Canberra

It's variously called skimming, splash'n'dash, or balloon sailing — where a hot air balloonist, with skill and experience, lands the balloon on water and sails with the wind behind them.

From a few hangers on, it's gained a following with hundreds of people being towed.

Politicians, intelligence agencies and spies themselves support the proposal for a National Spy Museum on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.

The vision for the new cultural institution is to portray Australia's history of espionage, paying tribute to former and current spies.

A $2.9 million federal budget submission has been made for initial feasibility and planning work for the museum.

Getting into and around Canberra's city centre became a little more challenging at 8pm last night, when part of London Circuit East closed to general traffic until late 2026.

It's to facilitate utility work related to construction of light rail stage 2A, a 1.7 kilometre stretch from Civic to Commonwealth Park.

It follows the closure of the western side of London Circuit, between Northbourne and Edinburgh avenues, a month ago.

There's a F35 flyover happening at ~7.30pm, fireworks display at 8.30, and the usual collections of food vans etc.

Note the list of road closures - if you're not planning on going then it's a good time to avoid the area because there will be a bit more traffic chaos than your typical Saturday (particularly in the evening).

Exact dates and prices are yet to be confirmed, but Mr Gilbo pencilled in 7 or 8 March as the inaugural day, with flights taking off from West Lake every hour between 9 am and 5 pm at a cost of around $295 per person per flight.

Passengers will board and disembark from the floating pontoon on Acton Peninsula, near the National Museum of Australia.

An Amorphophallus titanum or titan arum, commonly known as the corpse flower, has bloomed at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra for the first time.

The 15-year-old plant started unfurling its 135 centimetre-tall flower spike on Saturday afternoon, emanating a putrid stench described by some as smelling like "dead rat".

The bloom is expected to start collapsing by Monday afternoon and will gradually return to a dormant state as an underground corm.

The 2025 National Multicultural Festival will be held from 7-9 February.

The festival is expanding beyond the city precinct and further into Glebe Park. This means more members of the community can enjoy the festival safely and comfortably.

The festival will be spread across Civic Square, City Walk, Bunda Street, Akuna Street and Glebe Park.

Canberra’s award-winning Old Bus Depot Markets may be in for a shake-up or face competition from a rival operator after the ACT Government put the heritage-listed venue in Kingston out to tender.

The Markets have operated on Sundays at the former transport depot for 30 years, but the government is now looking to get more out of the 5000 sqm site by opening it up to other operators and opportunities, including on Saturdays and during the week.

These new ideas could include more markets, events and arts activities, particularly given its location as part of the to-be-developed Kingston Arts Precinct.

Canberrans who bought tickets to a water lantern festival on Lake Burley Griffin, advertised mainly on social media, now suspect the event could be illegitimate.

The festival's website says the National Capital Authority is an event partner, but the planning authority has denied approval.

A parliamentary committee has met to investigate draft laws to hold social media companies responsible for scams on their platforms.

Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council plans to auction 38 properties that have thousands of dollars in overdue rates owing on them.

The council's general manager says "every effort" has been made to contact the property owners, who have today been named in local newspapers alongside the amount they owe.

The auctions are scheduled to go ahead on May 2.

Of the almost 40,000 calls to triple-0 received by ACT police in 2024, 36 per cent were related to non-emergency situations.

Police say that included a call from a teenager whose parents had switched off the Wi-fi and a man who wanted police to arrest a stray cat on his street.

Police are urging members of the public to call their non-emergency line 131 444 if an immediate police presence is not required.

I've been looking at these three islands for a while now on the map and from the shore, so today I fished out the drone and kayak and decided to finally get around to seeing what's on them. If anyone else has been similarly curious here's what you'll find:

Unnamed island off Black Mountain Peninsula:

On the island it's a small area with dense tree cover and little undergrowth.

Spinnaker Island:

On the island it's mainly low dry grass cover with a few trees around the edge and a lot of seagulls. Quite a lot of dead seagulls too, and a few young gulls at the end of fledging stage so I didn't explore very much.

Springbank Island:

This larger island also has a fair amount of low dry grass cover with trees around the perimeter. In addition though it has a dock for boats, a selection of picnic tables (some in open sun, some in shady areas), an undercover picnic area, a barbecue, and even toilets. It did look to be a nice place to bring some lunch to in warmer parts of the year.

Vikings Group wants to build a club with 160 poker machines in Jerrabomberra, near the NSW-ACT border.

Anti-gambling advocates have expressed concerns over the potential gambling harm to the regional town.

The Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council is completing an assessment report before the Southern Regional Planning Panel makes the final decision.

Inspired by me watching the long queues of people turning Iron Knob St into a parking lot leading back to Newcastle St while the other entrances to the area remain much less trafficked.

Twelve people were rescued on Sunday afternoon after the boat they were on sank on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra.

Police said they received a call about 12:30pm to say the boat was taking on water in an area of the lake near Yarralumla, in the city's inner-south.

Canberra's maritime police responded and the passengers were all taken safely to a nearby embankment.

Nobody was injured.

The New Year will again start with a bang, with the ACT Government reinstating the midnight fireworks display over Lake Burley Griffin.

Last year, the late-night pyrotechnics was scrapped in favour of a bigger bang at the family-friendly hour of 9 pm, with the show lasting 15 minutes.

But this year, the traditional format resumes with a 9 pm display and one as the clock strikes midnight.

From Tuesday 26/11 Canberra's bus and light rail services will begin charging fares again as they introduce a new ticketing system.

The new system allows users to tap on and off at a validator with a new MyWay+ transport card or certain contactless bank cards.

It also allows users to pay using their digital wallet or through a new app, but there is some set up involved in those payment methods.

The system includes a real-time journey planner through the Transport Canberra website and the MyWay+ app, which is available for both Apple and Android.

To mark its 3rd year in Canberra, Toolbox members and volunteers will celebrate this Saturday, 23 November, with DIY experts on hand to give advice and demonstrate the safe use of Toolbox equipment – with kitchen equipment used to cook up goodies for the guests. There will also be guided tours of the Toolbox.

Plans to replace Phillip Pool and Ice Skating Centre with a multi-tower Geocon residential development have been unveiled to the public.

They will include a pool, but it will be indoors and half the length of the existing facility's.

The developer has lodged 200 planning documents with the territory's planning authority as part of its development application which is currently open for feedback.