Free Parking?

One thing I really noticed on my last road-trip was the lack of free parking in many of Australia's major cities, especially Canberra.

The Canberra city council really know how to milk parking money out of the motorist.
No wonder all roads lead to Canberra, as Halfasheep often points out;-)

Walking back to my paid parking spot
after visiting Floriade in Canberra

My car was parked somewhere behind
that building and not for free either

I remember when I attended Canberra's annual gardening show that I had too walk a mile, almost literally, from and to my car, because I couldn't get any free parking close to the event without fighting with, or stalking other motorists who might be leaving, for a car spot -
A Black Swan Event in Canberra

...but not too much of it:-)

The bridge I had just walked over in
 the background and still walking

At least the weather was fine that day and I got to read all of the 'Australian of the Year' plaques spaced out along the banks of Lake Burley Griffin, I guess.
And another day while attending a National Carillon recital featuring melodies from 'The Sound of Music' movie soundtrack and a few other tunes, I got to walk just as far from my car on the other side of the lake.

Walking to the National Carillon along
Lake Burley Griffin from my car

My destination the National Carillon
while walking from my car

There is some parking along
the lake if you can get it

Halfasheep filmed the above anchor statue in his Canberra video about pyramids around the city from near the carpark of the National Carillon.

 The National Carillon in Canberra ...
still walking along the lake

Still walking while looking back towards
  Black Mountain in Canberra

Black (Iron Prison?) Mountain

The National Carillon with Black Mountain
 in the distance ... still walking

Underneath the National Carillon in Canberra

Hey Taxi! Doh! Looks like I'll have to walk back to the car

Then I went off to the National Museum in my car and guess what? ... No free parking around here either.

The entrance to the National Museum in Canberra

Hey Halfasheep, does that entrance
look a bit pyramidal to you?-)  

The not free car parking of the
National Museum in Canberra

Looking back to the National Museum
 paid parking carpark

Phar Lap's trophies on display at
the National Museum in Canberra

I went to the National Museum to mainly see the display of Phar Lap's heart and trophies, which was free to get into ... once you paid for your parking that is;-)
It was kind of eerie looking at those Phar Lap tropies in Canberra, while thinking back to visiting the town of Goondiwindi on my road-trip before this one I was on, just so I could visit the museum that housed all the memorabilia of my Nan's favourite racehorse -
The Finishing Post: Goondiwindi Grey?
My father was still alive when I visited Goondiwindi on that trip, but he had passed away since and it was kind of weird looking at Phar Lap's preserved heart on display and thinking how short life really is whether you are human, or horse.

A windmill/water pump on display in the National Museum

This windmill/water pump housed inside the National Museum in Canberra also set my mind back to my second road-trip while traveling through Tasmania and seeing all of those windmills along the way -
The Windmills of My Mind

The windmill would also play an important symbol for me personally at the end of this road-trip in the town of New Italy, but that's for a future post.

A copy of the Richard Neville magazine
 OZ in the National Museum 

Richard Neville Dies in Oz While London Burns?
Richard Neville had just passed away, too in 2016, just before I had set off on this last road-trip.
It seemed almost everybody was passing away in 2016.

A mural on the wall outside the National Museum in Canberra

Road-maps painted on the National Museum courtyard?!

I also thought it was interesting that I would find green parrots in Canberra like the ones I saw as I was leaving Tenterfield on my last road-trip that I wrote about in this post -
On the Road with a Grumpy Old Bastard from Stanthorpe

I was beginning to think it would be easier to boat around Canberra, than drive around trying to find free parking.

There was even this in the National Museum,
 on the subject of pyramids

I would come back to the National Museum in Canberra on the second last day I was there and pay for more parking and admission to the 'A History of the World in 100 Objects' exhibition that was on at the time from the British Museum.

But that's for another post also.

My $25 a night car spot at my Sydney motel

Even when I was staying in Sydney and paying $888 for a two-night stay, I still had to pay an extra $50 to park my car under the motel with no guarantee of getting a spot again if I moved it.
Luckily, I was in walking distance of ANZ stadium and didn't have to move it again until I checked out after the NRL grand final.

A pyramidal entrance to ANZ Stadium?

Seems like crippling parking fees are just a part of the modern Monopoly game board when you drive a car in the big modern cities.

And my advice would be to forget building a house or hotel when you land on a vacant lot in the modern game and just build a carpark instead;-)

Because you'll have the modern city driver by the balls ... or at least purse strings;-) 
I'd hate to see what all of my parking fees would have added up to on my travels last year.