I fled APEC by catching the 9am Murrays coach to Canberra, managing a decent nap along the way. My sister Rachel came to pick me up (in my dad's bright yellow Lancer) and we cruised over to the National Zoo, which looked rather lonely and miserable in the patchy rain.
We headed for the aquarium first, primarily because it was under cover. The aquarium is also a reptile residence, housing alligators, iguanas, snakes, lizards and frogs (oh yeah, I know frogs are amphibians, but whatever). It's a pretty small zoo, quite shockingly set out (lots of dead ends) but it does have two animals I've never seen before, namely the king cheetah - the cheetah with the recessive gene that gives it stripes as well as spots - and two tigons, tiger/lion hybrids. A tigon (above) is from a tiger father and lion mother, a liger is a lion father and tiger mother. You can pay lots of money to meet a cheetah or lots more money to meet the king cheetah. Unfortunately both options to break the budget were booked out.
After we finished with the zoo (and after I convinced Rach not to buy an $11 turtle plush toy), we stopped in at the Kremlin Bar (Russian-themed lounge) for a cocktail and then I met her housemates and two of her boyfriend's friends who had also come down to Canberra to escape APEC. We ended up drinking the night away back at the house.
Didn't do much on Saturday, despite the feeling that we spent the day incredibly busy. We spent about two hours at My Cafe in Civic, then my sis and I went to the Hyatt for high tea. I must say I was quite disappointed - it was buffet-style, not tier service, which meant that we had to line up to get our just desserts. Hardly fitting for a five star joint...
I spent the evening attempting to do the crossword while Rach practised guitar. Her housemate Kieran came into the living room for a spell to watch the Cowboys vs Bulldogs NRL match (he's a Bulldogs supporter so was disappointed with the loss) then there was more wine-drinking and screen-watching and Anton's attempt to make something with almonds in it that didn't work.
Oh yeah, I may have also mentioned that they have a dog. Actually, I don't think I've explained the situation all that well. In January I went to her housewarming party in Braddon but since then she's moved in with Anton in a house in Griffith. On my previous trip, however, I met Neo the dog and Rach, Anton, Neo and I went fishing. And I also met Simon, Neo's owner.
On Sunday I met Michelle for breakfast. Rachel gave me the car so inevitably I got lost, found my way and managed to park without mishap. Unfortunately Mich and I didn't have very long together because she was on call (she works in the media division at the Dept of Ag) and had to release a statement on the equine flu, but we each had a brief rant about our respective lives before we parted.
I got back to Griffith in the late morning and spent about half an hour playing ball with Neo before my sis came back from breakfast. Somehow it was decided that it was a good idea to ride to Questacon, so that's what we did. The ride there wasn't too bad, despite the fact that she stopped at a flashing pedestrian light that I thought she was going to go through, causing me to crash into her. Of course, she was fine but I bruised my knee and grazed my palm.
Questacon was reasonable fun. Nothing too different from the last time I went there except they don't have the sperm racer game any more - instead the reproduction room has been given over to a spy room, which is infinitely cooler. The best part was probably the freefall 'ride', which I don't remember from last time. It's in the Sideshow section and basically you wear a jumpsuit, then you hang from a bar suspended above a two storey drop (essentially a giant slide) and then you let go. We both did it twice. It was quite liberating.
The ride back was torture because my butt had decided that it didn't like the bicycle seat so even cruising along the flats was problematic. Then we hit a slight hill. It was only like one degree uphill and I just couldn't do it so I walked the rest of the way, which meant the remainder of the trip took ten minutes instead of two. (I figured it wouldn't have taken two minutes anyway, not at the rate I was riding).
Then I caught the coach back to Sydney and slept for two hours. As I was riding home on the train from Central, a Cityrail guard at Wynyard stuck his tongue out at me as I stared vacantly through the open doorway at him. This made my weekend.
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