10 Ways To Enjoy Lake Burley Griffin As It Turns 60

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Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin has turned 60. So integral is it to the city’s identity, it’s hard to imagine what Australia’s national capital looked like without the lake that firmly divides the city into “north side” and “south side”. (Then again, it’s hard to imagine what Canberra looked like in 1964 full-stop.)

Named in honour of the man who designed the lake to be the centrepiece of the national capital, the jewel in Canberra’s crown took a lot longer to come to fruition than Walter Burley Griffin might have hoped. A couple of world wars, the Great Depression and political to- and fro-ing all delayed the damming of the Molonglo, and it wasn’t until October 1964 that Prime Minister Robert Menzies officially inaugurated the lake.

Today, it’s fair to say that Canberrans are in love with the lake. It’s used for sport and recreation, meditation and fitness (look at all the office workers doing a lap of the lake in their lunch hour), sightseeing and marvelling at the changing of the seasons. The autumn colours along the lake shore are divine.

Having lived on and off in Canberra for many years, we’re well-placed to bring you this list of ways to enjoy Lake Burley Griffin.

Do the classic loop

Do as the locals do and walk or jog the 5km ‘bridge to bridge’ loop around the central basin of the lake. Make time, if you can, to stop and see some of the sights along the way, including the Australian of the Year Walk. Cool fact: The Walk has five metal strips representing music stave lines, with the plinths that recognize our honoured Aussies positioned on the stave according to the score of Advance Australia Fair.

Captain your own boat

Hire a pedal boat or an electric GoBoat to see Canberra from the water. Pack a picnic and round up friends or family to join you on a GoBoat — no boat licence or boating experience is required and it’s such a peaceful way of taking in the scenery. Love Boats’ pedal boats are great fun and suitable for families (they accommodate up to four).

Let’s get physical

Challenge yourself by cycling the whole way around the lake, all 40 kilometres of it. You’ll pass galleries, museums, the zoo, arboretum, wetlands, cafés and breweries, so it can take as little or as long as you like. The ride is mostly flat and mainly uses bike paths, with very few road crossings.

Refuel along the way

It’s easy to work up an appetite while exploring the lake’s attractions. Thankfully there are plenty of places to stop and refuel. We particularly love Bookplate at the National Library, where you can sit on the deck and enjoy good food and wine that’s not outrageously priced. Snapper & Co at the Canberra Yacht Club is the place to go for fish and chips with a view.

Margot has all the vibes, transitioning from a café doing toasties, pastries and coffee into a wine bar doing wine and cheese boards as day turns into night. For fine dining, The Boat House is a stalwart for good reason: food and service is consistently good and, with an open fireplace, it’s a gloriously cosy spot in winter.

Newcomer Café Sosta on Black Mountain Peninsula is another favourite. Located in the eye-catching ‘Red Shed’, its design is a nod to the modernist style that Canberra could become a poster child for. Run by the same folk who have Agostini’s, it serves an all-day breakfast, Italian-inspired dishes and other café fare. The outlook over the lake is peaceful and picturesque.

Indulge in High Tea

As noted above, there are many great spots to enjoy lake views but The Marion really takes the cake or at least, hands it to you on a plate. We could linger and look at the view from The Marion all day, and there’s an extra frisson when the Captain Cook Memorial Jet is doing its thing (shooting water 150 metres into the air, only between 11am and 2pm and not when it’s windy). The Marion serves High Tea daily from 10am, on white tablecloths in classy surrounds.

The Australian story

The National Museum of Australia is the place to go for a deep dive into the Australian story. It’s a repository for thousands of objects that tell the nation’s story – not “the suppository of wisdom” as a certain politician might have said, but a sensitively presented museum with an inviting play area for kids, excellent exhibitions (‘Pompeii‘ opening shortly), and a café showcasing local wine and local ingredients – also with a prime view of the lake.

Gallery hopping

On the southern side of the lake’s central basin, the grassy slopes lead up into the grounds of the National Gallery of Australia. One of the city’s many landmark buildings, its exhibitions are always a drawcard, but the grounds alone are balm for the soul.

An ethereal layer of mist hangs over the Sculpture Garden, and work will soon get underway to beautify the area even further. Elsewhere in the grounds, wander into James Turrell’s ‘Within Without‘ Skypace. A viewing chamber that affects the way we perceive the sky, it is particularly dramatic at dawn and dusk.

Be prepared to be astounded by Ouroboros in the gallery forecourt. Based on the ancient image of a snake eating its own tail, this recently unveiled sculpture cost $14 million and was the most expensive public artwork ever commissioned in Australia.

Little Burley Market

Canberra has numerous weekend markets but it would be hard to think of a more special location than Queen Elizabeth Terrace, where the Little Burley Market woos visitors every Saturday from 9am to 2pm. Hugging the lakeside, the market has a great vibe with live entertainment, food and coffee vans, quality crafts and quintessentially Canberra gifts.

Cruise the lake

With the dramatic silhouette of the Brindabella Ranges as a backdrop, Canberra often has spectacular sunsets. Cruising on the lake at this time of day is particularly special. MV Southern Cross and Lake Burley Griffin Cruises run regular cruises of one to two hours duration, and they’re a great way of seeing the landmarks.

The Canberra Southern Cross Club also organizes special-purpose cruises on the MV Southern Cross. We enjoyed one that moored alongside Government House (yes, it overlooks the water too). It included a morning tea on board the boat and a stroll around the Government House gardens with a delightfully informal and informative volunteer guide.

The SIEVX Memorial

Not surprisingly, memorials abound in the national capital. But none are quite like the SIEVX Memorial. Located at the end of Weston Park Road, it’s one that even many locals are unaware of, yet it is one of the most deeply affecting sights you’ll see in Canberra.

Haunting and uplifting at the same time, it recalls the loss of a fishing boat that sank in 2001 enroute to Australia, taking the lives of 353 people who had hoped to make better lives for themselves here. Most were fleeing war-torn Iraq. One of the bodies was that of a baby, born during the sinking, still joined by its umbilical cord to its dead mother.

People from 300 schools and community groups around the country decorated the poles that stretch across 400 metres of lakeshore. Each pole carries the name of a person who died, the poles varying in height depending on whether it was an adult or a child. Here, in this peaceful spot by the lake, their story is not forgotten.

Enjoy your time in Canberra experiencing what is widely regarded as the city’s greatest asset. If you are planning a visit, be sure to check out the Visit Canberra website.

In putting this post together, I’ve realized how blessed Canberra is to enjoy so much sunshine and glorious light. I swear that not one of these photos was enhanced in any way – all those blue skies are for real!