Canberra via Berrima

We were all up by 10:00 ready for our trip to Canberra. It was a scorching day, so the trip was ideal as we would be spending most of the day in the air conditioned car. It was a six hour drive which we broke up by visiting Berrima (roughly half way). It was a beautiful village with a couple of cafe's, a restaurant, a handful of gift shops and a pub. It was old by Australian standards, having been there since 1831. We stopped in one of the cafe's and had lunch and a coffee (for which I had a ploughman's) and had a little look in the gift shop before heading off again.

I struggled to stay awake during the journey, with jet lag still a bit of an issue. We finally arrived in Canberra at 4:00, just in time to store our bags at Ross and Sandra's (Holly's uncle and aunt) before heading off to Belinda's (Holly's cousin's) house. At Ross and Sandra's we met Holly's other cousin, Michelle, her husband Jason and her 3 children (along with Michelle's dog Oscar and Ross and Sandra's dog Gemma).

When we reached Belinda's house (just down the road from Ross and Sandra's) we met up with Belinda and her 2 children (+3 more dogs - Scooby, Tilly and Gypsy). It didn't take long before they were being thrown in the pool by Jason, after which the children got to open a few presents by the christmas tree.

The pool was too appetising not to take a dip - my first swim of the holiday. Apart from that we had a great time chatting, eating and drinking, watching the wildlife, patting the dogs and holding a blue tongue lizard that one of the kids had as a pet.

At the end of the evening we headed back to Ross and Sandra's, where we would be staying for 2 nights.

Wildlife:
bush tailed possum,
sulphur crested cockatoos,
crimson rosellas,
and a few dead possums, kangaroos and wombats on the road :-(