Suburb #68 Conder

Next stop was Conder, almost at the Southern tip of Canberra....I was looking forward to this, as I previously had a great visit to Banks next door...but well I have got to say... it didn't quite turn out as I hoped...

Conder is named after artist Charles Conder. A member of the Heidleberg School alongside Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton. He painted stuff and then died of syphilis or 'general paresis of the insane' as it was known then.

The streets in Condor are also named after artists.

We started our adventures of Conder at the shops - the Lanyon Market Place. It was a Market Place surely it had to be great yeah? Mmm...no...my lunch made me sick. Beware the Dancing Noodle!

Nevertheless, it was all worth it for the Hot Chickens sign (my chickens will understand :p).

Like Banks, Conder does have some beautiful views though....and it was exciting to see the autumn leaves start to appear...

But I really do question the need for people to build their mega mansions....

And why streets (as opposed to intersections) require roundabouts? Is it so people have to stop to look at the big houses?

But at least I found proof that people with money can build nice houses...

And a cool bird...

Plus some great playground equipment that I could lie on and groan about my stomach pain.

Suburb #67 Casey

So last weekend was a suburban adventure of extreme distances and varied experiences...starting in suburb number 67....Casey in Gungahlin.

Casey is named after Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey, an Australian politician, diplomat, Governor General of Australia and a baron no less. He was Australia's foreign affairs minister during a few little minor incidents like the Suez Crisis, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. He was also colonial governor of Bengal between 1944 and 1946 which probably interests me more than it interests you

As my learned fellow adventurer guessed, the streets here are named after notable Australian diplomats and public servants such as Sir John Overall.

Casey is a lot newer than I realised, with many houses still being built and heaps of construction still underway...

Nevertheless, the residents here are clearly going places...ahhh nothing like climbing that social structure and fulfilling the (American) *cough* your dreams....

Casey even has its own great wall...

Oddly Casey also has a lot of stairs that appear to go nowhere though...

But jokes aside, you can already see some typical Gungahlinesque features developing....those that I love, like the splashes of bright colour...

The awesome parks (although town planners please make your slides big enough for grown ups with hips, I have lost weight but almost got stuck in this slide...)...

And the beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful suburban ambience...

Unfortunately, someone always has to ruin it with a flag...

Suburb #66 Scullin

So today I visited suburb number 66 with my mum. I chose Scullin due to the party at the local shops event on today and in fact right now!

Scullin is named after former prime minister James Scullin who was lucky enough to be sworn into government two days before the wall street crash of 1929 which basically marked the start of the great depression. James was a good catholic boy who didn't drink or smoke and married a dressmaker.

Streets here are apparently named after aviators (missed that entirely...) - though note that Long Place is ridiculously short...

Scullin is quite a small suburb of Belconnen. It has some amazing tall and beautiful gum trees, but a bit of a dry and dusty feel about it as a result.

But if you look closely enough you can find some pretty little bits of  greenery...

And as usual Belco didn't disappoint with the individualistic letterbox design :)

I swear this horse is too freaky for a kids playground though....

Finally it was off to the shops where they appear to have several supermarkets...

And the good old suburban Chinese restaurant - of course called Sue's...

And plane stuff...

And today they also had a party :) [*waves* to Tara aka 'Miss Belconnen' - sorry I didn't stop too say hello but you looked busy]. Ukuleles, free hair spray and op shopping - not bad Scullin. Well done :)

But just finally WTF? did I miss something with this advertising campaign...