Freo Graphic

Apri l 2021 FREO GRAPHIC 6 holding a festival in his name. When you see the slope on the hills it’s hard to image anyone riding down them. It is bad enough in the van although with the diesel engine it has good engine braking in the lower gears. The following day we drove to Khancoban then on to the Alpine Village at Jindabyne but didn’t stay as they wanted $65 a night for a site, on to Cooma who were charging $40, school holiday rates. We are currently in Canberra in a new park about 8 k’s from the city centre. It is part of a complex that houses overseas students but at the moment the accommodation is almost completely empty. It was a bit cold at -2 degrees last night but we have a heater in the van which kept us cosy. We had a look through the National Gallery and the displays were not to our liking. We left after only 45minutes and went on to the National Library that had a wonderful exhibition of art work. All of the art galleries etc and war memorial are free but you do have to book on line as they are restricting numbers due to covid. The National Portrait Gallery was really great. They have quite a large display of photography which we enjoyed. We did wonder how some of our judges would have commented on photos with hands and legs cropped off, people looking out of the frame, bright specular highlights in the background and trees etc growing out of peoples heads. We felt that some of the images were only displayed because they were either famous people or photographers. We felt the work of Max Dupain highlighted what good portraiture is all about. We spent an emotional afternoon at the National War Memorial. Being school holidays, there we a lot a family groups and it was great to see parents explaining to the children in a sensitive and honest way about the various wars. We love Canberra it is such a beautiful city especially at this time of the year with all the autumn colours on the trees. Having said that, it really doesn’t say “Australia” to us, with the large amount of deciduous trees we feel we could actually be in a European city. Going out today to search for the “Canberra Bubble” we keep on hearing about before we leave for the coast and head south on the start of our three week drive home. Paul and Kathleen Franklin MEMBERS STORY