Suburb #53 Evatt

Suburb no. 53 was Evatt in Belconnen, which I had been wanting to visit since I saw Doc Evatt's grave on my adventures in Woden cemetary.

So yes - this suburb is named after Herbert Vere Evatt, a former justice of the high court, who was also....chief justice of NSW, Leader of the ALP, third president of the UN General Assembly, Chairman of the UN Atomic Energy Commission and the Attorney General. I mean geez what a slacker!

The streets in Evatt are named after lawyers and people associated with parliament.

We started our adventures in the parkland to the south of the suburb that runs alongside Ginninderra creek. It was gorgeous wandering through the fields of yellow...

 Along the shaded paths.....

Through the grassy fields...

And across the 'amazing bridge'.... on such a beautiful Canberra summer day.

I was pretty excited to meet some new friends too...

And find a park where you can play Twister :)

I must admit the rest of Evatt did not enchant me quite so much....

But there are amazing views back towards Belconnen (*waves* at Helen)....

While the shops have seen better days....you can buy a scary pink meringue monster...

There is also a Tibetan Buddhist society nearby, where you can do intensive Tibetan language courses, which was unexpected....

I also just love these eyes :)

Suburb #52 Griffith

Suburb no 52 was Griffith, basically just across the road from where my guests stayed at the East Hotel for their #humanbrochure experience - as I decided it was finally time to take my Australian politics obsessed co-adventurer on a Petrov flavoured adventure.

Griffith, formally known as the much more awesome 'South Blandfordia', is one of Canberra's oldest suburbs. It is named after Sir Samuel Griffith, aka 'Oily Sam',  the first Chief Justice of the high court - who was also a Welshman, translator of Dante, lawyer, politician, Attorney General, leader of the Liberal Party, Premier and Knight Commander of the the Order of St Michael and St George.

The streets here are named after explorers.

I had been to Griffith shops many times before as one of my favourite restaurants Rubicon is here, plus a great Thai restaurant. But I discovered that it has now become an organic foodie paradise - with yummy vegan ice cream for sale and wheatgrass-a-go-go. I can't believe that until our visit I hadn't been to the Vietnamese restaurant here either - clearly somewhat of a Canberra institution.

I wish this sign in the toilets had been left just for me :p I don't think so but it did still make me smile...

As did most of far-from-bland Griffith. I love the sense of history in this suburb - with heritage listed buildings everywhere, including the art deco Whitley houses...and gorgeous old homes with inspiring gardens that I would kill to live in.

The former residence of the Petrov's is here...as well as the Russian Embassy which was famously spied on from the pub across the road.

There are gorgeous parks everywhere - and its all so green :)

Below is a sculpture in the shape of a prow of a boat, designed in honour of Willem Janszoon, the first European to sail through Australian waters in 1606.

Canberra's most famous non-suburb of Manuka is also found within the borders of Griffith....however you choose to pronounce it...

A land of cafes, restaurants, retro architecture, 'high fashion' and unfortunate tree pruning activities....

Manuka stadium and the gorgeous Manuka pool are also here (though alas not yet open for the summer season when I was there)...

So is the art deco St Paul's church...

And make sure you stop in to M16 Artspace before you leave. I would so love to do an exhibition of all my suburb photos here one day - great venue :)