Murray’s bus service took us on a nice 3.5 hour trip from Sydney and deposited us in Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

That’s “can-bruh”, buy the way. Don’t be trying to pronounce all the syllables like yer from Europe ‘r some-thin’.

The most common question I heard about Canberra was “why are you here“? Apparently the locals don’t have quite the affection for the city that I ended up with. Allow me to tell you why.

Kangaroos

I didn’t know it before going, but Canberra is one of the best places in Australia to see the ‘Roos. I had been in Australia for about 4 days before seeing my first one and was beginning to wonder if I was doing something wrong. Suffice it to say that I was no longer awed by the Kangaroo after a single day of bike riding. They were everywhere.

Mountain Biking

Canberra is very bike friendly. There are bike lanes, which people respect, on nearly every road. That includes the ones where cars drive 80 km/hr. We went for quite a ride on a single day. We picked up mountain bikes at “The Cyclery” in Fyshwick. They had good quality bikes at fairly reasonable prices ($120 ASD/day).

We rode from there back to our hostel, which was about a 45 minute ride, during which I was attacked by a bird for no apparent reason other than existing. That bird is a magpie, and they are utter jerks. Fortunately it just clawed my face (no marks left) and didn’t manage to remove any of my eyeballs. I’m sure that’s what it was trying for. If anyone is asking, I am for legal hunting to extinction of the magpie.

After a quick rest, we rode out to Stromlo Forrest Park. Its mostly a ride along bike paths around the giant lake (can’t remember the name, internet is too slow to look it up) in Canberra. The total ride was about 6.5 miles though, so it took a bit of energy out of the both of us (that’s me and Chinedu), especially after the earlier 4 mile ride. There are tons and tons of Kangaroos on the route.

Stromlo is awesome. I didn’t have the right shoes (left mine at home) to really enjoy it, and we didn’t have the daylight either as we had to ride back to the hostel before dark. My feet slipped off the pedals a lot so I had to take it extremely conservatively. That said, Stromlo has tons of trails, cool beginner skills areas, and all kinds of challenging terrain. I used that challenging terrain to, of course, crash. I went down a “downhill trail” (think fast and technical) that was fast and technical and tried to roll a gap jump that I didn’t see. Again, for the non-mountain bikers, that’s not good, and it means I crashed. No major damage — just a little scrape on my knee and arm and some dirt.

I would love to come back and ride Stromlo for a few days to get a sense of all that it has to offer. Next time with proper riding shoes.

I did get a flat tire while riding on the road, but the sealant eventually held up and I was able to ride back to the hostel and, after filling the tire with a bit more air, back to the bike shop.

Food, Coffee, and Cocktail Scene

I believe, adamantly, that America has the worst coffee in the world. I have no idea why… but its a certainty. Everyone else’s coffee is better. 100% of the time. Its even true of (often) balmy Australia. Are they using better machines? Do they have less crap in their water? Do they just care more? Is there more love in the coffee? I have no idea… but someone please fix this for America. Please.

Canberra did food and drinks right. Here are some of my favorites from the three days I spent in Canberra.

White Rabbit

Awesome place for cocktails. We were headed to a bar that is known for its selection of rums and thought White Rabbit looked cool. It was almost empty so we wound up spending several hours chatting with the awesome barkeepers, Nikolai and Bekka. Nikolai is from Ukraine and spends most of his time making parquore. Bekka is from Canberra. I had a Whiskey Sour which was good, and then Nikolai created a new concoction from scratch for me. We named it something… but I can’t remember what. I also tried a “nip” (that’s a pour in the states) of the peatiest scotch in the world.

This was the first chance I had to get to know some Australian folks and it was super memorable. Not the drinks, but the conversation.

Grease Monkey

Great burger spot. On Tuesdays you got a free beer with your burger. We were there on Tuesday. Victory. They had a number of options. In two visits there, I had their IPA, Extra Pale (XPA), and I think that’s it. The overall vibe of the place is cool though. Good stop.

Coffee Lab

Good espresso (cappuccino) and breakfast. I had eggs scrambled over sourdough bread (toast) with bacon. There were some greens included as well. Good breakfast. Chill vibe. Inside and outside seating. I spent an hour there with breakfast and reading.

Grill’d

Burger chain, but with good quality. No pictures, but we went twice.

Regrets

I wish I had gotten up early and made the drive to Mt. Kosciusko, which is the highest point in Australia. Its only a 2.5 hour drive from Canberra. Unfortunately.

I would have liked to ride a LOT more in Stromlo Forrest Park. It had tons of potential for good trails (and probably good crashes). Next time.