After a great night of sleep I headed to Canberra, Australia, the capital city of Australia. I planned to drive through Deua National Park in hopes of seeing some nice scenery, but running late and not seeing any signage for it, even though I was right next to it for part of the trip, I decided to pass on it. No wonder some people around here have never heard of it. There is a neat huge hole there but to get to it you have to wade across a river. I’m not interested in that, especially since I’d want to take pics with my camera. Later in the day I could sort of see an amazing view on the side of the road through the trees as I drove over a mountain. I kept looking for a lookout as I knew it would be amazing, but never found one. I'm finding that there are a lot of neat things to see here in Australia, but they don't make it easy to get to them. There are a few places I'd have stopped to see on this trip, and some amazing photos to be had, but instead, without the necessary equipment, I had to just drive by.
I'd set up a reservation in an Airbnb house for the next few days. Without thinking much about it I followed the GPS's directions until I found myself in a nice neighborhood right out front of some gated houses. When I've rented a house before, since it's just me, the houses haven't been huge. Not able to remember the description of the place too well, but certain this wasn't it, I verified the address and plugged it into the GPS again. I felt watched as a man stood in front of the house next door watching and pacing a little.
The GPS confirmed this was the location. It was dark so I couldn't see any house numbers too well from the street, but decided to call the owner as I didn't want to start pulling into the wrong driveway. Also, I'd started realizing that the guy in the street wasn't out for a smoke, he was guarding a house. Clearly this two story gate-enclosed house belonged to someone important. I realized I was the one that probably looked suspicious now.
As I waited for the owner to pick up I realized the house next door to the one being guarded was likely where I'd be staying. When I reached the owner he told me to pull into the gate and park off to the side. As I did so he came out to meet me. After a little chit chat I asked him about the neighbors. Turns out the tall gated house belongs to the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Australia. He then mentioned that the Prime Minister of Australia lived around the corner a couple minutes away by foot. I knew I was close to parliament but didn’t think I’d be staying next to dignitaries. My little cottage is right on the property line closest to the ambassador’s house. I wonder who else is in the neighborhood.
I'd set up a reservation in an Airbnb house for the next few days. Without thinking much about it I followed the GPS's directions until I found myself in a nice neighborhood right out front of some gated houses. When I've rented a house before, since it's just me, the houses haven't been huge. Not able to remember the description of the place too well, but certain this wasn't it, I verified the address and plugged it into the GPS again. I felt watched as a man stood in front of the house next door watching and pacing a little.
The GPS confirmed this was the location. It was dark so I couldn't see any house numbers too well from the street, but decided to call the owner as I didn't want to start pulling into the wrong driveway. Also, I'd started realizing that the guy in the street wasn't out for a smoke, he was guarding a house. Clearly this two story gate-enclosed house belonged to someone important. I realized I was the one that probably looked suspicious now.
As I waited for the owner to pick up I realized the house next door to the one being guarded was likely where I'd be staying. When I reached the owner he told me to pull into the gate and park off to the side. As I did so he came out to meet me. After a little chit chat I asked him about the neighbors. Turns out the tall gated house belongs to the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Australia. He then mentioned that the Prime Minister of Australia lived around the corner a couple minutes away by foot. I knew I was close to parliament but didn’t think I’d be staying next to dignitaries. My little cottage is right on the property line closest to the ambassador’s house. I wonder who else is in the neighborhood.