Canberra Capers Continue

With a week allocated for Canberra, we still had a fair bit of time left to explore the capital a little more. We headed back to the Art Gallery, but turned left instead of right and spent a lovely morning exploring the National Portrait Gallery. Lexie loved the interactive “Dress Up as a Portrait” section while Dunc and Angus took the opportunity to relax.

We also checked out the Australian War Memorial and spent the afternoon very moved by the exhibitions there. I loved the section on artists and was very enthralled with the exhibition of Ben Quilty’s portraits. I sat and watched the entire Australian Story episode on him (and his subjects) that was screening in the exhibition. Unfortunately we didn’t discover the children’s corner until right before the ceremony of the laying of the wreath, so we only had time to rush through that bit too quickly.

The next day we headed to the Royal Australian Mint, where we realized how much we had learnt at the previous mint! We still had lots to learn here though, and the interactive exhibits were enjoyed by all. I’m sure they were designed for kids, but Dunc still got his fun worth! It was truly fascinating watching the enormous robot named Titan move around and do ‘his’ job.

Lexie was getting excited about heading home to Melbourne and started counting down the days – yay!

Conquering Kosciuszko - on top of Australia

Having reached the 4 compass points, the centre and the lowest point in Australia, Dunc was keen to tick off the highest point too. Mt Kosciuszko was a reasonable drive from Canberra and easily accomplished in a day trip, so off we went.

Visiting a ski field in summer is always slightly weird, but this place was a mecca for mountain bikers and hikers and very well set up. We thought we were prepared with warm gear, but I was somewhat freaked to see the temperature listed as “feels like -4°” at the bottom of the chairlift.

  

We caught the main chairlift to the top, where it was a 4km return hike to the summit lookout and 13km return to the summit itself. The children were NOT up for the full distance, so we agreed that Dunc would steam ahead to the summit while the three of us would hike at kid-pace to the lookout before returning to pass some time in the alpine Eagles Nest restaurant while we waited for the hiker to return.

After an adorable goodbye to Dunc, we headed off at our slower pace and were super impressed with the way they had built the track. It was a wonderful grilled pathway with clear signage of distances as we went along. It was rather slushy at times and we could see snow in the distance, so the pathway was definitely required.

I had done the usual brown-bag picnic lunch, so we made ourselves comfortable in an almost-cave at the lookout and ate our meal before turning around and heading back again. We had rather a quick-step rush back at the end as some of us needed to go to the toilet and it was a crowded path with nowhere we could squat in private! Eek...

Sitting in comfort in the bar, with a yummy hot chocolate, I had a lovely time watching the mountain bikers get off the chairlift and zoom down the mountain. It didn’t take long to get to know the good ones – they were back up again in about 20 minutes! There was even one guy without a chain – guess you don’t need one if its downhill all the way?

Dunc made it all the way to the summit and sent some pics of his achievement. Then he sent pics looking the other way and the crowd was surprisingly huge! Just getting to the top of Australia wasn’t enough for him – he had to get on top of the cairn too. What an accomplishment!

Capping it off in the Capital

Having run out of friends to catch up with, it was time to hit the road and head south once more. The only commitments left were to be back in Melbourne by Dad’s birthday at the end of January, so we decided to head to Canberra. I had really enjoyed my time there at a conference for work previously, and we had heard that it was a wonderful place for kids.

We made our way over another state border and into the EPIC showgrounds caravan park. Wonderfully set up for travellers, and with plenty of sites for big rigs, I had to laugh at the fact that Dunc tried to park Bertha in a spot that was faar too small. I can’t believe he actually did that so late in our journey! Neither could our would-be neighbours who were shaking their heads as we pulled out again and drove to a bigger spot. Luckily there was enough spare room to do so.

Our first day was spent exploring the city’s main attractions. We started with the National Gallery of Art and it was wonderful to have a deeper understanding of the indigenous art on display. We all enjoyed James Turrell’s Skypace installation in the grounds. Every angle had a new viewpoint, all stunningly simple and with a beautiful aesthetic. And the pathway there was just PERFECTLY designed for active little boys.

We also checked out Parliament House and perfectly timed our arrival with a tour. It was truly fascinating and even the kids were kept enthralled. The level of detail in the finish of the interior is amazing and Dunc and I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary on the making of the building. What craftsmanship!

We finished our day with a trip to the Telstra Tower on Black Mountain where we had hoped to have dinner. Sadly the revolving restaurant had closed up, and there is only a rather basic kiosk now. And a museum devoted to all things telephones, which Dunc enjoyed. A very busy day for our first day in the capital.