We had a great one month stay in Canberra in the suburb of Braddon, which was close enough to walk to the city centre (40 minutes) as well as walkable to the edge of Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve (30 minutes) and Black Mountain Nature Reserve (home of the Telstra tower).

We had a modern unit on the 8th floor of an apartment building, with a small balcony looking towards the city. Although it was pretty cold at times, the insulation was great in the unit and we didn’t even need to use any heating.

We went on a lot of different walks directly from our apartment, with Mount Ainslie Nature Reserve and a Vietnamese restaurant that served garlic rice being the two most common destinations. The suburbs of Dickson, Ainslie, O’Connor, Turner, and Lyneham were also all nearby, and we checked out their small shopping areas. We discovered a lot of street murals scattered around the suburbs while we were wandering around.

On the weekends we did a few very long walks over to the Capital Hill side of Canberra, up to the site of the Telstra Tower in Black Mountain Reserve, to the summit of Mount Majura, and to the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Day trips out in the car were to Namadgi National Park, Mulligans Flat, and Tidbinbilla Reserve.

We of course managed to try a load of craft beer, and also went to a Chilean empanada place – which was a little disappointing. Our visit to the Jerrabomberra Wetlands didn’t produce any new exciting birds, but it was pleasant enough.