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As promised, here are a few more photographs from our recent holiday.

Australian Institute Of Sport

This was enjoyable although in my mind was expensive for what you got. It’s supposed to be a 90 minute tour but our tour guide finished early so we ended up with only a little over an hour for our $40-something investment.

The Sportex section was great fun but we didn’t get enough time to do everything there and I felt they could have at least taken us back there for the final 20 minutes. It wasn’t a place you could spend whatever time you liked in, you only had the amount of time allowed as part of the tour.

It was fun though. Here are Lleyton and Singstar Princess on the winners podium that is part of the Sportex section at the Institute of Sport.

Space Centre - Tidbinbilla

One of the great things about Canberra was how many places you didn’t have to pay admission for. The Space Centre was one of them. We were able to see what Space food looks like (not very tasty looking!!!) as well as many other interesting displays and exhibits. It was fairly small but well worth the visit.

Here are the kids in front of a remote control buggy like those used on the moon. Lleyton is pretending to be in zero gravity.

Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve

Tidbinbilla is a little way out of Canberra so we packed up a picnic lunch and headed off for the day. The Space Centre in the morning then onto the Nature Reserve for lunch and a look around. Things weren’t very sign posted at the reserve and we were rather disappointed with the lack of animals we could see from the picnic area. Thankfully, we decided to ask for directions inside the shop, only to discover we weren’t even IN the reserve as such. In fact, there were much nicer places to picnic had we had a clue (which we obviously didn’t).

Anyway, it was a rather hot day but we did manage to see a few animals. Here is the koala Farmboy spotted. There were a couple of other families there who would have gone home without seeing a Koala if it weren’t for his keen eyes.

I was most excited that we also got to see a Platypus. I’ve never seen one before. The kids were great and kept very quiet while we watched. Unlike the 2 gentlemen that were there as we were leaving. Perhaps no-one had told them to watch quietly?

Floriade

Floriade was free to get into but you could certainly have parted with some money whilst there if you weren’t careful. It was hot and we decided to buy the kids an ice cream and the cheapest we could get were $1.50 Paddle Pops. It makes me mad things are so expensive at events like this. Is it really necessary?

There were some great flowers to see though and I couldn’t help but take some pics of tulips that match my blog.

There are some more pics of Floriade on Lightening’s Garden.

National Museum

The National Museum was a little different to other museum’s we have been to. Because it focuses mainly on Australian History, a lot of the exhibits are more modern than what we’ve come across in other museum’s (which have old bones and artifacts from around the world).

We didn’t have time to see all of it but the things we saw were very interesting. I was particularly taken by this caravan, obviously built with me in mind. Too bad they no longer make caravan’s in pink.

Sir Donald Bradman Museum, Bowral, NSW

One of my brothers lives in Sydney so we arranged to meet for a picnic lunch at Bowral which is approximately half way between Canberra and Sydney. Lleyton was particularly interested in having a look through the museum there. By that stage of the holiday, we were feeling rather “spent” and so instead of paying almost $40 for the family to have a look through, we sent him on his own (costing us only $6).

Here he is in front of a statue that is outside the museum (cameras aren’t allowed inside the museum):

I hope that gives you a glimpse into our time away. I’m already missing being away in the caravan (life is so much simpler than being at home) and can’t wait to head away again. With harvest fast approaching, I think Christmas/January will be the next time we get to use it.

Canberra is a great place to take kids for a holiday. I can highly recommend it to anyone contemplating it.