Suburb #31 Chapman

This weekend it was off South again to suburb no. 31 Chapman - a destination recommended by the lovely Melina Farenheit.

Chapman is named after Sir Austin Chapman an apprentice saddler and then Queanbeyan business man, who subsequently went into politics and represented Eden-Monaro from 1901 to 1926. He was Minister for a number of things but importantly for us Canberrans he played an important role in influencing the site of our city. As a Queanbeyan local, he lobbied hard for Canberra to be placed where it is today.

The streets here are named after the Australian film industry.

Chapman wins the award for the most hilly suburb I think we have been too so far. No stair-masters required if you live here.

Overall, as long as you had a car (or were ultra fit unlike me), I think this would be a lovely place to live. The streets are really interesting with quite different types of houses and established gardens particularly up towards the mountains - some less sensible architectural decisions may nevertheless have been made more recently...

This is another suburb that was significantly impacted by the Canberra bushfires - you can see still see some of the damage caused by the fire, and it must have been my imagination but I swear there is still a whiff of burnt smell now ad again near some of the houses.

The local shops are being rebuilt from the looks but there is a great op shop there which was an awesome find, plus a takeaway which from the looks of the picture out the front has been serving lot of calories for yeas - so in other words probably yum :p

Coolemon Ridge behind the suburb is worth the walk up the hill. There is a fabulous view from the top plus an old trig station and some special rocks apparently.

Chapman also gets plus points for its fairy tale playground with a slide big enough for big kids like me :)

And some unexpected cute touches! I really do hope they have a flag of the day up regularly :) Chapman residents please advise.

Suburb #30 Giralang

Next stop was Giralang which thankfully restored some Belco pride.

This was appropriate as this suburb is named after an Aboriginal word meaning 'star'. The streets in Giralang are named after Aboriginal words for stars, astronomers and constellations.

I really enjoyed my adventure here as there are lots of gorgeous parks, mountain views and very much a community feeling - I even felt bad for interrupting what seemed like a community meeting at the local park bridge.

Walking around the south west of the suburb where Gininderra creek first turns into Lake Ginninderra was particularly pretty....

Even despite the old shopping trolleys which have quite literally become part of the landscape....

OK so perhaps this isn't quite spirit island in Jasper...

But I still think its a lovely spot...

Unfortunately the shops down near the local school have basically shut down...

But the views from the hilly parts of the suburb are just gorgeous...

There were also some unexpected surprises here as well. Like the odd one lane road at the top of the surburb....WTF???

And the houses in 'sculpture' street....<fill in your own late show quote here>.

Suburb #29 Page

Suburb #29 was Page in Belco. We chose this suburb as we were thinking of having a chilli night at the Vietnamese restaurant here.

Page is named after a former Australian Prime Minister Sir Earle Page. He was PM for only three weeks, though at the other extreme represented the one electorate in parliament for almost 42 years! He apparently went to Sydney Boys High School (just across the bear bit from my old school). He was a doctor who served in Egypt as a military doctor during the WWI, and was famous for calling Menzies a coward in parliament for not serving during the war. 

The streets here are named after scientists...again Canberra? :(

I have to say the whole point of this project was to find the good points in all Canberran suburbs but to be honest that I struggled a little in Page - and not just because its Wikipedia page just lists 'empty' under features :( Come on Pagians your suburb needs you!

I was a bit put off by the shops area which was to be frank a little creepy...

Especially the Page tavern whose customers clearly didn't appreciate me taking photos...

But...despite that, there was some cool graffiti...

Some beautiful wattle....

LOTS of swing sets....

And they don't seem to take the name of the suburb too seriously here :p

Suburb #28 Red Hill

Suburb number 28 was Red Hill - perhaps the Canberran version of 'double pay' in Sydney. I have often driven around this suburb dreaming of being able to afford its houses...but I haven't really spent much actual time here so I really enjoyed my adventures.

Red Hill is named after a hill in the suburb which rather unsurprisingly has red soil (rather like the other red hill we visited in Franklin). So yes this suburb is not named after a person, which in my view is cheating really...however, as it is one of Canberra's oldest suburbs - gazetted in 1928 I guess I will forgive it.

Although after scaling the side of a hill and almost rolling down onto a main road in order to take a photo of the sign for this suburb, it hasn't left me in a very forgiving mood :p

The streets here are named after ships and explorers.

A number of heritage listed buildings can be found in Red Hill - these include the gorgeous Calthopers' House built in 1927 which I was lucky enough to get a tour of. Its open on the weekends from 1 to 4pm and is really worth a look. It gives you an amazing insight into what it was like to live in Canberra between the wars - and the best bit is - everything in the house is pretty much original - it is not a reconstruction.

There are also a number of embassies in Red Hill which makes for some  unusual garage sales...

And some unusual architecture and memories of times past...

But it is Red Hill itself and the natural parts of this suburb which are really the highlights (at least for those of us who can't afford a mansion :p). Money can't buy some of these beautiful views.

I made a few new friends on my journey as well :)