Parliament House to Watson, Centenary Trail - December 2020

I started my Centenary Trail walk at the front door of Parliament House.

Looking for a reasonably Covid restriction safe walk over Christmas 2020 proved to be a little challenging. After being literally confined to my house for many months over 2020 I desperately needed to get out into the bush, however at the same time I had to think of my long suffering partner who had not only endured the months of lock down like me, but had also had to deal with the myriad of challengers that came with being a teacher in 2020. So bearing all that into account, while at the same time not wanting to go too far from my home state in case any of the trigger happy state governments closed the borders, we decided to head up to Canberra. Now Canberra might seem a strange choice however it had a few things going for it, the first was that there are plenty of galleries and museums to keep Sam happy. The second thing about Canberra was that there is a long distance track called the Centenary Trail that circumnavigates the city, so that was me sorted. The third thing about Canberra was that it was within a few hours drive of the Victorian border so we could quickly make a dash back into Victoria if the Covid situation changed... hmm.

Looking down passed the Foundation Stone towards this afternoons first objective - the Old Parliament House.

The Centenary Trail starts and finish at the front door of Parliament House in a fairly low key way, there is nothing in the way of a trail head or signposting that I noticed. Sam dropped me off on the almost deserted forecourt to Parliament House at around 2:30 pm today, not exactly an early start but I wasn't really anticipating too many issues on this walk. After mucking around a little taking photos and looking for a signposted trail head at Parliament House it was closer to 3 pm by the time I shuffled off, dropping down towards the Old Parliament House. Not only was there no trail head but there was no track marking that I could see either along this first section of the stroll, not that it really mattered as I just wandered down the extensive lawns towards Old Parliament House. Passing the Old Parliament House to the east I continued dropping easily down towards Lake Burley Griffin, passing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on my left before zig zagging my way past the (highly recommended) National Portrait Gallery and the High Court, before arriving at Reconciliation Place which somewhat ironically is pretty well within sight of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

Old Parliament House

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy outside the Old Parliament House.

The National Portrait Gallery. 

Heading up to the High Court of Australia. 

Reconciliation Place

Reconciliation Place

Approaching Lake Burley Griffin - that's the War Memorial in the distance on the other side of the lake.

Hitting the lake I turned right.

With the day being somewhere in the low 30˚ vicinity I was pretty happy to arrive onto the shore of Lake Burley Griffin, not only because I started to get a bit of a water cooled breeze but I was also able to get some shade from the trees lining the lake shore. After passing by the Sculpture Garden I crossed over Lake Burley Griffin on the Kings Avenue Bridge before once again walking the lake shore, the good news now was that I had started seeing some track markers at some of the key intersections. After following the lake shore for awhile, enjoying the cooling breeze and the shade, I left the water and climbed up past the historic Blundells Cottage to zig zag my way across to meet Anzac Parade at the Constitution Avenue intersection. Turning up the wide boulevard that is Anzac Parade I shuffled my way up the left hand side of the road, not because there was any particular monument that I wanted to see - no, picking the left had side came down to it being in the shade! By the time I reached the top of Anzac Parade and crossed over Limestone Avenue to the Australian War Memorial I was pretty well ready be heading bush and leaving the bitumen and concrete behind for awhile.

I passed by the Sculpture Garden in the grounds of the National Gallery of Australia on my lake side walk.

Alright, this I'll make things a bit easier!

A nice breeze coming off Lake Burley Griffin, some nice shade from the Casuarinas - it was a little hard to leave this spot this afternoon!

The historic Blundells Cottage on the shore of Lake Burley Griffin.

Looking up the wide boulevard that is Anzac Parade, towards the Australian War Memorial.

Anzac Parade is lined with investing displays along both sides of the tree lined road.

The Australian War Memorial - the Centenary Trail passes the front door.

Looking back across to Parliament House - slow progress was being made.

I'd managed to get a beautiful Canberra summers day for this walk.

I skirted around the war memorial on the right.

After skirting around the war memorial on the eastern side I crossed Treloar Crescent and entered the Remembrance Nature Park - the bushwalking part of today's stroll was about to begin. Leaving suburbia behind I set off to climb Mt Ainslie via the Kokoda Track, now while this Kokoda Track wasn't anywhere near as tough as it's namesake over in Papua New Guinea it's still a reasonable climb, a climb that is punctuated by information plaques that commemorate the more well known spots on the Kokoda Track. After a solid climb in the heat of the late afternoon I was pretty happy to arrive on the summit of Mt Ainslie and find a takeaway food van, and among the other treats on sale was some Gatorade... sweet! 

The bushwalking portion of this afternoons walk was about to start.

Shortly after starting my climb of Mt Ainsley I took the short side trip to see the Aboriginal Servicemen's War Memorial. 

The Centenary Trail climbs Mt Ainsley via the Kokoda Trail.

It was nice to be out in the bush now.

Mt Ainsley is a solid enough climb.

Rosella

Looking down from the Mt Ainsley summit along the length of my afternoons walk - so far.

Canberra Airport from Mt Ainsley.

My afternoon's next objective - Mt Majura from Mt Ainsley. 

The Centenary Trail head dropping off Mt Ainsley.

Suitable refreshed after scoffing down a couple of bottles of Gatorade I set off on the afternoons next objective, the still somewhat distant Mt Majura. The walk dow off Mt Ainslie was a good one mostly, the track dropping down below the access road for awhile before heading off east and dropping down through some nice native scrub to meet a closed 4wd track. Meeting the 4wd track I followed it down hill until I arrived at the back fences of the suburban houses of Hackett. With suburbia off to my left I headed north for ten minutes or so before leaving the houses behind again and starting what is a solid climb of Mt Majura. Initially the climb was along a nice single track however higher up I emerged onto another closed off 4wd track. After passing my ongoing route heading off to the left I continued climbing up my 4wd track, sometimes quite steeply, as I slowly shuffled my way to the Mt Majura summit.

Reaching the suburban houses on the outskirts of Hackett the Centenary Trail started its climb of Mt Majura. 

The Centenary Trail climbing Mt Majura.

Late afternoon climbing Mt Majura.

The summit is getting closer...it's getting late now though.

The last bit of the climb up Mt Majura is on a fairly steep 4wd track.

The Mt Majura Summit isn't exactly pristine wilderness however what it lacked in wilderness values it made up for with views (and satisfaction as this was the last hill of the day!). Standing on the summit beside the trig while taking in the views back down across Canberra with a warm breeze cooling me, I was in a pretty good headspace this afternoon. Eventually the creeping darkness convinced me that it was time to make a mile again, I still had to get off the mountain and down to Horse Park Drive before Sam could pick me up.

Mt Majura trig.

At least I had some views on my steep descent off Mt Majura.

The Mt Majura side trip heads off right here - I was going left, down the mountain.

Late afternoon and Canberra was getting further away.

Retracing my route I dropped back down to the turn off that I'd passed on the way up, turning north here the benched dropped steadily across the flank of the mountain before eventually emerging onto another closed 4wd track and levelling out a bit. Once on this 4wd track I mostly contoured as the track passed beneath the summit area and then headed out across what looks like old reclaimed farmland towards the Federal Highway. I could hear the highway a long time before I could see it this evening (yes, afternoon was now definitely evening!). Emerging from the bush beside the busy highway the Centenary Trail now walked the natural bush easement beside the highway for the next fifteen minutes or so in the gathering gloom. Arriving at Horse Park Drive (Majura Road) I left the Centenary Trail here for awhile to drop down to a car park for Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve where Sam was picking me up tonight. This car park is actually on an old alignment of the track however it was the easiest spot for Sam to find my tonight, and it proved to be an inspired choice as Sam drove into the dusty car park just as I was walking in which also happened to be at about the same time as it became properly dark.

Black Mountain in the distance - all going well I should be there in a few days.

Looking back towards Mt Majura as I contoured the lower slopes.

The weather was looking a little ominous.

It was almost dark now, although I still had a little company.

The Dirt.

According to my GPS I walked around 22.3 kilometres this afternoon and climbed around 674 metres on what I'd call a medium grade days walking. The way marking today was a bit hit or miss, initially on the urban walk through Canberra they were very thin on the ground, once I was in the bush the track marking was a little better although there were still a few spots where I was consulting my map and notes. While the way marking and signposting was a little variable the track itself was generally pretty good, obviously in the urban areas it was mostly concrete or bitumen, once in the bush there was a mix of single track and closed 4wd tracks that were all pretty clear. I used the notes and maps out of the Woodslane book Walking & Cycling Canberra's Centenary Trail by Nina Hvoslef & Tallis Didcott, along with my GPS topos today.

Relevant Posts.

Canberra, Lake Burley Griffen - Central Basin, 2015.

The Centenary Trail has just emerged from the scrub beside the Federal Highway.

Walking the road reserve beside the Federal Highway in the twilight.

Sam's just arrived to pick me up at the Horse Park Drive entrance to the Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve.