Monday, April 4, 2011

On the edge


You're never more than about 20 minutes' drive from the edge of the city when you're in Canberra.

This is the view over the roofs of Dunlop, a suburb in the West Belconnen area, towards the ACT border and into rural NSW. The suburb is less than 20 years old, and some estates in the suburb are much newer than that.

The blue hills that you can just glimpse near the roof on the left are part of the Brindabella Range - in the middle of winter they're sometimes dusted in snow, and a freezing wind can howl across the bare hills into this area. At the moment, though, the weather is pretty close to perfect. Warm and sunny during the day, cool at night, and with a brisk hint of autumn in the mornings. Although this photo was taken last September, it's pretty similar to what we're experiencing right now.

3 comments:

Julie said...

Dunlop - after the doctor or the tennis shoe.

My first ever teaching post was in Belconnen in 1969, when it was extraordialy new!!

Then in 1974 I rented a house in Scullin before actually buying a year later over the other side in Curtin.

That is so 'last century', both literally and figuratively!!

karen said...

After the doctor - Edward 'Weary' Dunlop. And the streets of Dunlop are named after artists, inventors and inventions.

You swapped sides? There's a definite divide between north and south now - a lot of people would never move from one to the other! Curtin's a lovely area though - much nicer than all the new suburbs in Gungahlin and the far south of Tuggeranong (in my humble opinion!).

Julie said...

Hah! How funny is that? The concept of swapping sides ...

It is the same up here. I (we) brought my kids up in St Ives, but now they are adults they would never live that far out!

Neither would I now that I have discovered the inner-city and can walk/bus everywhere.