Day 2 in Canberra - Questacon

Pia with the orange blob sculpture outside the Portait Gallery

Pia and Islie with the blob

Pia at Questacon

The 3 big girls getting ready to go on the big drop slide

Tilly about to ddrop down the slide - she survived

Maia falling down the slide - said it was a little scary

Today we visited the Questacon Science Centre. The kids thought this was the highlight of our visit to Canberra. There are so many things to do in the 8 different themed rooms. Each one focuses on a particular area of science and has many activities for the kids to do. As you'll see above, there's even one that has a huge slide that drops vertically from the roof. The kids had to put on special overalls and shoes to go on this. Maia was the only 4 year old brave enough to go on it. Other rooms were focused on sea creatures, water, the human body etc.

As you can see above, we also went to the Australian Portrait Gallery. Lisa and Justin really, really liked this. The girls also liked playing in the kids area, where they could read books and practise their drawing. Pia particularly liked the big orange blob sculpture at the front entrance.

Day 1 in Canberra

 

 

 

We woke to a very hot day in Canberra - 37 degrees. It took us a little while to get moving, but we eventually made it to (the new) Parliament House. We were fortunate enought to join a tourn and we all learnt alot about the building and everything that happens there. Maia got very hungry half way through, so we had to quickly duck-out to get a muffin to keep her going. She returned just in time to ask some really good questions of the tour giude when we visited the Senate. After visitng the roof and seeing the view (and the flag as big as a bus), we found a patch of grass for a picnic.

After lunch we visited the War Memorial / Museum. We didn't get to see every bit of it, but we all thought it was really worthwhile. Pia was a bit scared during the sound and light show - the bombs and air-raid sirens were very loud. We arrived back at the camp ground just in time for a swim before dinner.  

The journey to Canberra

The main street of Braidwood

Tilly outside Braidwood's National Theatre

Stocking up at the bakery

The local paper is produced here

Finally arrived in Canberra - doing our journals

After leaving Bawley Point, we travelled south to Bateman's  Bay and then across to Canberra. As usual, the towns we've never heard of prove to be really interesting. We stopped for lunch at Braidwood, about 40km east of Canberra. What a great country town - lots of nice cafes, two great bakeries, excellent opp shops, and the best lolly shop around. We spent much longer there than expected, and left with full tummies and a big box of local stone fruit.  We only saw one realtively small bush fire on the way across, thankfully. We arrived in Canberra late afternoon, and were fortunate to secure the only patch of green grass in the whole city for a campsite. A pool was also essential as the next few days are forecast to be very hot. We'll stay here 3 nights to see all the sites.

A really, really hot day at Bawley Point (SE NSW)

 

 

After a really cool evening, we were woken by the camper being really hot and the annex being blown on to the roof. We all went outside at 5am to find the temperature was already 33 degrees. Nothing much to do, except pack things up as much as we could and wait for it to get hotter. The wind got stronger and stronger as it got hotter. It was 40 degrees by 10am. We eventually has to wind down the camper because it looked like the wond was goind to blow the roof off. Fortunately the kids indoor play centre was open all day, and the kids went into the cool to make chinese lanterns. Tilly and Justin had a great swim in the surf, which was really refreshing. Pia had a red face all day. The cool change came about 6pm and was really welcome. Our friends Kimberley and Riley came over for a BBQ. When we finally got into bed, we slept very soundly after such aslong and difficult day.

Arrived at Bawley Point

Girls helping park the camper

 Today we drove down the Blue Mountains to the coast. We travelled about 300km to a place called Bawley Point, which is just north of Bateman's Bay. Found a nice camp park with a huge playground, children's play centre, and big pool (very expensive though!). Hoping to catch up with Lisa's friend Kimberley who lives here, and getting ready for a really hot day tomorrow.

Jenolan Caves

Tilly in the lucas cave

All of us in the Lucas cave

 

Lunchtime

On our self-guided tour

In the lucas cave

Still in the Blue Mountains, we drove the 70km from Blackheath to Jenolan Caves. We arrived just in time for our 10am tour of the Lucas Cave, one of the larger caves. We were the only ones on the tour. Our tour giude was Graham, who first visited the caves when he was 7 years old (like Isla). Our tour went for 90 minutes, and we saw caves of all sizes. One cave was so big that it is used for concerts. We sang a song in there, and it sounded beautiful. We saw lots of crystals, stalactites, stalacmites and columns. After being outside where it was really hot, the cold air of the cave was really nice (about 18 degrees).
Once our tour was finished, we ate lunch and then went on a self-guided tour where we all had electronic tour guides that told us about some of the other caves. Everyone really enjoyed that too. We finished at Jenolan mid afternoon and went back to Blackheath pool, where we all swam until dinner time.

Blackheath - Blue Mountains

 

Sill in the Blue Mountains, we've now moved  on to Blackheath for 2 nights. We've got a great camp site, with lots of trees and green grass (and a road for the kids to ride their Penny boards!). Across the road form the campa park is a public pool, which has been great today as the temperature has been 35 degrees. Off to Jenolan Caves tomorrow morning - can't wait to blog the photos.