Canberra/Airport and East

Canberra Airport is Australia's only inland international airport, just to the east of Canberra. East of the airport is home to the large Kowen Forest as well as bits of Queanbeyan in New South Wales that creep into the Australian Capital Territory.

This area is as boring as it could get. If you had to ask a Canberran for one specific region or district to visit, none will ever recommend this region. There is only one suburb: Pialligo (excluding Beard and Oaks Estate which although residential, is not officially a suburb), and while Pialligo has a nice selection of gardening stores, it only has a population of 120 (2016).

Nevertheless, if you're the kind of person who likes exploring new places and are into nature and local history, this area will certainly impress you. While there are a few homesteads scattered here and there, there are several long-distance bushwalking trails that pass some pretty impressive forests. While Canberra's history is relatively short, here you can find Walter Burley Griffin's longest-living legacy; the Pialligo Redwood Forest, albeit small was planted by Burley Griffin in 1918 along with arborist and horticulturalist Charles Weston.

This article covers the districts of Majura and Kowen and a little bit of the district of Jerrabomberra. Although the primary way to access Queanbeyan is through the ACT, since it is in New South Wales, it is not covered in this article.

Get in and around
If you're arriving in Canberra by plane, you'd probably have guessed already that is in this district. The good news is that you don't need to travel to visit this district; the bad news is that unless you're going to rent a car, you're going nowhere but west towards North Canberra as most of this region is rural.

The R3 line connects the district to Civic via Russell in North Canberra, though the line only goes as far east as the airport and Majura; elsewhere, there is no public transport. To get further afield, you are best to rent a car. All major national brands operate from the airport or have nearby pickup locations.

Since airports generally need to be well-connected (and it'd be strange for an airport to have limited road access), there is good road access from, well, most of Canberra with freeway access (M23 Majura Parkway) from Gungahlin, parts of South Canberra and Tuggeranong and while not served a freeway, North Canberra and Civic are within 5-10 minutes from the airport via Parkes Way and Morshead Drive.

Although getting to and around this region except to the airport on a cycle is not advised, there are two cycling routes in this district:
 * – this route starts in the South Canberra suburb of Parkes and terminates at Queanbeyan, briefly passing through this district (well south of the airport). However, the route it uses makes it inconvenient and indirect to reach the airport – if you are visiting the airport or the nearby business park on a bike, a separate path diverges at Kingston (in South Canberra) – follow the signs to the airport. From Queanbeyan, you'll have to take the long way.
 * – from Gungahlin, this bike freeway follows parallel to Horse Park Drive and Majura Parkway (M23) and terminates at the airport.

See and do
There aren't a whole heap of things to see or do in this section of Canberra – the many hiking trails are used more by locals than travellers. But if you're still determined, the district does have a few things to see or do.

Eat
There are few places to eat here outside the airport. Of the few places to eat, most, or nearly all, are within Majura Park Shopping Centre. The few eateries outside do have a special feel; often, these pride themselves by marketing themselves as "organic" or deliberately set up to resemble a rural feel. That said, there are a few restaurants in Oaks Estate, the bits of Queanbeyan that've crept north of the border that generally look like any typical restaurant you'd find in a rural town in New South Wales.
 * Majura Park Shopping Centre has several eateries, but almost all of them are chains.
 * Majura Park Shopping Centre has several eateries, but almost all of them are chains.

In the airport
As Canberra Airport is quite small, options are fairly limited, but this list should give you an idea of what it's like.

Sleep
There is only one place to rest your head in the vicinity of the airport, but it shouldn't be a surprise given Canberra Airport isn't even that large in the first place.

There are no campgrounds within the few parks and forests in the east.