One of the first things we did when we arrived in Australia
was plan a trip the Whitsunday Islands of Queensland. The kids, Asher
especially, have a fascination with sea life and we really wanted to get them
out on the Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately, the trip was planned for Easter
break and 2 weeks before we were to leave the entire area and especially our
island was hit with a massive cyclone. Everything was canceled – to took our hotel
more than 3 weeks to get their power restored.
We quickly (and with many phone calls) found a new
destination for the kids’ break: Canberra the capital city. We had heard great
things about all of the kid-friendly attractions and it did not disappoint! We
only got through half of our list of things to do so we may try to go back.
This post is heavy on the pictures – they tell the story better than words.
The first day we visited Cady and Asher’s top choices: The
mint (Cady) and the war memorial (Asher). The mint was actually pretty
interesting and the kids got to dance with a robot named Titan who lifts 900 kg
barrels of coins into a sorting machine.
Someone has some dance moves!
The war memorial was incredible – we could have spent much
more time if our tummies and tired baby would have handled it. There was a
kid’s zone area with costumes, and replica helicopter, submarine, and trench
for the kids to explore. A large hanger had World War II planes and a
mini-submarine. Outdoor areas were beautiful and somber with a wall of names strewn
with poppies (the flower for remembrance).
Wall of soldier’s names
The middle of the memorial building
Tank outside the national war memorial
We pushed our luck after lunch and attempted a visit to the
parliament house – similar to the US Capital building in function. The kids
were rather rambunctious so we quickly stuck our heads in the Senate and House
of Representatives chambers and then headed to the roof where the kids were
able to run around under a huge flag on grassy slopes! How is that for
laid-back government?
Huge flag on roof!
Rooftop of the parliament building.
Front view of parliament.
The kids still had wiggles so we found a fun park before
going home for the night.
Day 2 took us to the zoo. It was small but really great.
Maren is at the age that finds wonder in every moving animal and so we took our
time at many of the exhibits. The snow leopard, white lions (roaring back and
forth to each other), blue penguins (being fed), and wombat (also being fed)
were our favorites. Wombat with his morning tea:
We had a picnic lunch at the National Arboretum and then spent most of the afternoon at the play pod – a series of large play structures. Play POD acorn at the National Arboretum.
The final full day we started at the National Dinosaur Museum. It was small but kept kids entertained.
Watch out!
Then to the Cockington Green, a garden of model villages and buildings. Again, kids were fascinated and we stayed much longer than we expected (there was also a playground and a steam train ride). Some of the models of international buildings at Cockington
Green:
A replica of a Norwegian church.
Asher loved the steam train ride around the gardens.
We bid Canberra g’day and drove south to the town of
Tidbinbella. Near Tidbinbella is a space museum and a nature preserve with hiking and wildlife
viewing opportunities. We stopped at the nature preserve and
never made it to the space center. We spotted a koala about 1.5 km into our
first hike/bushwalk and watched it climb up and down trees above and around us
and then finally scooted down one tree and scampered off into the woods.
He is on the ground! We were told by one of the volunteers
that koalas usually don’t go down to the ground unless they aren’t feeling
well. I hope this one was doing ok.
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