In 1986, my father was sent to Canberra for further studies and fortunately for us, he was allowed to bring his family along. We arrived in February, left in December, and haven't been back until now.
I have so many fond memories of that year - first time I had ever seen snow (though technically flurries), learning how to play marbles and how to sing the Kookaburra song, classmates whose names I still remember (most of them anyway), and my third grade teacher Mrs. Tuckey reading stories to the class (I loved the Muddle-Headed Wombat).
Sadly, the school we attended, Rivett Primary School, was demolished a few years ago. I had always planned on going back and roaming the halls, but it was not meant to be. Well, at least the oval behind the school is still there.
I also thought that I'd remember more once I got back, but so much has changed (not surprising considering 27 years have gone by). Thankfully, it looked as though time had stood still in the old neighborhood, but the house where we lived has been covered up by trees. The current resident must be paranoid about privacy.
1986
2014
We spent a day driving around and visiting old haunts - Belconnen Mall is now five times bigger and totally unreconizable. At least Cooleman Court hasn't altered much and Woolworths is still occupying the same spot (I had to take a picture as it's one of the few places that seemed familiar to me).
We ended with a visit to Lake Burley Griffin where we used to ride our rented bicycles up and down the lake. It's just too bad we arrived late in the afternoon as the Captain Cook Memorial Jet was already off (normal operating sessions are 2 PM to 4 PM daily).
Is there a place you'd like to go back to?
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