Canberra - travel diary

Having left Melbourne in the evening, we arrived in Canberra in the early morning, after an now customary sleepless night. It was about eight hours in which none of us managed to close an eye. Arriving at the bus station, we hurried to call Mrs. Loretta Rosin, who came to pick us up in the blink of an eye. But who is this Mrs. Rosin? Well... we had forgotten to tell you... in Melbourne we had contacted Mrs. Loretta by phone, and she is the president of the Trevisani club of Canberra. Not only did she prove willing to show us around the city, but she even hosted us at her home. Mrs. Loretta doesn't live exactly in the centre of Canberra, but a few dozen kilometres away, in the outer suburbs, in a marvellous place.

For the first time we saw the real Australia, the one of the films, the documentaries, the Australian bush! In fact until now we had only seen cities and skyscrapers but we had never happened to see the outback. It's hard to explain what the Australian outback is, because in reality there's nothing there, but it's attractive, terribly fascinating.

Arriving at the Rosin house, we stayed for a while admiring the landscape, the red earth, the eucalyptus trees, hoping to also see some kangaroos. Then we unpacked our bags in the rooms that had been assigned to us... well yes, even two rooms... rich people's stuff! Then we had breakfast and went to take a nap so as to recover our strength for the evening, for which the lady had already planned a meeting with the Trevisani of Canberra. We had intended to rest at most an hour, but the tiredness was great and we slept until mid-afternoon. As soon as we got up, Mrs. Loretta prepared a generous snack for us... prosciutto crudo and melon, soppressa, cheese and real bread... I know, it seems incredible but it's exactly like that. It felt like being back home, with our mummy preparing lots of good things for us and taking thoughtful care of us.

Then mamma Loretta took us for a little tour toward the centre of Canberra to visit the Australian Parliament. A structure that stands out conspicuously over the city, and that characterises it. In fact this is precisely the reason that led to the creation of the city of Canberra, the location of political power halfway between Melbourne and Sydney... and so a "tabletop" city was born: Canberra. Anyway the parliament is definitely a place that deserves a visit, both outside and inside (where it's strewn with Italian marbles: we're just too good!).

After the parliament visit we headed to the Italian club, where we met the complete committee. Wonderful people and lots of them interested in what we were doing... in this case too we immersed ourselves in the stories and the peculiar tales of all these people who were forced to leave Italy to seek their fortune abroad. It's hard to imagine the hardships and sorrows they had to face to rebuild their lives... from scratch. The consoling thing is that in the end it really seems they made it and now they can enjoy the benefits of a life of sacrifice.

Then the time for dinner arrived... I won't even tell you what there was to eat, because there was so much and it was so good that I can barely remember... I have a vivid memory of penne all'amatriciana, of a fantastic ossocollo, of a superb second course based on chicken... and then my memory clouds over, perhaps because my belly was so full that my brain was totally busy telling me to stop wolfing down everything that passed in front of me... but it was too good and besides it had been too long since we'd had a dinner like that. The meal ended with the most classic of coffees. We were really stuffed and although we had unbuttoned our trouser buttons, we still couldn't find peace...

that's why we seized on the proposal of Marco, mamma Loretta's younger son, who took us to get a bit of exercise at a bocce court; in fact he's a bocce enthusiast, who has taken part in lots of competitions, even at world level. Of course there was no contest, he was too good for us, but at least we digested! Meanwhile Franco, the eldest, also joined us, and we got to know him too... the Rosins are so likeable! Still partially dazed by the dinner we headed toward "our" beds and abandoned ourselves to a deep sleep.

We spent the following morning with Luisa and Franco (who skipped work) in a local craft shop, and in a shopping centre in Canberra, where, incredibly but truly, we managed to find the hair clipper we had been chasing for so long! In an instant the moment of farewell arrived... they were three incredibly intense days, during which we felt part of a family: really, thanks a million!!!

Escorted to the bus station, we boarded for our next destination: Sydney!

The next morning we set off with mamma Rosin toward a nature reserve with a name so hard to say that who knows if I'll manage to write it! On the road to reach the reserve we even saw kangaroos, from a distance of course, but we saw them in the wild. The nature park promised sightings of kangaroos, emus and koalas, but perhaps because of a recent fire that seriously damaged it, there was no trace of animals. Actually, we did see a koala, Lucky, the only one miraculously saved from the fire. To be honest we also saw lots of birds, in the marshy area destined for them. Anyway, animals aside, the spectacle was truly something great! We then returned home where we met Luisa, mamma Rosin's daughter. In fact... a special thanks to Luisa who kindly gave up her bed for us!

In the evening the "youth dinner" had been planned: we would go out with all of mamma Rosin's children, where we would also meet Massimo, the only son we hadn't yet met. They took us to have dinner in a restaurant where they made dishes so big, but so big that just looking at them made you want to say: "but where am I going to put all that stuff"! but maybe it was because of the practising from the previous evening, maybe because we were hungry, maybe because it was all delicious, but we left no prisoners and polished off everything. We then went to have coffee in a little place in the centre and chatted about this and that. It got late and we went back home where we started packing our backpacks because the next day we would have to leave for Sydney.