• Observe where parliament used to sit at the impressive Old Parliament House in Canberra's elegant city of wide streets, gardens and parkland; learn more about the role and function of the federal parliament at the more modern Parliament House.

• Tour some of the county's best cultural offerings including: the National Gallery (website: www.nga.gov.au) with over 100,000 works of art; the National Film and Sound Archive (website: www.nfsa.afc.gov.au); and the National Museum of Australia (website: www.nma.gov.au), the storybook of the nation.

• Peer down at the Australian Capital Territory from one of the many hills in the immediate area of Canberra; from the 195m (650ft) Telstra Tower to the 825m- (2,750ft-) high Black Mountain.

• Enjoy a wealth of Australian fauna and wildlife at the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in Tharwa; a number of bushwalking trails are provided and visitors can observe kangaroos, emus, wallabies, platypus, bush birds and water birds in their natural habitat.

• Gaze at prehistoric sites with Aboriginal rock paintings, as well as a variety of rare sub-alpine species of flora and fauna, spectacular views and walking tracks, all to be found in the Namadgi National Park.

• Keep an eye on the skies at one of the most important bird habitats in the region, which becomes a refuge for large numbers of water birds from surrounding areas during drought in inland Australia: the wetlands.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.