Capitalism

We're in Canberra, which is a 1.5 hour ish drive inland from the coast on a mostly exceedingly windy and steep road. It's about 2,200 ASL here (Calgary = 3,500) but higher enough that it's noticeably cooler. This is the capital of Australia, supposedly located here because it's halfway between Sydney and Melbourne who could not agree on which should get the honour.

Despite being gently advised against it, I wanted to visit Canberra because of Bill Bryson's writeup: I don't remember the exact words, but he was not overly impressed and found it a very odd city. It's somewhat special in that, apparently, it was purpose-built and designed up front, rather than growing organically and somewhat chaotically as most cities do.

My main impressions are a) huge amount of green everywhere; b) somewhat unkempt, grass not cut and sidewalks generally strewn with bits of sticks and so on; c) large fake looking but nice enough lake in the centre, d) lots of roundabouts, some of which are enormous. Of course, there are roundabouts throughout Australia. As far as I know, the disadvantages to roundabouts are that they take up more room (there is lots of room in Australia) and cost more (there is lots of money in Australia). I am 100% pro-roundabout.

The circle at the upper left is a roundabout that is about 800m across, the parliament, which we are to visit today, is in the centre.

Another money observation: on weekends, restaurants typically charge a 15% surcharge. Supposedly this is to compensate them for paying overtime on weekends, which one person told me they have to do even if the employee only works 1 hour per week (I find this hard to believe, but the 15% is a fact).

We have had some phone weirdness. I think the charging system in our vehicle is flawed because when we use it, it does charge, but the phone heats up noticeably and turns itself off. At the same time, our phones seem to use up battery much faster than normal, maybe something to do with Australian mobile data? Anyway, I cannot fathom the hassle of not having a usable phone so am trying my best to deal with this.