How to get around in Canberra

Canberra is a very spread out city, and there are only a few - relatively expensive - residential areas near ADFA. You should plan your transport needs with this in mind. Canberra has

• Really good road links - if you have a car, life is sweet
• Superb bicycle links (though the weather in mid Winter and mid Summer can be a bit of a discouragement)
• A reasonable, but not outstanding, bus service
• A fairly expensive taxi service (and when parliament is in session, taxis can be hard to find)
• No rapid transit system

Canberra's links with the rest of the World are by:

• Road: good highways link Canberra with Sydney (~300km) and Melbourne (~800km)
• Air: there are domestic (Ansett and Qantas) air links to most parts of Australia; there are not (as yet) any international links to Canberra - most people travel via Sydney
• Bus: there are bus links to most places in Australia. Bus is the cheapest way of getting around, but on long distance trips it can be relatively slow and uncomfortable
• Train: Canberra's rail links are fairly poor for a city of its size: once a day to Sydney (~5 hours) and to Melbourne (~12 hours). A high speed (TGV or similar) link to Sydney has been mooted - for the last twenty years or so. I'll believe it when I see it!

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19/11/1996