After what - some would say - felt like years in the making, Canberrans can now finally take a trip on the light rail.
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Day one alone saw about 29,000 trips, which grew to about 64,000 people taking the light rail in its first seven days of operation. That was during a period with only two business days.
However, while the excitement of taking a ride on the light rail is enough to make any Canberran's day, what do you do when you reach the end of the line?
It's all good for people travelling from Gungahlin; they know what they can do in the city to kill time before heading home again. But what about the passengers travelling from civic?
What does a day trip to Gungahlin look like? Or more to the point, what does a day trip to Gungahlin look like when you can only go to places walking distance from the light rail stop?
![Gungahlin ... from where you'd rather be? Photo: David Pope Gungahlin ... from where you'd rather be? Photo: David Pope](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc74zl8wyn4sn8nghq6vl.jpg/r0_0_1024_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Canberra Times' resident Gungahlin expert Kyle Mackey-Laws is lucky enough to call the northern district home, and is the first person to defend it when office banter turns against the suburb.
He's a man who regularly calls Gungahlin "God's country", and therefore one of the best people to tell the good people of Canberra what the suburb has to offer light rail commuters.
"I say it very firmly tongue in cheek that it's God's country, but it made sense for the tram to go there first," he says.
"It's the fastest growing place in Canberra - it's got 80,000 people there now - and there's plenty to do.
"A lot of people just don't know what's out in Gungahlin. They think it's halfway to Yass or they think it's just a concrete playground.
"Look, it's still a developing area so there's not going to be the mature trees that the rest of Canberra has but I think people would be surprised about what you can do and shop out there, especially. I think people probably underestimate it. It's a big place now. It's a big part of Canberra whether you like it or hate it."
At just 28 years old, Gungahlin is relatively new compared to the rest of Canberra, and therefore it's modern and still has places developing and opening up. But that doesn't mean there is a lack of things to do, particularly around the light rail stop.
"When you jump straight off the tram, you're basically in the middle of the town centre," Mr Mackey-Laws says.
"There's plenty of shops and a nice bar, and nice restaurants if you want something to eat or something to drink within a 100 metres of getting of the tram.
"If you like coffee then there's some nice coffee shops. If you want something stronger than there's a couple of clubs or there's a bar in town that you can get some good chicken, watch a bit of sport or just watching the world go around.
"If you want to go a bit further you could pack your runners and go for a run or a walk around Yerrabi Pond, cook a barbecue down there, there's plenty of things for the kids to do. Or you can go even further afield and do some proper bushwalks out Mulligan's Flat or One Tree Hill."
![The view from One Tree Hill over Gungahlin and towards the city. Picture: Tim the Yowie Man The view from One Tree Hill over Gungahlin and towards the city. Picture: Tim the Yowie Man](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/dc5syd-6cd9p9pfipc57rncb4h.jpg/r0_0_2485_2509_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
That's right Millennials; Gungahlin has a One Tree Hill (just don't expect to see Chad Michael Murray shooting hoops out there).
All (bad) TV jokes aside, if you like being outdoors Gungahlin seems like a pretty good option, with Yerrabi Pond offering an alternative to Lake Burley Griffin, particularly for families and those willing to brave the soon to be cold mornings to go for a run.
"You can go out to do the park run out there on a Saturday morning," Mr Mackey-Laws says.
"It's a smaller pond so it's easily manageable to take younger kids around; I think it's only about 3-3.5 kilometres around. And lots of birdlife."
![Yerrabi Pond is family friendly. Picture: Holly Treadaway Yerrabi Pond is family friendly. Picture: Holly Treadaway](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc6tfk259hyqr10135qlfw.jpg/r0_0_2464_1632_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But while it's all well and good to offer up different options of places to go in Canberra, is it really realistic to think someone would ride the light rail for a day trip to Gungahlin?
"Look it might be. I was riding it on the weekend and there was a family on there who didn't know what they were going to do when they got out there but they were on it, and going to Gungahlin because the tram took you there," Mr Mackey-Laws says.
"Look if it opens up another area of Canberra to people that wouldn't necessarily go there, that's got to be a good thing. The north-south divide, or even Gungahlin verse the rest of Canberra, I think it's a pretty trivial thing. If you can explore where you live that's a good thing."