People & Places
Canberra: A city of surprises
Australia’s capital is one of the best planned cities in the world, but Kate Baddeley discovers Canberra’s hidden charms
Imagine a city with no traffic jams, where commuters can get to work in 20 minutes and which has a plentiful supply of fresh air, spacious parks and lakes. If this sounds like a dream come true then Canberra may well be worth putting towards the top of your possible places to live in Australia list.
The man-made serenity and orderliness of the Australian capital may not instantly appeal to us history loving Brits, but it has a lot to offer from intriguing modern architecture to a thriving arts scene. What's more, workers in Canberra enjoy the highest average income in Australia, with a median weekly income of AUS$669 — significantly higher than the Australian average of AUS$549, with more than half the workforce employed in the private sector.
On the all-important weather front, you can expect warm to hot summers, clear, crisp winters, spectacular springs and balmy colourful autumns. In fact, Canberra enjoys more hours of sunshine than Sydney or the Gold Coast, making it all the easier to enjoy the first-class amenities that the city boasts.
Entertainment
As you'd expect in a city with the youngest population in Australia, Canberra has a vibrant and lively social scene, with Friday night being the highlight of the week. Top bands visit regularly, and many pubs have free live music nights.
Canberra is full of places to visit on days off. The National Gallery of Australia and other national monuments have everchanging exhibitions and there is plenty to keep children occupied that won't break the bank, like the National Zoo and Aquarium or the National Dinosaur Museum.
The city knows how to have fun, and hosts a range of events and festivals throughout the year. Kicking off in January, more than 100,000 car enthusiasts pour into the city for the annual Summernats festival. The month ends with a big Australia Day festival, including the announcement of the Australian of the Year and a huge pop concert on the lawns of Parliament House.
Every year there's a huge Canberra birthday event with food, wine and great entertainment in the park. The annual Skyfire event sees the night sky above Lake Burley Griffin lit up as one of the biggest choreographed fireworks shows in Australia. Autumn (April) in Canberra sees the skies come to life with dozens of dancing hot air balloons and folk musicians provide the music at the National Folk Festival. Canberra marks the arrival of spring with the annual Floriade in the lakeside Commonwealth Park. This month-long flower festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors.
Wining and dining
When it comes to wining and dining, Canberra can cater for every taste, with over 300 restaurants, cafés and pubs and plenty of fresh regional produce to tempt the palette. In the city centre, some of Canberra's best restaurants line West Row, in the Melbourne Building precinct. Many other great restaurants are located in Garema Place and along City Walk and Bunda Street, where you can also find pubs serving hearty meals. As for the suburbs Manuka, is a good option, particularly in the evenings when the atmosphere livens up.
Many of Canberra's restaurants and cafés also have outside 'alfresco' seating areas, with scenic views of Canberra, and the street café culture is abundant in the Manuka and Kingston districts of the city. If you fancy a local drop, the Canberra region's cool climate wines are now receiving worldwide recognition. There are 140 vineyards with more than 30 cellar doors in peaceful rural countryside around the city, and most are only 30 minutes from the city.
Shopping
The Australian capital is a good place for picking up creative gifts from galleries and markets. Canberra offers everything, from luxury boutiques, malls and department stores to street markets and designer stores. Locals after a bargain or something a bit different head to the Old Bus Depot Market, open every Sunday. Enjoy rummaging through a mix of handcrafted jewellery, art, clothing, furniture and regional food and wine produce. Meanwhile the Regional Growers Market every Saturday morning offers an array of fruit, vegetables, plants, flowers, seafood, meat and cheeses. Every Saturday you can also find vintage treasures, second-hand books, jewellery and international foods at the Gorman House Markets. If your retail habits are slightly more refined the small 1920s shopping centres of Manuka and Kingston are just a five-minute walk from each other. Splurge on Australian and international designer labels, antiques, gourmet food, high quality homewares and exquisite jewellery amongst the café-lined streets.
Outdoor Life
Naturally for a city surrounded by bushland outdoor pursuits are plentiful. Mountain biking is hugely popular, with challenging rides available for the adventurous. In fact, the city's bike paths are a great way to explore. Bushwalking, sailing on Lake Burley Griffin, and swimming in the river-fed waterholes are all popular pursuits.
The Snowy Mountains ski slopes, the 'winter playground' of residents from New South Wales is just two hours away, and while Canberra doesn't have a beach of its own, the South Coast is less than a two-hour drive.
If you're into sport, this is the place for you. As well as being home to many of Australia's sporting heroes and their training ground, the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra fields top teams in rugby league and rugby union, women's basketball, netball and hockey. They enjoy regular Australian Football League (Aussie rules) matches too.
But it's not just a city for spectator sports. There are ten golf courses and great facilities for other sports, from tennis to cricket, and there are hundreds of junior sporting teams.
The Australian National Botanic Gardens, nestled at the foot of Black Mountain, is devoted entirely to plants native to Australia. In fact, the gardens have the finest collection of Australian flora in the world. In summer the Botanic Gardens offer a relaxing way to end the day. In the summer months, the Botanic Gardens extends its opening hours to eight o'clock to allow people to enjoy the shade and ambient atmosphere of the Gardens.
Canberra is certainly a city designed for working to live, not living to work.
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