the australia museum
once upon a time, the europeans let loose some rabbits in
their newly conquered terra australis, thinking it would provide "a touch
of home" in this strange new land. within ten years, the few rabbits
released on privates estates had... well... bred like rabbits. the ecological
effects were devastating - erosion, species extinction, ringbarking (sounds
dirty, doesn't it?) - until the great depression, when farmers began trapping
and eating the rabbits to survive. it turns out, i could learn a trick or two from
these resourceful aussies. sometimes our greatest challenges become our
greatest moments.
well, i'm not sure about greatest moments - not yet, anyway
- but i have worked up a list of canberra greats:
1) tiny's green shed. when i'm not at home or in my office,
chances are i'm at tiny's. it's a great big warehouse full of cast-offs, a love
for which my folks instilled in me as a young lass. most of it is truly junk,
but so far, i have scored two pretty great kitchen chairs and a few vintage
plates.
look at all those rackets, just waiting for a potential hoarder like me!
2) pick-up week. i remember trolling the neighborhood with
my pops back in the mid-90s, looking for treasures in other people's trash
piles... once a month, the city would pick up old furniture, etc, left on the
side of the road - if we didn't get there first, of course. i'd never again come
across anything quite like it until moving to canberra. but bonus - they toss
stuff all the time here! i haven't picked anything up yet, but i could have had a
whole set of kitchen chairs and a desk and a kid's table and a (surely broken)
washing machine... and we've only been here a few months. it makes every day's
commute to work an adventure!
3) spring in the bush. there are kangas everywhere, and now
that it's more green than brown, the city is awfully pretty. and we've got a
nature reserve two minutes away by foot! here are some shots we got on a recent walk:
i call this one déjeuner sur l'herbe
4) there is yoga and tango here, so at least i'm not trapped in my head ALL the time.
5) braidwood, nsw. canberra is just over an hour away from a great little town with an even greater little vintage furniture shop. maybe i'm just giddy after two months in canberra, a veritable wasteland of vintage wares, but i think it might be the coolest, most well stocked shop i've ever encountered! kp and i scored a desk made out of aussie blackwood by mid-century canberra furniture designer, fred ward. i'll get pictures up as soon as kp's office is set up.
6) the Arc. the national film and sound archive of australia is housed about three minutes from my office, and they run great films all the time. a few months ago, i saw a half dozen films during their annual southeast asian film festival (AWESOME!). they've got a lovely courtyard, and they make a pretty decent coffee.
7) the food. the saturday farmer's market. sammy's asian kitchen. dickson noodle house. italian and sons. the deli sandwiches at the university house on campus... really, there is a lot of good eating to be done in this town.
