Canberra - The Capital City

What a way to start my call. Collapse of one patient before 5pm, followed by another young patient from Oncology. Am I jinxed or what?

Anyway, I ended my trip back in Sydney, where I immediately signed up for a day tour to Canberra, Australia's capital. Apparently the reason why Canberra was designated as the capital and not Sydney or Melbourne was basically because of the fact that the two bigger cities could not reach a compromise. Hence we noted the innate tension between these two cities, subtlely demonstrated by the presence of the two respective commonwealth banks situated on two sides of the roads separated by a divider, and commentaries by the driver of how the two cities are growing competitively in population, supplemented by the influxof more immigrants into each city. I was surprised to hear that though, as I've heard that immigration is much trickier now and the laws have also been stricter recently.

Back to Canberra......it has a small residential population, is mainly a political capital, unlike Sydney which is the cultural and financial hub. Locals do not favour living in th city itself as the lands are all leased out by the government, and hence the cluster of residents at the outskirts where the properties are all freehold. What we would expect from the city are Parliament buildings, with the Parliament House being the star attraction, followed by the High Court Building, National War Memorial (again!), the Australian National Museum, the different high commissions.....all of which are built in an octagonal fashion ( ie if we look down from the sky, we see a circular body with spreading legs, like a spider, if you can imagine). There were gardens too in Canberra which were unfortunately not the highlight of the trip, to my great disappointment. I must say the Aussies do have an immense pride of their museums and war memorials, these being the main bulk of my trip for the day. It did not help that I had an 80 year-old ex-professor of Microbiology as my tour guide for the day at these places. His deep interest in the politics and lives of the ministers who had helped shaped the country's progress impressed me though. The trip ended memorably with the most chilly weather I had experienced during the whole of two weeks, with temperature dipping to a low zero degree by the evening. The warmth of the lasagna and hot marshmellow chocalate saved me from further hypothermia.

On a lighter note, I went to the famous Manly beach via ferry before my departure the next day. Real cool.......it is highly recommended that anyone who drops by Sydney should make a trip there. It was full of vibrance and life, and the waters were simply inviting. Surfers galore despite the chilly winds blowing, and beach-lovers laze around on the white sands in light clothings. I could imagine how summer would turn out to be.

" If you never leave the old shores, you would never find new oceans"
Singapore is a cocoon for me, with the rest of the world as an oyster. I hope to find my rightful pearl one day.