A Transcendental Experience II

Once aloft, we had the surreal experience of gliding silently in space a few hundred meters above familiar Canberra landmarks. This posting shows little more than a selection of the images we saw during our trip to give readers an impression of Canberra from the air. Remember that the trip took place early on an incandescent morning with brilliant visibility. The shadows, where observable, are long, but equally the pictures sometimes reveal large distance. The images are in time sequence, but taken with two different cameras.

So, on with the display. I will briefly describe each image below it.

The Carillon (bell tower) alongside Lake Burley Griffin with Civic (Canberra's commercial heart in the background.

Part of the Parliamentary triangle, with the High Court in the front left, Questacon (a science exhibition) in the white building (front right), the brownish Treasury Building (where Beck works and Max went to pre-school (above and slightly right), old Parliament House in the middle distance, and Capitol Hill with New Parliament House behind it. Note the Brindabella range in the distance rising to almost 2000m and the shadow of the balloon in the foreground.

In the middle ground are (i) the National Library, (ii) the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, and (iii) the National Museum of Australia behind that. Note the considerable expanse of Lake Burley Griffin as it winds past Yarralumla, Government House.

ANZAC Parade leads to the War Memorial in the middle distance. Immediately behind us, on the other side of the lake, the ceremonial avenue stretches out to Parliament House.

Commonwealth Avenue leads from Civic - behind us - to Parliament House.

This view stretches over the National Museum towards the office towers of the Woden Town Centre. Woden is one of the major suburban clusters, along with Belconnen, Tuggeranong, and Gunghalin.

It is now Autumn and the many deciduous trees in Canberra are turning vibrant reds and yellows. This region north of Civic shows the beautiful display put on as the season changes towards winter.

Black Mountain and its communications tower are visible from most parts of the city.

The Canberra Stadium, in the suburb of Belconnen, is the premier sporting venue and I have seen matches there

Belconnen town centre is in the middle distance alongside Lake Ginninderra - one of Max's favourite play areas. And Belconnen is home to various strands of our family.

I hope you enjoyed these images as much as we did seeing the whole landscape evolve beneath us. The experience was magical.

AS