Synchromysticism

" Synchromysticism:
The art of realizing meaningful coincidence in the seemingly mundane with mystical or esoteric significance."

- Jake Kotze

February 20, 2017

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.

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