
After thinking twice and thrice, my wife and I decided to visit the capital city for the first time after living in Australia for more than a year. My colleague also would liked to join with us.
19th September, 2009 was a sunny Saturday with mild clouds passing by, making the weather not so hot. I rented the car and started little early in the morning at about 8:00 am from West Ryde. Went to Sydney CBD to pick my colleague - Arun, who was waiting at our office. We then proceeded straight to Canberra. On the way, Arun drove for some distance.
I had a great expectation after watching YouTube videos and google images about Floride (just like the above picture). At least 50% of what I saw in Amsterdam's Tulip Garden in 2004.
With that in my mind, we reached the actual spot - Commonwealth Park where the flower festival is held. We faced a real challenge parking our car. It took about 30 minutes strolling in the parking bay and finally one old lady signalled us that she is going to move. Parking the car, we had our lunch at 13:30 and then proceeded towards the garden. It was crowded. We went inside and it was somewhat similar to the Royal Botanical Garden. I should say that it was much smaller than that.
After a short while, we all realized that, we made a big mistake. We wasted our money, time and energy driving all the way to this place. It was not that great enough to fascinate the tourists. Too much of hype has been given to disappoint the visitors. We decided to head back to Sydney; however, we thought of having a peek to Parliament. After taking few photographs of the flowers, we proceeded to Parliament and took a round about the Parliament and headed straight to Sydney.
That's all our trip was. Not even one day. We felt that Canberra was chosen wrongly as a capital of Australia. It should have been Sydney. At least Sydney has Harbour Bridge and Opera House (LOL).
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