"A good sheep paddock spoilt".

The above quote may be apocryphal, but is popularly believed to have been uttered by a man seeing our then-new National Capital for the first time. I thought of it again many times during our visit there last week.

Canberra was always a compromise city. After Federation in 1901, there was much bickering between rivals Sydney and Melbourne for the right to be known as the Capital, and the seat of Government. Canberra is testament to the Australian way of avoiding unpleasantness and sidestepping difficult decisions - in 1908 it was decided to create a new city from scratch, thus circumventing the need to make this politically awkward choice.

Canberra was planned, designed and invented from the ground up, on land previously used by two Aboriginal tribes and the odd intrepid settler. It didn't grow and evolve as most cities do. It was laid out according to the winning design from a competition held for the purpose. Really. While this makes it very landscaped, very open and very accessible, it also makes it utterly devoid of any soul.

There are architectural highlights of course: the newer Parliament House (built in 1988) is pretty impressive, and the museum which opened just six years ago is stunning in its use of form, colour and design. Actually it's worth a look, that one: http://www.nma.gov.au/visit/virtual_tour/ The National Gallery's not bad either (a visiting exhibition of landscapes there, "Turner to Monet" was the impetus for this trip). Apart from that, it has the sort of solid, dull buildings you'd expect as repositories for the country's most venerable treasures and as symbols of national might and justice.

There are unexpected entertainments though. Sophie kept getting the giggles at all the signs on the various places of historic interest; the pioneer cottages that were open to the public between ten and two, but only one day a week and never on school holidays. (Or when the moon was waning or there was an "r" in the month or the caretaker's mother-in-law had a headache, presumably.) They don't really "get" tourism.

The fact that the city is out in the middle of the bush has its upside though. Where else could you look down upon a nation's capital through a view like the one at the top of this post? OK, so it's not a view of the focal points, but it is Canberra.

So, to any intending visitors to our beautiful country - put Canberra on your list by all means, but put it well down. Public servants en masse are not really very interesting, and there are better places to see kangaroos.

I leave you with this, my favourite exhibit in the Museum - a snapshot of how many Australians liked to spend their leisure time in the early sixties. One perfect, pink, vintage caravan. If I could have squeezed it into my handbag, it would now be mine.

Welcome to my Life - Part One

Or should that be welcome to my children's lives? It's all connected anyway, and luckily they're good company.

I was just trying to sort some photos, and found these from two sort-of recent events, both of which were Great Parental Moments - those times when it's extra nice having kids.

First, the Music Festival in April. This is what a houseful of 18-year-olds does back at the house between sessions in the marquees:

Note assorted bodies, extra mattress on living room floor for more bodies, amazingly tasteful decor including vintage burnt orange fish-fountain and lampshade, and brown velvet bucket chair. Mmmm. That's what happens in a holiday house - nature's time-warp. The painting is a very early one of my Dad's. Front to back, James Mc, Madeleine, Georgie (singer with a voice like an angel), James G and James B. The Jameses are drummer, bass player and pianist respectively. They are watching a DVD of "Green Wing" on James G's laptop. If you haven't seen it, try to.

I love this picture. Two beautiful boys. Really. They make everyone else laugh almost as much as they do each other.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you have for breakfast after a late night at a festival. This James is enjoying (or so he said) a delightful combination of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and the remains of the previous night's chocolate fondue. And you though S'mores were decadent. Again, please note decor. I seem to recall saying somewhere that I didn't "do" kitsch. Well here, I do. It's become a sort of a running joke; how low can we go?

While all that was going on, Emma and Sophie preferred the company of the goats. Actually, that's not true - the younger girls were only there for the first day, having to go back to the city early with Colin to do a dress rehearsal for their school musical (which was "Urinetown" - it was brilliant, but I have no photos of that yet - I must try to get some, because that was a SUPERB parental moment). Here though the thing to note is the vegetation - or lack of it. The goats are there to eat the blackberry, which is a noxious weed around those parts. As you can see, they're quite good at it. This is actually the entrance to our driveway at the Bay.

Emma cosies up with, um, was it Rasputin, Eric and Scrumpy? Sophie and Em would remember - they named most of them. They are very sweet creatures. So are the goats.

Back in Melbourne and more recently, Mads, James (B) and three of their lovely friends all collected their Premier's VCE Awards. These are given to the top five students in the State in each subject area for the final year of High School. They earned theirs in Music Styles, a subject which involves listening, dissection, recognition, knowlege of musical techniques and notations and of course styles and historical context in music across many genres. It's a fantastic subject, but hard. The best thing about these awards was that in this subject, the top 5 were all from the same school - their teacher is amazing, inspirational and absolutely brilliant.

Mads and Laura got perfect scores, and James, Anna and Jesse were so close it didn't matter. Anyway, here are some pics:

In the foyer afterwards - The school Principal, Laura, their divine teacher, Madeleine and James.

An overexposed but happy couple - Mads and James.

My girls are not my whole life, but they're a wonderful, inseparable and pivotal part of it, and they and their friends enrich it beyond measure. Bringing up kids is such a challenging, tricky and turbulent process, and there are always the not-so-great times amongst the best bits. But hey - lucky me.