I returned to the glorious surrounds of the national capital recently after several years away in the black-garbed, hipster-infested cafes of Melbourne working in the troubled hallways of the Victorian Parliament. It's funny how getting some distance on a city, and its people, can give you a whole new perspective.

As I settle back into the world of roundabouts and awful diplomatic drivers, the city feeling like a comfy pair of tracksuit pants that I refuse to throw out even though the bum area is nearly worn through, I find myself reflecting on how blissfully unaware Canberrans, and those who market our city, are to an outsider's view.

News flash: Australia doesn't think Lonsdale Street is that amazing. Credit:Graham Tidy

After the city was ranked as a cool "new" destination by some travel website and a New York magazine in the last few years (as a result of smart lobbying by local tourism representatives, no doubt), it seems Canberrans now believe the hype about their city, even if no one else does. It's as though as soon as some bearded guys in ironic T-shirts started making coffee in new cafes named after old car garages, and paleo gluten-free bakeries at the foot of million-dollar apartments in "architecturally designed precincts" became a thing, Canberrans suddenly started to think of their city as some sort of "new Melbourne". People behave as though the city suddenly transformed into the "it girl" as soon as it got a few five-star Yelp reviews – the cool chick who dyed her hair pink and became instantly popular.

But I'm afraid the interstaters I've dealt with recently don't see it that way. My multi-year straw poll of interstate cool kids shows me that old views of the city remain almost hopelessly entrenched. With disposable incomes in their pockets and always "getting away for the weekend", none of them would dare to think about a few days in and around the ACT. They still think we're a city of pollies, porn and fireworks, and most of them haven't been here since their mandatory primary school trip of 20 years ago. The ACT government might want you to believe that the rest of the nation is breathlessly embracing brand "CBR" as an "exciting, new tourist destination", but it's not.