How empty will Canberra be?

Ahhhh yes Batemans Bay. Queanbeyan by the sea.

Alright I’ll admit, I did actually laugh out loud at that one.

Ahhhh yes Batemans Bay. Queanbeyan by the sea.

Pommy bastard said :

I had the embarrassing experience of taking a bunch of Poms out in Canberra over one new years Eve, never again.

Whinge much?

I love spending Christmas in Canberra, and my family often comes down from Queensland each year to escape the wicked humidity and see some of the attractions in Canberra sans the crowds (the NGA, War Memorial, Questacon etc…). Love water-skiing at Jindabyne, love lazy days with the kids at Big Splash, love the boxing day sales without the throngs of crowds found in Sydney and Melbourne, love watching the kids wake up and open their presents in their own home, love not rushing around like a crazy person packing and travelling on horrendously busy roads, and love going to the beach once everyone else comes back to work. I actually don’t understand why anybody takes their beach/inter-state/overseas holidays when everyone else does!!! For a certain demographic, Canberra rocks at Christmas time!

I had the embarrassing experience of taking a bunch of Poms out in Canberra over one new years Eve, never again.

It used to be like this. Everyone left around Xmas, and Canberra was deserted with tumbleweeds on Northbourne Ave for pretty well all January, it felt like all summer.
Now though, it is not so pronounced. People do vanish to Batemans Bay and other places for the week or two after Xmas, but if you attend the after-Xmas “sales” (yeah right) there’s plenty of people.

The school holidays effect does mean the rush-hour traffic flows better, however.

I like the quietness of it all, you can have the mild thrill of shopping in the Boxing Day sale with all the people who have gone crazed after a day at home with the family, without the crowds being too large. You can spend longer hogging the nice table outside in the shade at cafes before you start getting death stares. The only tiresome bit is finding a table at a nice restaurant on New Years Eve, many seem to shut or offer nasty set menu wotsits.

Skidbladnir said :

Why go on holiday just to fight crowds?

Yup, thats why February is the best time to go.

If you’re wondering about the tendency for Batemans Bay (and surrounds) to become amazingly popular, its region of population 15,000 and short-term accomodation capacity for around another 50,000, and yet still hits peiods of “No vacancy” on warm long weekends.
And yet the shopkeepers are always surprised at the rush so fail to deal with it.

Why go on holiday just to fight crowds?

Captain RAAF said :

I’ll be home, ever vigilant and ready for the Burglary season.

If you are driving around the burbs and spy an odd sight in the front of a house in (insert suburb name here),the camoflaged face in the window will be mine.

So what sort of camo does one wear to blend in to the domestic environs? You walk around in stone coloured leather overalls and with a lampshade on your head???

But seriously, you raise the important point that those of us not bailing out over the period should keep eyes open in the burbs for dodgy activities. Perhaps not the season for “I wish they’d shut that bloody alarm up!”

who cares. I’m more interested in what I’m doing rather than what everyone else is doing

ConanOfCooma said :

Batemans Bay is where they will all be. I dare you try to buy booze, smokes or food after 10 in the morning during the holidays down that way – It can’t be done.

Sooo, very healthy people down that way at this time of year, well until they begin to starve.

ainsliebraddon said :

Apparently everyone on the South Coast calls Canberrans Yogies, because of the ‘Y’ on ACT number plates.

Oh no, someone called me a name – a Yogie!, Stop it, stop it now.

Hey, I’m alright with being here, maybe a little “ultra-queer”, but I don’t need a crowd to be fulfilled.

why would anyone want to be here in a couple of weeks time?

So I can ride the Mt Stromlo singletrack all on my own.

I typically head towards the mountaing this time of year (avoiding Cooma obviously), the weather is beutiful, the fish are biting & the streams are cool with no sharks to have a limb off.

erv said :

dtc said :

And so we all go to the South Coast and go to the beach even when its 15 deg and raining, while the locals drive past and look disdainful

A true Canberran tradition! Plus annoying the coasties is always fun.

An important part of that tradition is Canberra money being no good down at the coast. Shop owners are always angry at being busy, especially fish and chips shops. They will be ropable that 50 people want dinner at 6pm, precisely when they want to close.

call me crazy, but I actually kind of like how quiet it gets! …but i imagine that there are a lot of cities that quieten down over Xmas?

Why would anyone want to be down the coast during school holidays? I want to go to the coast during the quieter times, to have a break from Canberrans.

But how will we see your face if it’s camoflaged Cap? …..

Yep, Canberrans all drive to Bateman’s Bay, to bogan out for a while.

Some years its fine, other years its like a freaking ghost town, but without the allure of tumbleweeds and cobwebs.
One year I got so bored I went to Wagga for the nightlife. *shudders*

Oh, and from my experience, incidents requiry security company attendances (attempted and successful entries, mostly) are most common on the night of Christmas Eve and New Years, when home and business owners are either out of town or too drunk to drive home to check things for themselves.

I’ll be home, ever vigilant and ready for the Burglary season.

If you are driving around the burbs and spy an odd sight in the front of a house in (insert suburb name here),the camoflaged face in the window will be mine.

Batemans Bay is where they will all be. I dare you try to buy booze, smokes or food after 10 in the morning during the holidays down that way – It can’t be done.

You will still get Canberrans in Canberra over the holidays, but they are the ultra-queer bunch that somehow enjoy living here.

dtc said :

And so we all go to the South Coast and go to the beach even when its 15 deg and raining, while the locals drive past and look disdainful

A true Canberran tradition! Plus annoying the coasties is always fun.

thatsnotme said :

Real. many pubes and It nerds come from the big smoke

And if you want to find the rest of them, just head on down the Kings Carpark (sorry, Highway) and count the ACT number places in a 50km stretch north and south of Batemans Bay.

You don’t have to drive too far south of Batemans Bay before the ACT number plates become a bit rarer and the Victorian ones become more common. Canberrans, it seems, are happy enough to end their journey to the coast at Batemans Bay, which, while pretty enough, is one of the less interesting and most crowded places on the south coast.

Apparently everyone on the South Coast calls Canberrans Yogies, because of the ‘Y’ on ACT number plates. There is always a Yogie invasion in January around Batemans Bay.

Its true that Canberra is more or less deserted, especially between Christmas and New Year, but in its defence its not soley a Canberra thing. Go to a city with a large Chinese population over Chinese New Year and its deserted as well, because everyone goes to visit their families. Indonesia and Thailand have similar holidays. London is deserted in August (well, not deserted but much quieter).

And so we all go to the South Coast and go to the beach even when its 15 deg and raining, while the locals drive past and look disdainful

why would anyone want to be here in a couple of weeks time?

Summernats!!

Real. many pubes and It nerds come from the big smoke

And if you want to find the rest of them, just head on down the Kings Carpark (sorry, Highway) and count the ACT number places in a 50km stretch north and south of Batemans Bay.

Canberra is very quiet over Christmas until school goes back. The trip to work is faster, the shops are much less busy, and the crowds at the attractions are small. We went to see the Masters Exhibition at the Gallery on New Year’s Eve last year, and got in with no wait.

Real. many pubes and It nerds come from the big smoke