I FLEW to Sydney this morning, for a two-day visit planned to let me see some of that city's newest attractions, and clear skies over Australia's south-eastern states and territories meant I had a wonderful view during the hour-long hop.
The Qantas jet took off into the west from Tullamarine Airport and, because I had a had a window seat on the right side of the plane, I finally got to see my house in Sunbury from the sky.
I don't know how many flights I have done during the past two years, but this was the first time everything came together -- we used the east-west runway, the sky was clear, we turned over Diggers Rest to go north, and I was sitting on the Sunbury side of the plane -- to let me see my very own tin roof.
I didn't get my camera out in time to snap a picture of Melbourne, which was off the right wing as we made a series of right turns to head north, but the city looked wonderful with the glass walls of the skyscrapers sparkling in the sun and the blue of the bay providing the background.
But I did snap pictures of Canberra and Sydney as we cruised over.
There were a few clouds in the sky above the NSW capital but if you look closely you can see Centerpoint Tower, one side of the Harbour Bridge, Anzac Bridge, Fort Denison and the Opera House.
There were a few clouds in the sky above the NSW capital but if you look closely you can see Centerpoint Tower, one side of the Harbour Bridge, Anzac Bridge, Fort Denison and the Opera House.
The sky was clearer over the national capital and it was easy to spot both the new and old houses of parliament, Black Mountain and its tower, Lake Burley Griffin and the Carillon, the National Museum of Australia on the site of the old Canberra Hospital, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Library of Australia.
Everyone knows that a lot of thought went into planning Canberra, and it's easy to appreciate this effort when flying over the city and seeing all the streets laid out below.
I thought about what Walter Burley Griffin said in 1912 when he was selected to design the new Australian capital - "I have planned a city that is not like any other in the world. I have planned it not in a way that I expect any government authorities in the world would accept. I have planned an ideal city, a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future''.
I thought about what Walter Burley Griffin said in 1912 when he was selected to design the new Australian capital - "I have planned a city that is not like any other in the world. I have planned it not in a way that I expect any government authorities in the world would accept. I have planned an ideal city, a city that meets my ideal of the city of the future''.
