Stage 1: Watson to Red Hill Lookout

Stage 1 
Tuesday 2016 03 29
Federal Highway west of Horse Park Drive, Watson to Red Hill Lookout
19.16km, 615m ascent

(Corresponds to Section 1 and part of Section 7)

Coincidentally, the place I decided to set out from was right at the gate of a property Jo used to rent. There is a big underpass under the highway and the signs lead around the west side of Mt Majura.

So I left the trail within the first kilometre to climb the hill. I had a little yarn with a visitor I met on top. It took about an hour to get from there to Mt Ainslie.

Majura Trig

I followed what I think of as 'The Main Trail' down to the War Memorial and walked all the way around trying to find the cafe, having eaten and drunk nothing so far that day. I had a coffee and a muffin at Poppy's, at an exhorbitant price.

I think I understand why they decided to route the trail down ANZAC Parade, but if I did it again, I think I'd try continuing SE through the Mt Ainslie reserve, crossing Fairbairn Ave, and down the east side of Campbell through the Mt Pleasant reserve, crossing Morshead Drive just east of Russell, and making my way back to the King's Ave Bridge from that side. Anyway, I followed the nature strip along the service road and made my way to the lake, where I picked the trail up again and followed it over Kings Ave Bridge, along the lake, past the National Gallery and High Court, up 'Reconciliation Place', past the Tent Embassy and Old Parliament House to the Federation Stone at New Parliament House, the nominal start and end point of the CCT.

Federation stone

I walked around the west side of Parliament House and stopped on some steps overlooking a small football field for my afternoon tea.

From there, I hobbled down Melbourne Ave to Red Hill. Adjacent to the Canberra Nature Park sign at the bottom of Red Hill road, there is a break in the fence. I went through it and pretty well straight up the hill. The coffee shop and the restaurant were both closed, much to my chagrin. So I drank some lukewarm tea while I waited for Jo.

Red Hill Lookout