A Visiting Writer

Invasion! Hatten the batches and fill the bulkhead with seals!

Seriously though, that's not a bad idea.

Canberra has plenty to see... especially if you cheat and stand on the top of the nearby mountain... then you can see all of the swamp with delusions of city. *Laughter* Ok... This time I'll actually be serious. Possibly.

Though there is a lot hiding to check out if you look hard enough. Hmm. Interesting site I just found via google. Might be worth checking out. http://www.visitcanberra.com.au/

Oh and there's a fantastic article on canberra in wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra

Do you know what part of the city you'll be staying in?

One word of advice: don't try any of the McDonald's restaurants here. They're all horribly, horribly slow with half-assed quality. I should know... I work at one :D

Hm, and I don't know what kind of transport you're planning on using, but the only public transport here are buses, and they suck. Action is unreliable, and there are pretty much no services after 7 pm on weekdays, and services are very infrequent on weekends too.

But otherwise, Canberra is not so bad. Very easy to survive in :)

"Sometimes success demands a certain refined insanity." - Swallow, The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody

Welcome to Canberra, November is a lovely time here. None of this indoors stuff, there are loads of outdoor cafe's to sit in. As well as pubs.

Can you say where you'll be working? There are some convenient and not so convenient places to stay.

PM me if you want

Liz

K. What the ****? Am I going mad or no? The Forum keeps telling me there are responses to this thread and yet loading it, it has nothing new. The hell?

oh yay, a visitor!

we look forward to welcoming you :) Canberra is beautiful, I think its only those who were born here who call it a "hole" (dont get that myself...) and since its the capital, there is a lot in the way of cultural and political stuff to see.

Nano meet over coffee at Old Parliament House, anyone?
(I used to work at OPH, is a stunning building with lots of character, i fell totally in love with it!)

it'l be great to have an international perspective involed :)

yeah, i posted my response yesterday and i had that problem, it didnt show up. none of the stuff i posted yesterday did, actually....

what the?? indeed...

Hey, I used to work at OPH too :). I love it, but I was always too trapped in the Kitchen to ever get a real good look around.

really? wow! coincidence much :P

kitchen as in Ginger? how long ago were you there?

lol that really tickles me... Canberra is such a small world sometimes...

Yeah I used to work for Ginger Catering only for about half a year at the start of '06. Did you work in the main part of the building?

Old Parliament house is quite a cool little ("HA" to little) building actually. Driving past it at night when it's bright purple is always amusing. Suits it well.

yeah, i was in NPG and then in the Heritage section from Feb til... um... april or may this year - i work for the department that also looks after OPH :)

and yes, i will agree that OPH is sexy in purple... it is an AMAZING building...

I think the trick is to write at the sights... I can recommend the National Library as a good spot for writing. There is a cafe, there is a library, what more can life offer? Oh, and there is quite a bit of natural beauty.

Heaps of other great spots too.

Is this your first time to travel to Canberra?

di

Oh, a place I forgot before is the High Court of Australia. It's an amazing building, and when I visited it some years ago I was stunned. I'd love to go sit up the top, look out the windows and write.

Hi again all!

Sorry it took me so long to write back; the forums have been slowish lately and I haven't been able to confirm half of the travel plans until just today. (Every time we got an e-mail from our travel guys, we'd find something missing!)

We're all staying at the Griffin Hotel, which looks like it's some kind of combination hotel/short-term apartments, which will be neat. Two of us will have cars and drive us to/from work, but since I'm the only one insane enough to be attempting NaNoWriMo during an international trip, they're unlikely to drive me to write-ins. Thus, I'm going to rely on the buses or walk. How feasable is walking as an option? I can easily walk a few miles if needed :)

I'm willing to meet anywhere, really - any excuse I can find to combine the writing and tourism is a good one, I figure. The library, in particular, sounds like a great place to write. I've got a laptop and I plan to get a voltage converter before I leave so I can actually recharge it.

This is my first time to Canberra and, indeed, the first time I've traveled to any continent not named "North America", so I thank you again for the help :)

Heya

My mum has stayed there when she has come for work and thinks it is great. Kingston is a great location close to good restaurants and and stuff. It is fairly easy to bus from Kingston to the City as well which is where we generally have our writins. Just one bus. Goto www.action.act.gov.au for the bus timetables. I have a friend who lives near there and buses everyday to work (as he would rather spend his money on flights to Italy then to buy a car). I think the 38 and 39 are there. I am sure we can sort out car pooling as well.

Eliz

hey wow, thats right near where i work! I'm at the Department of communications, IT and the Arts, which is located on Sydney Avenue
map > http://www.wotif.com/hotel/View?hotel=W10547 (lets hope that shows the map and not just the page...)

anyway, you're looking to be in a great spot there, nice and close to most of the parliamentry circle.

I think I could probably pick you up if you needed a lift to meets, providing that I a) get use of the car (which should be fine) and b) my folks arent worried about me picking up random US citizens all on my own... (you wont abduct me, right?)

Really, that location is not even out of the way - i'm sure that if we were meeting in civic or the Parliamentary zone, most people would be able to spare a few minutes to come get you. thats if they have car space and stuff...

so, what date are you flying in?

Kingston's close to me too. That's a nice hotel.

You can catch the 38 from that location, it does take about half an hour to civic from there but it's easily do-able. Walking along the lake gives you a nice scenic route as well if you so choose.

There's plenty of places in kingston and manuka that would make great meeting places too.

I work in Barton on National Circuit, a stones throw (albeit one lobbed by a giant) from Kingston and Manuka. It's a good spot to be located in!

Liz Phillips

The Griffin is reasonably new and comfortable. It's just across the street from the Kingston shops, which includes about twenty restaurants, cafes and nightclubs, as well as a good second hand bookshop, a supermarket and my travel agent. Manuka (pron Marn-ukka) is a few blocks away, with even trendier restaurants. Mecca Bah is one of my favorites, but the Ironbark Cafe is a good source of dinkum Aussie tucker, er genuine local food.

Plenty of buses, or it's a pleasant walk. Maybe you could borrow a bike - it's all flat, parkland, lakeside etc around there. I drive a cab, so you could give me a yell for transport.

Civic (which is what we call the main city centre) and the National Library are both pretty close to Kingston so are either busable or maybe walkable depending on your energy levels.

Here's a link I found about cycling in the capital - http://www.tomw.net.au/travel/gallery.shtml . The stained glass is in the National Library cafe, a great place to write or to drink coffee between bouts of writing.

di

Ever write a post, hit a button, and then walk away? I know I have. Then, later, you go back to the forum and glance at the thread and think "These replies sound really familiar" and realize that's because your post never actually seemed to have been posted, and you're re-reading the old replies? I know I've been in that situation too. Specifically because I distinctly remember writing a post here, and pressing the button. Upon returning a week later, secure in the knowledge that I properly thanked everyone, I don't see it at all!

So let's try it again. I'll try to remember what I put before. In no particular order:

• Thanks, everyone, for the hotel advice. I was a little worried that the response would be "You're staying where? Well, it was nice knowing you"
• I'm willing to attend write-ins anywhere a bus, friendly fellow writer, or my own two feet can get me. I want to try to get out of my hotel room as much as possible, which is pretty much the opposite of my usual shut-in behavior :)
• You guys are incredibly friendly and helpful. I thank you again!

I'll try to keep in touch - at the very last I'll post when I arrive!

Yay! *claps* Someone with a stronger US accent than me!!!!

*cough*

Not that I'm not terribly glad to have a visiting writer along, that's really cool. I'm just awesomely happy it happens to be someone who knows the proper place for a 'U' is not in 'color' and that 'R's are there to be pronounced!

Woohoo! *dies of bliss*

Also, staying in Kingston is brilliant as there's loads of good restraunts and cafes there, and it's also close to Manuka. A lovely place to write in Kingston is a little cafe called 'All Things Chocolate' which is heaven if you enjoy anything made from cocoa. There's also Silo, a baked goods and cheeses place that has lots of yummy treats.

And now that I have disguised my post as something useful, I shall vanish back into the ether from whence I came!

This works as a theory until you find out that Denor was actually born in the UK, grew up in Holland, spent some time in the Seychelles and has only been in the US for approximately 5 minutes, not long enough to acquire either the American accent or bad, errr, I mean alternative spelling.

We are a friendly bunch. I think you are hitting Canberra at about the right time of year. Despite the current cold snap, it is getting warmer and it shouldn't be so hot that it's uncomfortable to walk anywhere. No heat stroke - I call that a plus.

And you are going to be pretty central which is also a major plus.

See you when you get here.

I assume that's a joke, dilally? It's hard to tell tone over the internet.

And here I was thinking he was an International Man of Mystery...

I hate having my illusions busted.

My bad.

Wow, looks like you're staying really near my school, which means your bus route would probably be the 38. I have lots of experience with the.. uh... quirks, of this particular route. It has the very annoying habit of coming whenever it pleases regardless of the timetable, but that is fairly frequently, so it's not too much of a hassle. You won't be left waiting long.

Oh, and stay away from teenage girls in blue dresses and maroon jumpers, and boys with white shirts, grey shorts and blue ties. We're all very scary children :D hehe.

"Sometimes success demands a certain refined insanity." - Swallow, The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody

I am, right now, typing this from Gate G of the Canberra airport. Hooray for free wi-fi!

I'm catching up on all the threads and figuring out the next write-in I can go to. Even if there's not one scheduled for today, I still plan to go out and write. I've got to stay up until 9:00pm somehow in order to beat that jetlag, after all. Might as well increase the word count :)