Our trip to the Parliament Building

Well, we started our trip there on foot, however, Canberra which is a fairly dry climate just so happened to be receiving an out of season rain storm... Go figure! We started heading to the bridge, but the walk was so long and we weren't able to have the internet working before embarking on this trip, we ended up turning around and trying a "shorter" route. Because we were ignorant, we didn't quite get to note our surrounding areas from a map and this shorter route got us closer to the parliament building, but the walk to get there was not possible due to the large body of water surrounding it. So we essentially went the wrong way! Since we were already soaked and getting hungry, we decided to stop at the National Museum of Australia, which was right at the end of the path that we could walk on. We got a snack there and since we weren't going to make it to the Parliament building in a timely matter, we stayed there, it was free anyway!

This is quite a neat museum. www.nma.gov.au We found some great exhibits and some really neat facts about Australia. But one of the most touching exhibits was one about an Endling. An Endling is the last remaining creature of its species; the one that caught our attention was the Tasmanian Tiger. It is a sad tale about a species gone extinct. The Tasmanian Tiger is a marsupial (meaning it has a pouch). Both the male and female Tassie Tigers have a pouch, providing protection of male genitalia and a place for carrying & nursing young on the female. They resemble short-haired dogs, but have stripes (13-21 depending on the animal), that fade as the animal ages similar to a tiger, giving it it's name. They also have a tail similar to that of a Kangaroos. Tasmanian Tigers used to populate all of Australia (including the mainland), however the population dwindled on the mainland and was mostly known to exist on the isle of Tasmania (or VanDieman's Land). This beautiful creature is confirmed to have gone extinct in 1936 when the last one in captivity died at the Hobart Zoo. It is said that due to the introduction of Dingos, rampant bounties, and outbreak of disease caused the downfall of the Tassie Tiger. There are very few photographs of this creature and no recordings of its vocalisations (aussie spelling). There have been unconfirmed sightings of the Tasmanian Tiger throughout Australia since its "confirmed" extinction, but none have ever been supported by proof. The display that Del and I were able to see is quite sad, so we will not be displaying any photos, but if you are interested, you may view it at the following source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine

On the bright side, it is now 5:18pm and the rain has finally stopped just in time for us to go to a barbeque haha! Our first Aussie Barbie. Too bad the rain couldn't stop for us to make it to Parliament! But in our travels, we did find some beautful birds. Parrots and Cockatoos apparantly fly free in New South Wales so I was able to capture some images of them. However, that will have to wait until after the barbie since I have to get ready now and we all know that I'm a slow-ass person when it comes to that. So take care and we'll still post some fun facts about Canberra and Parliament since we're here. Cheers!

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (click to read about these birds)

Crimson Rosella (click to read)
Eastern Rosella (click to read)


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