Feb 24: Canberra to "The Element" (beachside north of Sydney)

Canberra is the capital of Australia.  When the several states of what is now Australia came together in 1901 to form a federation, there was intense competition between Melbourne and Sydney for the right to host the capital.  The disagreement could not be resolved, so a new city, halfway in between, was carved out of the wilderness.  

An international competition to design the city was held and an American architect, Walter Burley Griffin, won, even though he head never been to Australia.  All of his design was based on photos and too maps.

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/fact-sheets/fs95.aspx

The city is quite beautiful, with intersecting lines along the compass, and many green spaces.  We visited the Australian War Museum, from which you can look across the lake to the Parliament.  Here, a group of private school girls were on tour.  Love the uni's and bonnets!

The government is a hybrid.  It has two houses, the Senate and House of Representatives. But it is a parlaimentary system, such that the party in power elects the prime minister.  It differs from the US system in that there is no executive branch and John Boehner would be Prime Minister.    With one caveat...there is an executive branch, and it remains headed by the queen, and is exercised by the Governor-General. This is the traditional English colonial government.  You can still visit the Governor-General's office in Virginia.

Representatives serve a maximum of 3 years.  Why a maximum? Because like any parliamentary system, the House can be dissolved by a majority vote of the house or by order of the Governor-General.  There are two reasons why the House might dissolve itself early: 1) because it is enjoying overwhelming public support, and wishes to capitalize on that by calling early elections; or 2) because the party in power has lost the coalition support to govern (it is a multi-party system and often one party does not have control with partners).

All bills passed by both houses require the Governor-General's approval.  It is literally a rubber stamp. The last time the Governor-General acted in anything but a ceremonial role was in 1971 when he dissolved both house and called for new elections. It is unlikely that the Governor General will ever act id=n an executive capacity again, and such action, when it occurs, effectively makes Australia a colony again, not something the Aussies would likely tolerate.

We then drove up the coast and spent the night in the lovely little village of The Entrance.  The east coast here is like the southeast coast of the US.  Lots of long sand bars along the coast with inland seawater lakes,  The Entrance is situated at a narrow break in the sand bars.

We treated ourselves to a rare dinner out. Yum: fresh made duck rolls with scallions and cucumber in hoisin sauce, followed by fresh snapper with "chats" (potatoes) and vegies.

And then to the campsite, across the inland sea from the restaurant esplanade.