Australia 2017 - Day 42 - 5th April

Day 42

I got up to a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs on buttered Turkish toast prepared by Jill and washed down with a large flat white which Keith got from MacDonalds next door.  Just about set us up for the day ahead.

Our first stop was to be the Royal Australian Mint and as we drove towards it, it was so different to other Australian cities.  No skyscrapers, rush hour traffic virtually non existent, so peaceful driving around the lake and when we got to the Mint it was free parking.

Having worked at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant for quite a while now and knowing full well what a cost it is to enter the Visitor Centre I thought it would be the same here. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no charge for admittance and no charge for joining the guided tour.

The guided tour was terrific, our guide Steve was most informative and new how to engage with children as well.  He took us through the history of the Mint first before guiding us through the various processes involved in the manufacture of both Circulating Coins and Commemorative Coins leaving us in no doubt about the differences.

The following three images are all of skilled technicians producing commemorative coins

 And these are from the production of circulating coins: -

After the tour we were free to walk around the exhibition to view historical and more current exhibits as well as to learn about Australias mos famous coin designer, Stuart Devlin.

Stuart Devlin

Stuart Leslie Devlin, AO, CMG (born 9 October 1931) is a significant contemporary gold and silversmith. Australian-born, he has designed coins for countries around the world, and became especially well known as London-based designer of gold and silver collector's items in the 1970s and '80s.

Devlin was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, and become an art teacher, specializing in gold and silversmithing. In 1957 he obtained a post at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and studied for a Diploma of Art in gold and silversmithing. He was awarded scholarships to study at the Royal College of Art in London in 1958, and was awarded a Harkness Fellowship by the Commonwealth Fund. He spent the two-year fellowship at Columbia University, United States.

He returned to teach in Melbourne in 1962 and subsequently became an inspector of art schools. He rose to fame when, in 1964, he won a competition to design the first decimal coinage for Australia.

Stuart Devlin

Part of the main Exhibition Hall

Some of Devlin's other works

After inevitably picking up some collectable items in the RAM shop we took our leave and headed oner to our next stop, Parliament House, the home of the Australian Government.

Again, so tourist friendly, we parked in the underground car park directly below the Parliament building.  We began our visit by strolling around the outside of the building, just taking in the views all around.

Looking out to th old Parliament House

And beyond the Old Parliament to the Australian War Memorial

We then entered the building and had lunch on the Queen's Terrace before embarking on a guided tour of the building.

The entrance hall with its marble clumns and stairs

The Grand Hall - thnote how small the doors appear below the tapestry at the far end of the room

The Hose of Representatives

The Speakers Chair

The Senate House

So far today, both visits had been both very interesting and informative and I would recommend them to anybody planning to visit Cabberra some time in the future.

We finished off the afternoon by strolling around the lake on the opposite side to yesterday.  We were near to the Museum of Art and there were many open air exhibits to view as we walked around.

We then headed home for a rest before getting ready to go out for our evening meal.

We started off in the Bentspoke pub again before heading around the corner to the Black Fire restaurant which was rated 7th out of 1069 restaurants in Canberra recently.  We had reserved our table earlier in the day and it was very busy when we arrived.

Black Fire, "Fuego Nero" is a fiercely individualistic Mediterranean cuisine restaurant which prepares delicious imaginative dishes with an exciting presentation to bring to the table their food, their taste, their culture and their love of cooking.

Voted Best European Restaurant in Australia in 2016 by SAVOUR National Awards

Perfect end to awonderful day.  The food was certainly as good as
good as