Suburb #75 Watson

Suburb number 75 was Watson - time to return to the inner north of Canberra....and apparently to a whole day of singing the damn Watson Blinds & Awnings jingle in my head aarghhh!!!!

Watson is named after John Christian Watson, Australia's third Prime Minister at the age of only 37 (wow I really need to get moving :p). He was Australia's first prime minister from the ALP. Interestingly, he was of Chilean, German and New Zealand heritage.

I like this description of him by Billy Hughes: Mr Watson, the new Prime Minister entered the room, and seated himself at the head of the table. All eyes were riveted on him; he was worth going miles to see. He had dressed for the part; his Vandyke beard was exquisitely groomed; his abundant brown hair smoothly brushed. His morning coat and vest, set off by dark striped trousers, beautifully creased and shyly revealing the kid of socks that young men dream about; and shoes to match. He was the perfect picture of the statesman, the leader.

The streets here are named after Australian judges and legal professionals.

First off I have to say that Watson is a very very large suburb hence this will be quite a long post, and I still probably didn't do it justice - as I gave up a bit early due to an icy cold Canberra wind! :(

The first thing that struck me about Watson was that it is kind of bi-polar. There is the older part of Watson from the 60s and 70s....which has a bit of student, hippy feel too it....

Then there is the newer part of Watson which looks like part of Gungahlin....it even has the Gungahlin street lights and the crazy curbs...

But then the suburb just keeps on going as well....with many unexpected features...including old motels/caravan parks, television studios, churches (what the hell is C3 - sounds like something from star wars?)  and even a university.

There is also an art centre in Watson which focuses on pottery - and where they hold local pottery classes.

But we must not forget the local shops.... I just LOVE that the pottery society has done a mosaic here that documents the history of the suburb including a homage to the old Starlight drive in cinema that was previously located here (alas now a block of apartments).

They even did a mini mosaic map of the suburb!

The overall design of the local shops is pretty funky too. 

There is a Vietnamese restaurant there (has anyone tried?) and a new cafe appears to be opening up where the old vegetarian cafe used to be. Keep an eye out!

I did have brunch at the existing cafe there but alas as much as I wanted to love it - my meal wasn't great I am afraid :( but I did have a yummy hot chocolate and the staff are lovely. Nice place to have a coffee and read the morning paper.

I loved some of the local street art at the shops - some obviously dedicated to Bronwyn Bishop :p

And the cries for assistance nearby...

And there was still time to meet some of the locals before I froze to death!

Thank you Watson - a much bigger adventure than I expected! :)

Suburb #74 Garran

Next up was the final suburb in Woden Valley, suburb #74 Garran.

Garran is named after Sir Robert Randolph Garran - Australia's first (and for a period only) public servant and an expert in Australian law. He was head of Attorney Generals for 31 years. He also helped establish the ANU and was strongly involved in the Australian Federation movement. Though as usual weird facts interest me - for example, while his family lived in Phillip Street in central Sydney, apparently his mother had a deep distrust of milkman's milk and so she kept a cow in the backyard, which would walk on its own to the Domain each day to graze and return twice a day to be milked.

The streets here are named after Australian writers.

Garran is known for housing the Canberra hospital, but again I was surprised by what I found here...like Pearce nearby, I made some new friends :)

I also came across some amazing mountain views from the higher parts of the suburb...

Similarly there were a large number of mega-mansions in this suburb....some tasteful...some not so tasteful...

There were also some gorgeous gardens on display - some even with their own helicopters :p

Last but not least, I was glad to see that the local shops here are still alive and kicking - despite Woden not being far away...

And in true Canberra style the bush is just around the corner...