Thursday 21 July 2011

Canberra

Black Mountain Tower

Dad had an unexpected day off so we decide to travel from Sydney to the capital city of Australia; Canberra. We stayed for 3 days to give us time to visit some of the many attractions. First port of call was Questacon the National Science and Technology Centre. Here we spent the whole day trying out the many hands-on experiments. We also managed to fit in the rocket show and see 10 rockets blast off.

Experimenting at Questacon

Ball run at Questacon

Experimenting at Questacon

Experimenting at Questacon

Experimenting at Questacon

Experimenting at Questacon

Dad tries out the free fall

Dad tries out the free fall

Dad tries out the free fall

On our second day the weather held out and we visited Cockington Green Gardens model village. This was a great opportunity to talk about different buildings and fitted in well with our architecture project. There was also a huge dolls house with many rooms. It was interesting to imagine how people lived in the past. The house had only one bathroom but lots of other unusual rooms like the stronghold (treasure room), music room, silver room and day nursery.

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

Model Village

The Dolls House

Inside The Dolls House

Inside The Dolls House

Inside The Dolls House

We went to have a look at the art works at the National Gallery of Australia. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos of the works inside which included lots of Aboriginal artworks. However we enjoyed the sculpture gardens outside the gallery.

Sculpture Gardens

Sculpture Gardens

Trying to roll the sculpture

Sculpture Gardens

Sculpture Gardens

Sculpture Gardens

This is a "Fog" sculpture

Sculpture Gardens

Sculpture Gardens

Sculpture Gardens

From the sculpture gardens we were able to see across Lake Burley Griffin to the National Carillon. This is actually an instrument containing 55 bells. We were lucky to arrive just as it was playing.

National Carillon

Next we headed up to the Australian War Memorial. We arrived just in time to see the guards marching up to the tomb of the unknown soldier. R was fascinated. The memorial has a huge museum underneath about all the wars Australia has been involved in. R loved looking at the guns and army vehicles.

Australian War Memorial

Roll of Honour

One of the cannons in the museum

On our last day we went to have a look at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. The weather was chilly but thankfully not raining. The children followed the kids trail to discover lots of creepy crawlies. We also  looked closely at lichens. The highlight of the morning was the discovery of 2 large kangaroos in the undergrowth, very close to the path.

Botanic gardens

Botanic gardens

Sundial but no sun to tell the time by

Botanic gardens

Lichens

Kangaroo

Kangaroo
We finally said goodbye to Canberra for the 2.5 hour drive back to Sydney. We hope to visit again as there are lots more museums and attractions that we didn't have time to see. For cheap accommodation try Canberra Motor Village

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