Off The Beaten Track in Canberra

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) July 12, 2006 -- Namadgi National Park
Namadgi takes up all the bits of the ACT that Canberra doesn't; that is, most of the south-west. Part of the park borders the mountainous Kosciuszko National Park in NSW's Snowy Mountains. There are seven peaks over 1600m (5248ft) in the park, and some of the bushwalking is downright challenging. Booroomba Rocks is one of the most popular spots in the park, with some great climbing and scrambling over its huge granite boulders. Sometimes there's enough snow in Namadgi for cross-country skiing.

The park has a visitor information centre, or you can pick up brochures from the Canberra visitor information centre. There are several picnic sites and two campsites - you're not permitted to camp outside these. You can either get to the park in your own car on the road south from Tharwa to Adaminaby, or take a tour with one of a couple of operators in Canberra.
Tidbinbilla
The Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, 45km (28mi) south-west of the city, is criss-crossed with walking tracks. But the reason most visitors come here is to feed the semi-tame kangaroos, be terrorised by the sandwich-snatching emus or scan the trees for the possibly non-existent koalas. The visitors centre here has some great displays on native fauna and flora. Tidbinbilla is a great spot to take the kids for a picnic, or to do a couple of short walks.

North of the nature reserve, the Tidbinbilla Tracking Station, otherwise known as the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, is a joint US-Australian eye on the sky. The visitor centre here has displays of spacecraft and tracking technology, and it's free to get in. South of the reserve, Corin Forest is an adventure playground on steroids, with its 1km (0.6mi) metal bobsled run, snow-making machine and flying fox. It's a gas. You'll need your own car to get to Tidbinbilla.
Ginninderra

If you're hankering after tourist tackiness, Ginninderra's the place to go. About 11km (7mi) north-west of the city, the Ginninderra Village is the area's centrepiece, a collection of colonial-era buildings quaintified into Devonshire tea spots, Australiana galleries, wood-turning workshops and shops selling nothing but cat knick-knacks. Next door, Cockington Green is a sprawling miniature (if such a thing is possible) English village, complete with cricket streakers and a working steam train - it's horribly overpriced, but the kiddies will love it.
Just outside the village, the National Dinosaur Museum is a private collection with replica skeletons of 10 dinosaurs as well as a bunch of real bones and fossils. It's pricey, but fun. An ACTION bus runs from Belconnen past Ginninderra Village on its way to Gunghalin.
Lanyon


Source: http://www.yahoo.com