Suburb #51 Russell

OK so the suburb of Russell - aka secret squirrel land - will probably not be first on itineraries for the #humanbrochure #visitcanberra weekend. But I am sure many people will drive past....

Russell is one of the smallest suburbs in Canberra and no one actually lives there, unless you count the defence force...it does not appear to be strictly named after anyone, rather Surveyor Charles Scrivener, who surveyed sites for the construction of Australia's capital, gave the name to an adjacent trigonometrical station in 1910 and the local area eventually took on its named (and yes Scrivener dam is named after him).

The streets here are not surprisingly named after armed services personnel.

So as a pacifist, I wasn't exactly looking forward to exploring Russell - essentially defence force central. But, as usual, Canberra surprised me.

Russell was in fact a land of pretty flowers....

As well as the Duntroon Dairy. This is believed to be the oldest standing building in Canberra. Built around 1832. Even if you are not interested in the history, I recommend a walk around here - and if you love rabbits this is the place for you (I have never seen more in my life).

The views from here are also pretty incredible in all directions....

And, I admit it, even the Australian-American war memorial is impressive in its own macho war type way. 73m tall apparently for those measurement inclined folk.

But just a word of warning folks - take a lot of photos around here and you may get a visit from the AFP...thankfully for the 2nd time in this project I avoided being arrested though :)

Suburb #50 Mawson

Suburb no 50 was Mawson down South...yes 50! Yahoo...I can't believe I am still not even half way though....

Mawson is named after Sir Douglas Mawson - explorer of the Antarctic - who managed to travel to and raise a flag at the magnetic South pole in 1909. This was despite frostbite, his companions falling down crevices and descending into madness, and being required to eat his own sled dogs to survive.

The streets here rather logically thus have the theme of Antarctic exploration.

I had never been here before and boy was I missing out. It might not be the prettiest suburb I have visited but it was a multicultural joy - a place of many unexpected foodie finds :)

There a two sets of shops in Mawson - the Swinger Hill shops (yeah that makes sense right) and the Mawson shops.

At the Swinger Hill shops, where there is a sculpture commemorating Sir Douglas (again not overly logical), there are two restaurants that I need to try - a Vietnamese one, Green Bamboo, that keeps making me hungry via Facebook, and an Indian place, Jehangir, that I have heard great things about. I missed chilli night here :(.

At the actual Mawson shops, you will then find a Serbian club and an Austrian club on one side of the road, and then middle eastern/arabic food heaven on the other. We had an amazing lunch at Canberra's only Palestinian cafe here. Wander around and just smell all the spices, you won't regret it.

But only a few streets away, you will find a gorgeous colourful Hindu temple!

I had a great adventure here. Indeed, in many ways, this suburb really is what this blog is all about - finding the unexpected in a city that everybody judges without even visiting here, except potentially on a school excursion to the war memorial! OK it may not be the equivalent of Singapore's little India and Kampong Glam but hey its only 20 minutes in the car :p

So it is probably quite apt that in Mawson they have a Power St and that this suburb was number 50 :)

Suburb #49 Wright

Suburb number 49 was Wright. Where? Canberrans may ask - a new suburb North of Duffy, not far from Mt Stromlo.

Wright is named after Australian poet Judith Wright, who was also a well known campaigner for the environment and indigenous rights.

We meet and part now over all the world;

we, the lost company,

take hands together in the night, forget

the night in our brief happiness, silently.

We, who sought may things, throw all away

for this one thing, one only,

remembering that in the narrow grave

we shall be lonely.

Death marshalls up his armies round us now.

Their footsteps crowd too near.

Lock your warm hand above the chilling heart

and for a time I live without my fear.

Grope in the night to fine me and embrace,

for the dark preludes of the drums begin,

and round us round the company of lovers,

death draws his cordons in.

The streets in Wright have the theme of 'environmentalists, poets and butterflies'. Unfortunately, this has resulted in 'Steve Irwin Avenue' *sighs* - as one of my fellow Canberrans has penned, 'Steve Irwin was to the environment what John Laws was to poetry'.

You are never quite sure what you are going to find in these new Canberra suburbs, although you can usually count on finding a big new 3D sign, lots of building sites and some questionable architecture. Wright certainly delivered in this space....

But Wright proved more interesting than expected - particularly given that it is really quite a small suburb. I will be interested to come back and visit the neighbouring suburbs of Coombs and Sulman when they have some more buildings! :p

I love the street lights here....

And the playground has that awesome bouncy floor stuff that you find in Gunghalin playgrounds and a lady beetle :)

But what really surprised me was the ACT fire disaster memorial at the back of this suburb. I had no idea that this was here. It is really impressive. Very moving. I am very pleased that this has been built to ensure those lost - including animal friends - during that horrible time in Canberra are not forgotten. I will never forget those armageddon red skies even when I was lucky enough not to be directly impacted.

Suburb #48 Holt

Suburb no 48 was Holt, which we sought out seeking some much needed exercise after eating way too much on our Charnwood expedition!

Holt is named after Harold Hold, the Prime Minister of Australia, famous for going 'all the way with LBJ' and of course, disappearing while swimming - whether it was due to suicide, being kidnapped by a Chinese submarine or being abducted by a UFO..... who knows as his body was never found.

The streets are ironically named after sportspeople.

The first surprise was that Holt actually has some local shops... not just the larger and well known Kippax shopping centre.

 The shops were, however, fairly deserted apart from some fairly two dimensional people.....

Kippax shops are certainly more alive but not necessarily more tasteful...Why is a hamburger eating a hamburger????

But there are some gorgeous leafy parts to Holt...especially up near the golf course.

And Holt highlights one of the best things about Canberra - the fact that you can drive for five minutes and around a corner and all of a sudden you are in the middle of the bush...or specifically, in this case, Woodstock nature reserve. Here you can take a short walk to Shepherd's lookout where the views of the Murrumbidgee are amazing.