Canberra – Day 2

Cold night but clear day. A very pleasant change from the last few months! Today we hit the Old Bus Depot Markets. What a great place. It was full of great art, craft, food and food stuffs. Had to que for 10 minutes for the ATM! It’s a popular pastime of Canberrites.

Right next door is the Canberra Glassworks. Enjoyed a fabulous free tour of the plant. ANU has a glass making course and apparently people come from all over the world to study there. The Canberra Glassworks was developed to provide a workspace and outlet for graduates to work in.

It was built in 1913 as a coal fired power station for Canberra. All the original coal hoppers and burners were all kept in place and the new studio installation has been beautifully and sympathetically added to this fabulous building. It has a real industrial feel to it with lots of wood, glass and steel everywhere. They hold classes on a regular basis in glass bead making and paperweight making.

The tour ends and allows people to enjoy a meal in the café and a tour around their two galleries with jewellery, glasses, vases and paperweights for sale. It was very professionally presented and is a credit to its organisers. Its only been open just over 12 months, but its gained a great deal of credibility in a short space of time.

Part of an old kiln on the outside of the building has been cleverly incorporated into the new building by glass. it now forms part of a gallery

We found an American girl who was doing here post grad studies at ANU and working at the gallery possibly as part of her exchange of use of facilities. She had obviously come a long way just to study some more.

Found a lovely spot on the water behind the Australian National Museum that appears to be quite campervan friendly. Its also very quiet. Our neighbours for the night...