We arrived in Canberra on Saturday 14th January, which also happened to be Donna's birthday! Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes - they made my day! A quiet day, lots of treats, even an hour to myself and yummy thai take away for dinner.
We all LOVED Canberra - so much to see and do. We were in Canberra for 5 days and whilst we packed a fair bit in, there are so many things we didn't get the chance to see and do. Next time..... Plus it was so easy to get around and such a beautiful city.
The War Memorial was absolutely amazing and a favourite. What a wonderful place and tribute to the many Australians who fought and lost their lives for our country. The Tomb of the Forgotten Soldier, Pool of Reflection, the Eternal Flame and Honour Wall was a beautiful place. It was here that we saw the Closing Ceremony one afternoon, with a sole bagpiper - brought tears to the eyes. We found the records for Simon's grandfather, Cyril Box, who served in the air force in World War 2. The view from here up to Parliament House was fantastic.
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| View from War Memorial to Parliament House |
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| Pool of Reflection, Eternal Flame, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier & Honour Roll |
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| Tomb of the Unknown Soldier |
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| Our photographers |
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| Helicopter in "Kids Zone" |
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| One of the 1st boats that carried Australian troops to the shores of Gallipoli in WW1 |
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| Final photo for the day - the kids were over smiling!
Parliament House was enjoyed by all of us. The kids loved sitting in the public gallery of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Unfortunately Parliament was not sitting while we were there so we didn't get to sit in on Question Time. Loved the building and the view from the rooftop. It was here that Ben had his first run in with the police! The policeman nicely told Ben to come onto the other side of the fence he managed to squeeze through (we told him not to do it but he didn't listen to us)!!
     
Questacon was a favourite, especially with Chloe and Ben. Questacon is a science discovery centre. It was huge - 6 levels! We spent one whole day there plus a couple of hours another day. Ben loved the Mountain Drop. He was just tall enough to do it. He missed out in Phillip Island, so he was so excited to do it here. Mum was more scared watching from the bottom! He loved it so much he did it twice! We all had a go - never again for Donna. We went on a roller coaster, the circus clowns, experienced an earthquake, designed our own garden, went on the curve ball and did hundreds of other experiments and activities. We even talked to a robot! We also went to a dinosaur puppet show and saw Mutty the Mutosaurus. Simon got picked on by the narrator - very funny indeed (teaches him for not paying attention)! But he got payback when at the Circus Show, Donna got picked on by the clown and not just once but 4 times!
     
How is that ball staying in the air?
At the Australian Institute of Sport we got to see where the athletes train and some of them live. We spent the first part of the tour having a go at a heap of different sport activities - wall climb, snow ski machine, luge, long jump, vertical jump, kicking a footy, reflex machines, wheelchair basketball, bikes and more. Then we went to the general stadium, volleyball stadium, the pool, the gym and the gymnastics hall. There were gymnasts practising and it was great. Chloe was mesmerised. We got to see our friend, Katrina Porter's name on the AIS Paraolympian Honour Board. Katrina won gold at Beijing in the 100m breaststroke.
       
Pedal, pedal
Next stop, Cockington Green, a gorgeous miniature European village. So many miniature replica villages and the most amazingly manicured gardens. We finished off our visit with a ride on the miniature train and well deserved ice creams (it was hot!).
        
A trip to the top of the Telstra Tower (on Black Mountain) gave us a fantastic 360 degree view of Canberra. Donna remembers visiting the same tower as an eight year old and seems as though it hasn't changed in 30 years!
 
We spent an hour riding around Lake Burley Griffin on a four wheel family bike, which was so much fun. The lake is lovely and it has a huge water fountain that shoots right up in the air. We rode around to the National Carillion and back. The kids had an easy time of it, as they didn't have to do any pedalling.
  
At the Canberra Mint we saw how all our coins are made and saw many rare and valuable coins. The kids made their own special $1 coin.
Final tourist attraction for our time in Canberra was the National Museum. The kids got to do a Chinese ink painting and make a Chinese name badge. Very impressive. This museum is huge. The kids lasted about an hour so we left Simon to it, while Donna and the kids played outside. Well worth it. Could spend days there.
 
Lake Burley Griffin
Donna even managed 2 hours of solo shopping in the city and quite easily spent her birthday money!
The caravan park we stayed at was only 4kms from the CBD, so was just perfect. Thankfully it had a beautiful pool as Canberra put on some warm weather for us.
We met a lovely Swiss family on our last day. They were in Australia with their 2 kids for 2 months. They were so nice - just a shame that we met them on our last day. One of the things that we have really enjoyed on our travels, is all the wonderful people we have met.
Next stop, Jindabyne..........
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