Things To Do in Canberra

Glass Act

Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Ave., Kingston (tel. 02/6260 7005; www.canberraglassworks.com), one of the city's best contemporary glass art galleries and studio spaces, offers "off the street" glass-making classes on weekends. Blow your own paperweight, make a fused glass tile, or create some beautiful glass beads. Each class is 20 minutes and no experience is necessary, although bookings are. Your finished artwork is mailed home to you after it has been fired or cooled. Admission is free; classes are A$40 to A$70. It's open Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm; classes on weekends only.

Into the Bush Capital

The Australian National Botanic Gardens, Clunies Ross Street, Acton (tel. 02/6250 9540), are a must-see for anyone with a passing interest in Australian native plants. The 51-hectare (126-acre) gardens on the lower slopes of Black Mountain contain more than 600 species of eucalyptus, a rainforest, a Tasmanian alpine garden, and walking trails. Free guided tours depart from the visitor center at 11am and 2pm each day. The gardens are open daily from 8:30am to 5pm (extended in Jan to 6pm weekdays and 8pm weekends). The visitor center is open daily from 9am to 4:30pm.

Namadgi is the Aboriginal word for the rugged mountains southwest of Canberra, and Namadgi National Park, at 105,900 hectares (261,684 acres), makes up more than half of the Australian Capital Territory. Bimberi Peak (1,911m/6,270 ft.) is the park's highest feature and is only 318m (1,043 ft.) lower than Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mountain. There is a network of public roads within the park that pass through the majestic mountain country, but the unsealed roads are narrow and can be slippery when wet or frosty. (Watch out for kangaroos, too.) Much of Namadgi's beauty, however, lies beyond its main roads and picnic areas. There are 170km (106 miles) of marked walking trails in the park, but you will need to be well prepared if you are going to walk into the more remote areas. Before you depart, make sure you sign one of the bushwalking registers located at the visitor center and elsewhere in the park. The Namadgi Visitors Centre, on the Nass/Boboyan Road, 3km (1 3/4 miles) south of the township of Tharwa (tel. 02/6207 2900), has maps and information on walking trails.

Another great place to see some Australian wildlife is at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, a 40-minute drive from the city center along Tourist Drive 5. There are walking trails, ranger-guided activities, picnic facilities, and prolific wildlife, including koalas and the endangered brush-tailed rock wallaby. The surrounding mountains are of huge cultural significance to Aboriginal people; Tidbinbilla is derived from the Aboriginal word jedbinbilla, a place where "boys were made men." There are lots of Aboriginal sites in the reserve, including the 21,000-year-old Birrigai Rock Shelter. The new elevated boardwalk across the terrain protects the wetlands and is well worth taking, especially if you like bird-watching. Bush-bird feeding time is 2:30pm daily.

Most of Canberra's best cocktail bars, clubs, and pubs can be found around Garema Place and nearby City Walk, and in the Sydney and Melbourne Buildings, or head farther afield to Kingston and Manuka.

For grown-up drinks, the Muddle Bar on West Row (tel. 02/6262 7898) does great cocktails. Of the pubs in town, the best in the city center are the British-style Wig & Pen, on the corner of Limestone and Alinga streets (tel. 02/6248 0171), which brews its own beers; the popular Moosehead's Pub, 105 London Circuit, in the south of the city (tel. 02/6257 6496) and the Phoenix, 21 East Row (tel. 02/6247 1606). King O'Malleys, 131 City Walk (tel. 02/6257 0111), is another popular Irish pub in the city, despite (or perhaps because of) being named after the man responsible for ensuring that alcohol was illegal in the ACT from 1910 until 1928. When Federal Parliament moved to Canberra in 1927, one of the first pieces of legislation passed in the new Parliament House was the repeal of O'Malley's prohibition laws.

Casino Canberra, 21 Binara St., Civic, in Glebe Park (tel. 02/6257 7074), is a small, older-style casino offering all the usual casino games daily from noon to 6am. Dress regulations prohibit leisurewear, running shoes, and denim, but overall it's a good place to lose money.

For details on what's happening on the Canberra party scene check out www.outincanberra.com.au.

Weird Canberra

If you're looking for something different to do on a Friday night, try the Weird Canberra Ghost and History Tour. Led by "cryptonaturalist" Tim the Yowie Man (yes, that's his real name; he changed it after spotting an unidentified big black hairy creature in Canberra's Brindabella Mountains in 1994), the 3-hour tour visits around 20 weird and/or spooky sites, including a funeral parlor that was once a hot bed of espionage activity, a haunted pioneer's house, the hotel room where one of Australia's prime ministers died, and a very spooky air-disaster memorial that had us all shrieking in terror when weird orbs appeared in our photographs. Tours depart on selected Friday evenings at 8pm and cost A$74. Tours are very popular, so book in advance. To check dates and for additional information, visit www.destinytours.com.au/canberra.htm or call tel. 02/9487 2895.