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Canberra City Guide

Australia>Canberra City
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Canberra, the Australia's national capital, a home of government, parliament house and a host of diplomatic residences that is situated on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, in the south of New South Wales.

In this national capital, you could visit places such as Diplomatic Missions, High Court, Australian War Memorial, Parliament House and Old Parliament House.

The National Gallery of Australia-housing more than 70,000 works of art including Aboriginal Art, National Dinasour Museum- it houses the largest permanent dinasour collection in Australia. An exhibition on new fossils will be held from time to time in the museum.

Fantastic festivals such as the Floriade-Canberras annual celebration of spring is held in Commonwealth Park, Canberra Festival-A 10-day celebration to mark the founding of Australia's capital are also being held yearly. It is the home of tradition and heritage, the National Gallery

For an experience of nature, visit the National Aquarium-Australian Wildlife Sanctuary, located 12km from Canberra. You can wander through landscaped gardens with Australian animals such as koalas, penguins, kangaroos, and dingoes.

The Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, 40km south-west of Canberra is also another perfect place for exploring nature. Here, you may enjoy the view of Australian fauna in a bush setting, feed the birds or take a walk on the trails provided. Or, visit the Cockington Green with the display of miniature buildings and gardens of Great Britain located at 12 km north-west of Canberra's city centre.

Canberra is also known as a shoppers'paradise. These shopping spots are Canberra Centre, Woden, Belconnen, Federation Square and Cuppacumbalong Craft Centre.

Apart from that, Canberra has a wide range of delicacies to offer you. You can expect an exciting multi-cultural dining experience including western and estern culinary influences.

Getting There and Moving Around

By air

Canberra Airport is located 7km from the city centre. While it is not an international point of entry into Australia, but only domestic flights to and from Canberra. So, it makes convenient connections with international flights arriving in, and departing from Sydney and Melbourne.

By rail

The downtowner tram offers a free shuttle service(Monday-Friday) around the central business district. There are also three rail services daily Sydney-Canberra, Canberra Link daily rail links Melbourne-Canberra via Wodonga. Capital Link 3 services a week, rail Melbourne-Canberra via Gippsland, Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance and Cooma.

By road

There are buses connect the city to suburban areas daily. The Canberra explorer Bus links the major attractions in the city. For instance, the daily couch service from Canberra, Cooma or Eden connects service to Bombala. There is also a daily Canberra or Cootamundara service connects with the XPT.

Moving Around