The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is by far the smallest of Australia's eight states and territories. It was created early in the 20th century as a neutral region to house Australia's national capital, Canberra. The site was chosen from several candidates roughly equidistant between Melbourne and Sydney, the country's two largest cities. ACT is wholly surrounded by the state of New South Wales. It has a population of about 325,000 people.

Cities

• Canberra -- the main city, national capital and the territory's raison-d'être
• Williamsdale
• Naas
• Tharwa
• Hall
• Tidbinbilla

Other destinations

• Namadgi National Park

Understand

The ACT is infamous as the only part of Australia where hardcore pornography is legal. As the popular saying has it, "the only things to come out of the ACT are porn and politics." Fireworks are also legal in the ACT, where they are prohibited unless bought under license elsewhere in Australia.

The ACT is a generally left-leaning territory, with its inhabitants strongly in favour of social policy. For example, the ACT and Tasmania are the only two places where civil unions are legal and are recognised in Australia at the moment.

Get in

There are three ways to get into the ACT: air, road and train.

Air

Until recently, the ACT had no international airport, so any international dignitaries had to take a flight to Sydney and change planes; an embarassing situation for a modern economic powerhouse. However, international flights to Canberra from overseas are rare or non-existant for the most part.

Canberra is serviced by the budget airline Virgin Blue. Other airlines that service Canberra Airport include Qantas, Brindabella Airlines and TasAir.

To get to the ACT from overseas, the best and quickest option is to get a flight to Sydney, and catch a connecting flight with Qantas or Virgin Blue to Canberra.

Road

Road represents the most popular way to get into the ACT. The Hume Highway (a.k.a. National 31 or N31) is a fantastic dual divided carriage-way all the way from Sydney to Canberra with a 110km/h limit. In good conditions, one can drive from Sydney to Canberra in about 3.5 hours. Sydneysiders are the most likely to drive to Canberra for a day trip to celebrate something important, or make it a stop-over on the long drive to Melbourne.

Buses are very frequent along the Sydney - Canberra route, and ply their trade very cheaply. One can get a bus to Canberra, return for about AUD$30-40 depending on what time of day you leave and what type of bus you get there. However, always check online and at ticket counters - prices are subject to change without notice. All prices and estimates include GST by law. There are several bus companies which ply the Sydney - Canberra bus route, and they include:

• Greyhound Pioneer
• Murrays

Train

The NSW State Government CountryLink service runs a country XPL from Sydney to Canberra frequently. They are about on par with the buses in terms of cost, but are about 1/2 hr slower due to the amount of stops and the train route it takes.

These trains leave from Sydney Central, from platforms 1 - 4. You can buy a ticket on the day from Sydney to Canberra at the CountryLink office on the main intercity concourse.

Trains arrive at Kingston, on the South-Eastern tip of the Canberra CBD. There is a frequent bus service by the ACT Government bus company ACTION (ACT Internal Omnibus Network) towards Civic, which is the biggest, busiest and largest bus interchange in the entire territory. Civic is also the city centre, where the casino and some major hotels are.

Get around

Central Canberra is small enough that you can walk to many attractions.

Canberra has a relatively well developed bus system (called ACTION) for most of Canberra, including many sight-seeing areas, although some outer areas are not easily accessible. Other areas, such as Black Mountain Tower, are not accessible by bus. See the ACTION timetables at www.action.act.gov.au for timetables. Route 34 is a good sight-seeing route. Note also that the bus system does not run on Sunday evenings after 7pm or between 11:30pm and 6am.

Taxis and rental cars will get you everywhere else, as Canberra does not have a rail/metro or other public transport system.

See

The major tourist attractions in Canberra are:

• Parliament House
• The Australian War Memorial
• Lake Burley Griffin
• Questacon - Australian science centre - like the Smithsonian, but fun!

In addition, there are several attractions outside Canberra:

• Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, Paddys River Road, Tidbinbilla. ph 02 6205 1233. email tidbinbillanaturereserve@act.gov.au. A wildlife park including native animals. Open 9am - 8pm during daylight savings time, 9am - 6pm other times. http://www.environment.act.gov.au/bushparksandreserves/parksandreserves/tidbinbilla
• Mount Stromlo Observatory, Cotter road, Weston Creek. ph 02 6125 0230. Mount Stromlo is Australia's premier astronomical observatory. Badly damaged in 2003 bushfires, the partially rebuilt observatory reopened in October 2004. They run a Saturday night star gazing event for the public, call Natalie on 02 6125 0232. http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/

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