3. The first few days

 A good portion of the first few days in Canberra was spent trying to find places to put my 3 car- loads of STUFF and thinking about what I could consume or throw out. Fortunately, there is a large wardrobe and linen closet for me to use. 

I did bring a few photos with me but there aren't really any surfaces for me to put them on.

There's not much to go now, just these few things on the bed and a few boxes of shoes 😉

I did briefly wish that I had taken Dad's offer (you can ask him what it was) but I still think that the clear-out was worth it. You are probably thinking that I didn't really clear out but I really did!!! I got rid of furniture items, took bags to the op-shop every day, made use of the hard rubbish and put out three bins on my last bin night! I'm sure I threw out some shoes, at least I think I did; I certainly thought about it. I do still seem to have an awful lot of them! I have already thrown out one pair of sandals since arriving 😊

I miss them already 😔

I did take a little time to do some other things as well. I think it was good that Patrick stayed a couple of days and I had company. I think it helped me to adjust. To be honest, it didn't seem very hard.

We walked to the Manuka pool, which is really cute, Art Deco and Canberra's first pool. I'm not sure that it was heated but it felt really hot when we went. There is a large grassy area with trees to sit under, which makes it a super nice spot on a hot day. 

Walked back via some government buildings and found that the cafe Google suggested was open was inaccessible, then back to the apartment through Telopea Park.

We drove 8 minutes to Canberra Southern Cross Yacht Club for dinner (lots of other places were closed due to summer holidays).

Had coffee at Penny's and a tour of one of the three gyms across the road and checked out a number of the other local shops. I don't think I'll be needing my car much!

Walked 5 - 10 minutes to the Kingston Foreshore (it can take 10 minutes to get to the water because of the traffic lights), then another hour across the bridge and past the FBI. There must be a LOT of people who work there because it's an enormous building! We were also excited to see a street of houses rather than apartments. I wish I'd taken my phone because they were quite quirky. One of them had a subtle image of a horse somehow embedded on the front door and another one had cowboys stuck to the top of the letter box. None of the houses were made of 'ticky tacky'.

Supposedly the weather was 23 degrees but it was hot, hot, hot! I even popped open an umbrella for shelter! The foreshore reminded me of a quiet South bank or Docklands in Melbourne.

Lastly, we checked out Supabarn, which was actually pretty exciting! Sadly, mangos were double the price that they were at New Year in Rosebud and Box Hill South.