Canberra, ACT, 19 October 2009.

First pitstop on the way to Canberra.

Lake George, my favorite Canberra spot. Can't remember the last time this lake had water in it. Would love to walk across it one day.

Enormous and flat.

Can-ber-ra.

Leah and Sonia excited about a photo I had taken of them in mid-flight.

Old Parliament House in the background.

New Parliament House in the background

Leah, Queen.

After Robert Frank's Elevator.

We walked onto the roof of Parliament House and was told that flag was the size of a double decker bus.

Sonia and Leah, outside old Parliament House.

Sonia inside the Prime Minister's meeting room. I later spent sometime looking for the Portrait Gallery inside Parliament House. I couldn't understand why I couldn't find it. The website said there was a Shepard Fairy exhibition on.

Focused.

Before.

After.

An exhibition of political badges.

This is the reason why I couldn't find the Portrait Gallery inside old Parliament House, it now has it's own building. Holly crap!

And there's the Shepard Fairy exhibition I came to see.

The building is stunning. It won an award for best public building of 2009.

We had lunch at the gallery. Leah loved this chicken and mushroom pie, I didn't so much.

Perhaps because it's a new gallery, security was tight. No photos of any artworks.

But here's a photo of the gift shop. Well stocked.

We only had an hour left for the National Gallery. They were making renovations and we had to park in a dirt field.

Put a white sign behind it and it becomes a work of art.

Heavy cotton action in the air the whole day.

Not accustomed to these coffee breaks. I usually just run on enthusiasm.

This was my favorite artwork from the trip. By Liyen Chong (see this year's first blog). Was given a lecture about the gallery's photography policy soon after this was taken. Amazing that I know someone who has work in the National Gallery collection. I emailed Liyen this image and she told me they hung it upside down.

Lake George on the drive home.

I promised Leah and Sonia they would see a giant Merino sheep on the way back.

This was the highlight of their trip to Canberra, the giant Marino in Goulburn.

Leah and Sonia spotted little sparrows living in the folds of the giant sheep.

She only had eyes for giant sheep.

Seen too much already. Fair dinkum.

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