The ACT has a population of around 350,000, the majority living in Canberra and its suburbs. There are some small regional centres.
There are many national institutions in the ACT including:
The Federal Parliament
The National Library
The National Art Gallery
The National Film and Sound Archive (formerly ScreenSound Australia)
The National Museum
The National Portrait Gallery
The Australian War Memorial
The National Botanic Gardens
The National Science Museum (Questacon)
The National Zoo and Aquarium
The National Archives
The Australian Institute of Sport (which trains elite sports people).
There are also a number of other tourist attractions such as:
Cockington Green minature village and in the same area, Gold Creek Village & Federation Square.
A liitle out of town is Lanyon Homestead and the Nolan Gallery
There are also quite a number of wineries in the Canberra /Murrumbateman/Yass Valley districts with some excellent cool climate wines.
There is a great new, world standard, Mountain Bike Course at Stromlo
There is an excellent recreation area at the Cotter with a long toboggan ride and picnic facilities. There can be snow here in winter.
There are a number of scenic lookouts in and around Canberra. The main ones are Black Mountain with Telecom Tower, Mt Pleasant (in the Royal Military College Duntroon), Red Hill and Mt Ainslie.
Tidbinbllla Nature Reserve and Namadgi National Park are a bit further out but worth visiting for Australian Flora and Wildlife.
There are a number of tertiary educational institutions including:
Australian National University
University of Canberra
The Australian Defence Force Academy and
Duntroon Military College
The road system in Canberra can be a little confusing in certain areas of the city and suburbs. However, the roads to the major institutions are well sign posted.
The are many private and public primary and secondary education facilities.
The headquarters of most Commonwealth Government Departments are in the ACT.
Canberra consists of 5 distinct residential districts - Civic (the CBD), Belconnen, Woden/Weston Creek, Tuggeranong, and Gungahlin each with its own Town Centre and Shopping district. There is an excellent bus service accessing all residential areas from and via town centres. The Canberra Centre in Civic has recently been extended (early 2008) and now has around 150 shops.
There are a number of large lakes in Canberra each associated with one of the Town Centres. Lake Burley Griffin is the largest and is near Civic and splits Canberra in half.
The others are Lake Ginninderra, Lake Tuggeranong, Gungahlin Pond and Yerrabi Pond.
As Canberra is inland and around 600 Meters (2000 feet) above sea level its climate is very wide ranging. Temperatures can be as high as 38C (100F) in summer and as low as minus 5C (20F) in winter. There is no distinct rainy season and rain may fall any time of the year but average rainfall is not high. The area, like a lot of southern and central Australia, has been experiencing a drought for the last 5 years.
Accomodation in Canberra ranges from 5 Star hotel/motel to backpackers. There are a number of Bed and Breakfasts and Caravan Parks.
Access is by air from Sydney and Melbourne. The airport is about 6Km from Civic. A number of interstate coach sevices also service Canberra. There is a rail sevice from Sydney. The road from Sydney is Freeway for the whole journey and an easy 3 1/2 hour drive. You can also travel by road from Sydney via the NSW south coast. Melbourne is reached via the Barton Hwy and Hume Hwy/Freeway and is about and 8 hour drive. Melbourne can also be reached by a much longer but scenic routes, either via the Snowy Mountains or the NSW South Coast and Gippsland in Victoria. Both these trips would require an overnight stop.
For further information on the surrounding area have a look at the Queanbeyan Inside Pages at http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g25...
