"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.