19 February 2010

Australia's pretend capital city

| nicnacvb
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I found this post in The Backpacker blog on the Sydney Morning Herald site. The article is about capital cities that suck. Canberra got an honourable mention.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/travel/archives/2010/02/10_capital_cities_that_suck.html?page=fullpage#comments

I think this person has summed up Canberra pretty damn well! And as a long time reader of the RiotACT I noticed that this particular post was reminiscent of many posts I have read on this forum

Is it you Johnboy? Different spelling of the name though I’m sure it must be someone who grew up or at least lives in Canberra.

I love the bit about the “pretend international airport”. So true! Just our self important Government trying to bignote itself.

“I have to agree. Canberra is Australia’s capital in name only.
Most foreigners believe that Sydney is Australia’s capital, and who can blame them.
Canberra is a pretend capital, with it’s pretend local government that is run by a pretend chief minister (otherwise known as a discount mayor), a pretend police ‘force’ that is too busy buying half-price Macdonald’s to do anything about the spiraling crime rate (the only reason anyone reports a crime to them is so they can get a job number for their insurance claim), a pretend jail that is an epic fail, a pretend judiciary that is run by bleeding heart do-gooders that rarely sends anyone to the pretend jail, a pretend international airport that has difficulty handling anything bigger than a Boeing 767. The pretend international airport has a pretend business park adjacent to it which has non-existent or very poor mobile phone reception… the list just goes on.
When travelling, only people with broad shoulders and thick skin admit to being from Canberra.”

  • Posted by: Jonathan on February 17, 2010 11:08 AM

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Ive seen a fair bit of Oz and I still live here.
A matter of fact I wouldnt want to live anywhere else.

Yes it’s one big joke!

It’s funny how as soon as someone posts something negative about Canberra everyone valiantly rushes to defend it. Especially when a lot of the defenders are the people who so often whinge about the place.

Personally I love living in Canberra. I was born here and have no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. As for tourists, like many have said it just depends on what sort of experience you are after.

I just thought that the post about the “pretend capital city” was funny. There are so many posts on here about Canberra’s bleeding heart judicial system and whinging about the chief minister etc. Hell, you’ve got to admit that Canberra’s attempt at a capital city can be a little amusing at times.

Vg you sound like one of THEM, guilty are we lol

Deadmandrinking9:37 am 21 Feb 10

Yeah, Cleo! Don’t you dare suggest any improvements to the city! You have been told!

Clown Killer said :

Yawn. Another device to flush out wankers from Sydney with a chip on their shoulder.

I am fortunate enough to host international travellers in Canberra on a regular basis and I have never heard anyone suggest that Canberra is anything but a charming place to visit. I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

…”charming” FROM 30,000 FEET.

cleo said :

I wasn’t born in Canberra, I have lived in most places in Australia, and a couple overseas, I find that most people here are very clicky, unlike NSW or Queensland, where I find the people friendly and easy to talk to, Canberrans look after their own friends, eg: employment etc, it would be really helpful if we had decent transport apart from owning a car or catching taxis. Telecom Tower is know as the big syringe for obvious reasons, really this a big country town with a lot of small minded people.:)

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out

Ags So there you go, just admitted it.

I love how all these travel articles assume that everyone wants the same thing out of a trip. There are backpackers, eco-tourists, voluntourists, cashed-up sophisticates, families looking for a restful yet interesting trip, older people looking for culture, grey nomads, and all sorts of permutations and variations of these. So…Canberra is so sucktastic that it doesn’t fit the bill for any of these types of travellers? Really? Come on.

eh_steve said :

Jonathon Reynolds?

LMFAO, Brilliant!!

I love it when people say they hate Canberra. Hopefully that means they won’t come here.
I think it is great that we look after our own friends and employment, to me that makes you a good friend and employee.
You can have your big city traffic, smog and crowds.
As long as the assets are maintained, and the red tape does not get out of control,I think Canberra will never become the run down rat race that most big cities have become.

I wasn’t born in Canberra, I have lived in most places in Australia, and a couple overseas, I find that most people here are very clicky, unlike NSW or Queensland, where I find the people friendly and easy to talk to, Canberrans look after their own friends, eg: employment etc, it would be really helpful if we had decent transport apart from owning a car or catching taxis. Telecom Tower is know as the big syringe for obvious reasons, really this a big country town with a lot of small minded people.:)

thy_dungeonman10:26 pm 19 Feb 10

It’s funny how two of the comments in that post praise the public transport system in Canberra, clearly they have never actually been here then.

The article appears to be an attempt at a genuine travel “blog”, but gives me more of an impression that it’s the grad journo sitting at his desk at the SMH in Sydney with the lonely planet travel book open who has been asked by the boss to create a random list (20 to 1 style) of the “worst” capital cities by picking out the any negative comments and cutting them down to one sentence without ever visiting the cities.

And for a Canberran’s view of the critics, this raised a smile.

But didn’t you know??? … “Things Have Changed” and now everything is black and white, sepia, cool jazz, or infested with unruly skateboarders. Oh, and apparently it rains enough to grow grass.

Pommy bastard4:36 pm 19 Feb 10

Since I’ve been living here we’ve had over a dozen people from the UK come and stay with us. Their ages range from 17 to 65. All have gone away with nothing but good to say of Canberra.

troll-sniffer said :

Sure, we can only dream of the nightlife and culinary concentrations of ‘real’ cities…

Well the thing about that is I find that Canberra nightlife to be up there with Sydney and Melbourne, as far as travelling as a young person goes. Hear me out: we have a range of bars, pubs and night clubs all within walking distance (talking about civic here). We have cheaper drinks then Sydney or Melbourne, especially on student nights ($2, try finding that price in any major tourist city… I went all over Europe and Aus and it’s still damn good). We rarely have cover charges, if we do then it’s not very much, $5 or $10. The DJ’s at many places are decent enough, nothing really to complain about. Hell, some DJ’s are quite good, and at worst you’ll get a bunch of cheesy dance songs from 5 or 6 years ago which are good for the novelty.

We don’t have a lockout like Sydney. We don’t have insanely high drink prices or cover charges.

Believe me, when you are a young person backpacking, a CHEAP night out with a RANGE of options, easy to get back to where you are staying… These are the things which matter to young travellers!! Too bad we just don’t have decent backpacker accommodation!!

(Don’t get me wrong, Civic may have it’s fair share of problems, dodgy people and violence, but so does every city!)

DeadlySchnauzer3:38 pm 19 Feb 10

I think like/dislike of Canberra is in the eye of the beholder. If you are looking for the crazy party town rush around big city experience, then Canberra clearly is not going to appeal to you.

I would say the one thing that really annoys me is people who bash Canberra and have never actually set foot in the place. I swear 99% of Canberra bashers, if pressed further for when they visited and what they did, will admit that they have never actually been here and are basing their opinion on what other people have told them. And of course those other people have probably never been here either. Its a weird self fulfilling prophecy thing.

There used to be cows grazing 2km east of Parliament House at Dairy Flat!

+1 niftydog!

Canberra is only boring to those boring souls who only like big cities (oddly enough they seem to insist that those big cities all be the same as each other). I think the original story was written by one of these people.

I like the first comment on that site though; “is Canberra the only first world capital with sheep grazing 1km from Parliament?”. It’s an interesting question. I can think of plenty of capitals that are built in the middle of sheep grazing areas, but I can’t even figure out where that particular sheep paddock within 1km of Parliament is…

troll-sniffer1:40 pm 19 Feb 10

I agree if you follow the busloads of greying nomads and Asians on one day whirlwinds from Sinney, I’m sure Canberra is a boring enough place. Who cares? Those who seek out a little more will find quite a lot in Canberra that other capital cities can only dream of. Sure, we can only dream of the nightlife and culinary concentrations of ‘real’ cities, but for the percentage of the population who seek a little more than that formula, Canberra provides a good alternative.

Perhaps a new slogan for those promoting Canberra as a tourist destination could be along the lines of:

Canberra, spend some time finding out what’s really unique.

Canberra is the intellectual equivalent of a mining town. Graduates and others come here primarily for the work – to make money, get experience and quals and the head off somewhere more interesting ASAP. If they hang on and stay, it is generally because of Canberra’s golden handcuffs – well paid work, mobility in work without losing entitlements, short commuting distances and decent housing.

I must admit, i enjoyed reading all the comments about Canberra! It just goes to prove that we all have different tastes.

I am born and bred in Canberra apart from 1 year living in the UK and i must admit, i was a typical Canberra basher in my late teens and early twenties. However if i hated it that much i should have left, but i didn’t.

I am now on the other end of the scale. I love Canberra from a living point of view, it’s an easy town to live in which is great with a family.

But this article does talk about Canberra as a tourist town so here my thoughts. All my family and friends that have visited Canberra have had mixed reviews but generally good. I have found that when my friends visited in their early twenties, they did find it a bit dull but any of my family or friends with kids absolutely loved it. They found there was lots to do that was kid friendly and either free or at such a low cost that everyone had such a good time.

At the end of the day, if people don’t like Canberra, that’s fine by me. I prefer to keep our population down and keep it the way it is then for people to discover that it’s not actually that bad of a place and come here in droves.

Also, tourists need to visit Adelaide before they start knocking Canberra. I was not overly impressed by Adelaide when i was there last time. (Sorry to Adelaide fans, i promise i will visit again before i whole heartedly say it’s the most boring place to visit in Australia!)

To be fair, Canberra doesnt have a massive amount if “instant gratification” that a lot of younger tourists want. Its coming along though with our mountain biking, rock climbing areas, upgrading of certain areas like the Canberra Centre, restuarants are getting better.

It is different to Sydney & Melbourne & thats why I love it. One person stated that to really appreciate Canberra you have to live here & thats the absolute truth.

I work with three blokes who moved here for work. They all hate the place, they even took a year off without pay & moved back to their respective hometowns/countires. They came back & after 5 years they still crap on about how bad the place is.

It cant be that bad…….

Clown Killer12:48 pm 19 Feb 10

Yawn. Another device to flush out wankers from Sydney with a chip on their shoulder.

I am fortunate enough to host international travellers in Canberra on a regular basis and I have never heard anyone suggest that Canberra is anything but a charming place to visit. I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

I thought exotic was interesting but ugly and cute was pretty but short

hack·neyed /?hæknid/
–adjective
made commonplace or trite; stale; banal; Fairfax journalism.

So it’s boring for travellers because there’s not 5 million people living here? Ok… Apparently I’ve been travelling to all the wrong places then.

If Sydney is supposed to “represent everything that’s good about a country” then I’m amazed anybody comes here at all.

A few positive comments on Canberra thrown in there. Apparently Civic is cute. Isn’t the definition of cute ‘interesting but ugly’?

Jonathon Reynolds?

the spiraling crime rate

Ah yes, the old “spiraling” (sic) crime rate. Except that it isn’t. Everyone always loves to assume that the crime rate wherever they are is spiralling out of control – after all, the news keeps reporting crimes! Last I checked, the overall crime rate in this city was pretty static – a few percent up or down each year, but however it’s changing, “spiralling” it certainly isn’t.

“When travelling, only people with broad shoulders and thick skin admit to being from Canberra”

Really?

There is truth the rest but I find the biggest thing holding Canberra back is not the Canberrans, its the attitude of the outsiders who won’t even give it a chance before tossing it to the side.

Cool. I don’t want Canberra being swamped by hippy backpackers anyway.

Pommy bastard10:47 am 19 Feb 10

I posted this article on a discussion forum I use. The Yanks there were not impressed with Washington DC being mentioned. Apparently, the murder capitol of the US is a very interesting place.

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