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Two Canberra Museums in Half a Day August 31, 2011

Posted by pacejmiller in Canberra, Travel.
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The Australian War Memorial

Canberra has some great free museums, and two of the best are the Australian War Memorial and the National Museum of Australia.  After spending the morning at my personal favourite, the science museum Questacon (which imposes an entry fee), we decided to blitz through both the War Memorial and National Museum in the next four hours.

It had been more than a decade since I last visited the War Memorial, considered one of the great war museums in the world.  Everything from the design to the layout to the collections are all top notch and you don’t have to be a war or history buff to enjoy looking through the massive collection of Australian war memorabilia throughout the ages, from the colonial period all the way to present day.  And it’s not just photos, videos, medals, letters, clothes and weapons.  The museum is huge enough to house planes, tanks, submarines.  The incredibly detailed dioramas with all those little toy soldiers were my favourite.

The view from the front of the memorial

On the outside, you can get a fantastic view of Parliament House from the front entrance, and apart from the museum there’s also the marvellous Commemorative Area, which includes the Hall of Memory and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Commemorative Area

It’s the type of place that can take you a whole day or more if you want to look at everything slowly and take it all in (as you would), but given the time constraints we did the ‘short tour’ that barely traversed all the highlights.  It was good enough.

After the War Memorial we drove down to the other side of town, where the National Museum of Australia is situated.  I attended a conference there a few years back (lamest thing ever — a bunch of young lawyers pretending they knew something about the law) but didn’t get the opportunity to look through the the exhibits.

The kind of weird stuff you'll see outside the National Museum of Australia

The National Museum definitely has one of the more unique designs of any museum I’ve been to, though the inside is more standard.  We sat through a rotating theatre and checked out the numerous exhibits through a strangely confusing circular path.  It’s not as exciting as say the British Museum or the Louvre, but considering the short history of colonised Australia (there is of course a section on indigenous history), the National Museum actually has a lot of stuff to offer (including a pretty cool gift shop).

Like the War Memorial, you’d probably need close to a full day to enjoy all the exhibits at the National Museum, so again we did the speedy tour and skipped a few sections.

Both museums are fantastic because they are well maintained and have a wealth of information.  Perfect for children and those who would like to learn a little more about Australia.

Check out the websites (click on the links above) for more information.

Brodburger: Freaking Delicious Burgers! August 24, 2011

Posted by pacejmiller in Canberra, Food, Reviews, Travel.
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The Brodburger food caravan

I like my burgers, and few places make burgers like Brodburger in Canberra.  I was sceptical at first, considering that Brodburger is served out of a dodgy looking ‘food caravan’ in the parking lot of Bowen Park.

But we were on a high after Questacon and in need of a good feed, so we drove down by Bowen Park in search of the conspicuous red caravan.  And there it was, right at the edge of the parking lot, a perfect spot for nearby workers who want to enjoy a burger down on the grass overlooking Lake Burley Griffin.

It was 11:45am and Brodburger doesn’t open until 12 noon, but there was already a line of about 10 to 15 people, some regulars, others tourists, and all with a ravenous hunger plastered on their faces.  The clock ticked over to 12, and the line increased to about two dozen, and yet the owner of the van was nowhere to be seen.  At around 12:10, stomachs started grumbling and patient customers were wondering whether the delicious burger would elude them on this sunny day.

If you want to eat a Brodburger you have to get there early!

At 12:15, some rumblings could be heard behind the van, but less astute customers hadn’t noticed.  Fortunately for us, a group of about five decided it wasn’t worth the wait and departed, moving us up the queue just in time for the van to open up.

On this day, Brodburger was run by two friendly, carefree dudes — one serves and the other cooks.  Their menu is displayed outside on a wooden board, and contains an assortment of burgers, including beef, chicken, fish and vegetarian, as well as fries.  The prices are reasonable and bottles of water are given for free (if you ask nicely).

Finally! Open for business!

After a short wait we reached the front of the queue and went with the classic Brodburger (according to the website: A grade gourmet beef patty, flame grilled. Fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and Spanish onions. Includes homemade aioli and tomato relish) and a BrodChicken Burger (Succulent chicken breast in a secret marinate, flame grilled. Topped with bacon, avocado, fresh lettuce, tomatoes and Spanish onions. Includes homemade chilli aioli).  A lot of people went with the Brodburger Deluxe (which contains an extra patty, egg and bacon), but it looked like a coronary waiting to happen, so we passed.

The great thing about Brodburger is that their burgers are made fresh to order, but because of a shortage of facilities and staff, you almost certainly have to endure an agonising wait before you can devour your burger.  There weren’t that many people before us, but some of them ordered entire boxes of burgers and fries to take back to the office, and consequently we ended up waiting a further 30 minutes or so before our two burgers were ready.  And trust me, when you’re already starving, waiting for 30 minutes while surrounded by tempting burger fumes borders on torture.

Eventually, the burgers were ready, nice and hot in our little hands, and we took them down like prized jewels to a cozy spot by the lake.  A few birds looked like they were eager to be friends, but I barked at them for the safety of the burgers.

You know, photos rarely ever do burgers justice. This is the BrodChicken.

The Brodburger

So how was it?  You know I don’t like to exaggerate, but the burgers at Brodburger must be amongst the best I have ever tasted.  The buns are so soft and fluffy, and the meat is fresh, juicy and full of flavour.  The lettuce and tomato balance out the saltiness perfectly, but it is the generous amounts of the insanely delicious, tangy tomato relish and home-made aioli that elevated the burgers to a whole new level.  The Brodburger featured the green chive aioli and the BrodChicken featured the pink chilli aioli — both were to die for.

The half-eaten burger usually isn't a good look, but I simply couldn't resist

Bloody hell, just writing this post is making me super hungry.  I’m going to get some food.

10 out of 10!

Brodburger
Address: Bowen Park Carpark, Bowen Drive/Wentworth Av, Barton ACT
Opening Hours:
Tuesday: Dinner: 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Wednesday: Lunch: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm; Dinner: 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Thursday: Lunch: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm; Dinner: 5:30 pm – 12:00 am
Friday: Lunch: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm; Dinner: 5:30 pm – 12:00 am
Saturday: Lunch: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm; Dinner: 5:30 pm – 12:00 am
Sunday: Lunch: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Website: http://www.brodburger.com.au/

PS: Apparently the Brodburger van is not situated in a legally approved location and the council has been trying to get them to move, but petitions from customers have managed to keep them there, for now.

I love Questacon! August 19, 2011

Posted by pacejmiller in Canberra, Technology, Travel.
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I’ve always loved science museums.  In fact, a visit to a science museum as a child may have prompted me to tell everyone that I wanted to be a scientist when I grew up.  Having the worst science teachers (one threw a metal dust pan that narrowly missed a student’s head) and performing poorly in science during my formative school years (I was told to stand in a corner after tracing light rays on the table instead of my workbook during an optics experiment) quickly put those dreams into a permanent coma.  But my passion for science museums remains alive.

And so during our recent trip to Canberra, my number one must-visit was Questacon, Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre.  Questacon is located at King Edward Terrace, home to a bunch of other galleries and museums such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Australian Democracy, and is adjacent to Parkes Place, which is where the High Court of Australia current sits.  By the way, Australia’s highest court of law is a dump.

Questacon is undoubtedly designed for curious children, but that didn’t stop me and many other adults from trying out the 200+ interactive exhibits across the 8 galleries in the museum.  The layout is uniquely designed.  You start off on the first exhibition hall on the top floor, then slowly make your way down the circular walkway through the various halls until you reach the eighth and final one on the ground floor.  Reminded me a little of the astoundingly good aquarium at Osaka (Kaiyukan), which has a similar design.

Burn your shadow onto the wall!

For us, we started off with a dry ice show in one of the theatres on the ground floor (there are a few throughout the day, and this one was supposed to be the best), which was very cool.  I learned a few things and was surprised by how many children were willing to volunteer to answer questions they clearly did not know the answer to.

The famous free fall slide!

I’m not going to bother going through all the exhibits they had — you can check them out for yourself at the Questacon website.  For me, the coolest were the ‘Perception Deception’ gallery (especially the ‘phantom limb’ — that was freaky!), the ‘Awesome Earth’ gallery (where you could experience earthquakes and massive lightning strikes) and the ‘Sideshow’ gallery (like a free theme park with those rotating clowns, roller coaster simulators and a six-metre free fall slide!).

The only clowns that don't scare me...ok, maybe just a little bit

Questacon was a lot of fun.  It was hygienic too, with free hand sanitizer pumps in every gallery.  We went during school holidays, so there were a lot of kids (though I imagine not as many as there would be on the weekend), but the good thing is that as an adult you can just shove them out of the way.

Questacon is open 9am-5pm every day except Christmas Day
Adults $20, Concession $15, Children (4-16) $15, Family (2 adults+3 children) $60 + $7 for each additional child. 

Silo Bakery (Canberra) August 16, 2011

Posted by pacejmiller in Canberra, Food, Reviews, Travel.
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On the morning of our second day in Canberra we took a little drive down to nearby (everything is ‘nearby’ in Canberra) Kingston, home of the famous Silo Bakery.  According to my Canberra resident friend, Silo is only one of two or three places in Canberra where you can get both awesome coffee and pastries, and it’s the best of the lot.

We decided to put his bold remarks to the test and ordered a couple of coffees and pastries.  It was a Friday morning and the little cafe was still relatively packed, with all seats taken up and a few in waiting (so we had to get takeaway and eat in the car).  Apparently on weekends the line extends all the way down the street.

Anyway, my friend was right.  The coffee was fairly good and the pastries were amazing — one raspberry and the other rhubarb.  Both were phenomenal.  Sweet but not overly sweet and the pastry was baked to perfection.  Despite having just finished a moderately sized buffet breakfast we scoffed them down in a hurry.

Absolutely recommended for anyone with a sweet tooth.

Silo Bakery
36 Giles Street, Kingston, ACT
(02) 6260 6060
Open Tuesdays to Saturdays, 7am-4pm
website: http://www.silobakery.com.au/ 

Canberra Day 1 Round Up August 10, 2011

Posted by pacejmiller in Canberra, Travel.
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The Canberra skyline at dusk -- you can see some of the foreign embassies from here

Our first day in Canberra was uneventful.  It was a relatively long drive (around 3-3.5 hours from Sydney), which felt longer because I kept expecting wildlife to run into the middle of the road and make slam on the brakes and flip our car.  Fortunately, that never happened but the dozen or so animal carcasses (most were small, like cats, dogs and wombats, but some were HUGE, like almost full-sized kangaroos) I saw were enough to keep me awake.

Canberra is a small place but the roads can get confusing because they seem to run in concentric circles around Parliament House.  Even with a GPS, we got lost a few times before we arrived at our hotel of choice, Hotel Realm.

Located on National Circuit, Hotel Realm is one of the two (as far as I know) 5-star hotels in Canberra, and it’s the newer one.  I had stayed at the Hyatt (the other one) about 3 years ago as part of a young lawyers conference and while it was huge and spacious it was also in need of a makeover (or maybe it was just the super cheap rooms my firm paid for).  It reminded me too much of The Shining.

After settling down we went out and out for a snack, and we decided on the much publicised Tonic Espresso at 7 Mort Street (open Monday to Friday, 7:30am-4pm).  The coffee is supposed to be the best in Canberra, but what really impressed us were the lamingtons.  Get coffee if you want but don’t leave without getting some lamingtons.  We liked them so much that we scoffed them down before remembering to take photos.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving around the roads near Parliament House.  There are dozens of foreign embassies in that area and it was interesting checking out the different designs and what they said about their country.  I was disappointed to not even see one drug dealer or hobo wandering the streets.

It's actually not a bad looking building

At 5pm, the streets of Canberra came alive.  With mostly public servants working there it wasn’t surprising that everyone bolted out the door at 5 on the dot.  But even with the entire population on the streets it wasn’t so bad.  I don’t think you could call it ‘traffic’.

The open space and pool of water in front of Parliament House

The highlight of the day would be our dinner at this pizza/pasta joint called Italian and Sons (which I will review in my next Canberra post), recommended by a good friend of mine who lives in Canberra (“Let’s face it,” he said, “this place is a dump.”).  We caught up briefly and he took me to the “hippest part of town”, which was an empty street lined by about 10 shops.

I know, so far Canberra has lived up to its reputation, but I assure you, we were just getting started.  It really is fun.  Really.  Promise.

Stay tuned.