Mar 2019, Canberra, ACT
When our GPS ‘Gabbi Garmin’ died recently we didn’t rush to replace her. Afterall we were only going on a short trip, up the New South Wales south coast and possibly heading back to Melbourne down the Hume Highway. “Hey, we know those roads well.” Or so we thought.
There was a possibility of visiting Canberra that became stronger as we travelled north. A chance to catch up on the visit that we missed out on last Christmas when I was still getting used to my new eyes after cataract surgery. I’m sure only those who are on the road permanently or for much of the year would understand this logic and the way that towns and places come to mind and start calling ever louder. Is that how the legend of sirens began?
Thus, Canberra’s siren song became louder and we found ourselves, one tired driver, one frustrated navigator and Mrs Google Maps tinny little voice on the phone all shouting at each other as we cruised around Canberra in ever diminishing circles. Cursing. Yes, cursing even though we are fans of Walter Burley Griffin’s impressive city design and once lived in and loved an estate designed by him. Oh Canberra, must it always be this way?
itchingforhitching 
Our Sally Satnav is dead too. I killed her, very unkindly, my dropping her face down in the road. But we haven’t replaced her. We’ve returned to our first love: maps. Then Google Maps can do the last tricky bit of getting to the door in town.
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Oh dear, there’s probably a law against killing devices these days. After all they do have personalities. We’ve happily wandered back lanes in cities of many languages without getting lost so we thought we could get by, until Canberra did us in. Ah the city of circles.
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I feel the same way about Melbourne, heehee.
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Ha ha don’t mention the Hook Turn eh?
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Right (pun intended). 🙂 🙂
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🙂 🙂 I remember going around and around in every widening circles on our family’s first visit to Canberra… I think it was the first and only, I wonder why?
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Travel sure became a lot less stressful when GPS came along! One of our favorite pastimes is going for a drive down country roads we have never been on before, sometimes getting thoroughly lost, then letting the GPS guide us when we’re ready to come back home.
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You can certainly have some fun with them. The first time we visited the nearby city of Bendigo with a caravan in tow our GPS got herself lost and us. We both thought we knew the place well as hubby once did a lot of work in the area. The mishap proved fortuitous as we did find a great pub instead!
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Can’t beat that outcome of getting lost!
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Been there, done that! Then you think you got off the round about circles and are going the correct way, then think “This seems familiar”. Yep back on the same one – again!
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Oh, there’s the Russian embassy…again.
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It’s been a long time since we last went to Canberra, probably 15 Prime ministers ago. Probably should plan to get lost there again sometime. I do remember passing the US Embassy frequently during that visit!
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15 prime ministers? So not that long ago eh? 😂
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