View of Canberra (War Memorial in the foreground, Parliament House in the far distance) from Mt Ainslie.
Turned out Mr Howard was in Malta and so there was no rubbing shoulders with the Prime Minister at the National Prayer Breakfast.
What a wet and cold weekend it was in Canberra! It rained the entire time I was there and even managed to experience hail! And we're about two days shy of summer! It certainly felt more like autumn than spring.
At least we managed to sneak out in between downpours up to the three mountains around Canberra to see the city from the top. Even got to see the Big Merino on our way to Canberra.
Australia continues its obsession with all things big with the Big Merino at Goulburn.
Canberra's more like a big country town than the capital city of Australia. I don't think I've quite seen as many kangaroos and other teeming wildlife as I have in any other major city. Not even Perth, the supposed "country-er" part of the country.
The prayer breakfast unfortunately didn't really blow my mind away. In fact, I got rather upset at one point of time because it felt like the presentation was going down a rather anti-Muslim and political bent. Actually, the entire event had a tinge of political flavour to it. Then again, it was organised by the Parlimantary Christian Fellowship and held at the Parliament House. Did I really think it wouldn't be political?
It wasn't so much the political bent that I had a problem with. It was more of the fact that there were sentiments expressed that I didn't think Christians should actually agree with. The war on terror was discussed, and I found it really hard to comprehend how a Christian who proclaimed and advocated peace could reconcile being the military advisor of the Iraqi army and denounce Muslims at the same time.
In all honesty, I left the place feeling more disappointed than uplifted.
At least I had a good time hanging out and catching up with friends when I wasn't attending the breakfast.
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