Canberra - Hits & Misses

We spent Friday & Saturday in Canberra, Australia's capital city. It's a 3 hour drive to Canberra from Sydney, mostly along quiet, scenic highway roads. The Halls, another American family (from Provo, UT. Matt is here for work for 2 yrs - he works for NuSkin) also went. They have four kids and their boys and Ravi love to play together. They were a lot of fun to travel with.

We went to Canberra for Floriade, Australia's largest flower festival, which was beautiful and a lot of fun. But we also saw a lot of other great things. Here is a list of some of our "Hits & Misses"

"Hits"

• National Archives of Australia - where I attempted to find my Great Grandfather who migrated to Australia from Britain in 1911-12. Unfortunately, they didn't have any ships records for direct sails to Melbourne prior to 1924.
• Lake Burley Griffin - a large lake that sits in the middle of wide and rolling green parks that make up Canberra's interior.
• Embassy Row - it was sure fun to check out the architecture of all the different embassies.
• Questacon: National Science & Technology Center - hours of fun and entertainment for the kids (ok, and the adults)!
• National Gallery of Australia - Some great aboriginal art and a spectacular Asia-Pacific photo display. Loved it!
• Old Parliament House - was the seat of government from 1927-1988.
• Aboriginal Tent Embassy - sits opposite Old Parliament House and is essentially an old shed. It was established on Australia Day, 26 Jan 1972, as a protest against the denial of land rites and self-determination. It became a symbol of resistance and is where the Aboriginal flag first gained prominence.
• Australian War Memorial - not only a memorial, but an amazing and large museum detailing the events, weapons, and human toll of wartime.

"Misses"

• National Library of Australia - I am particularly sad we missed this as the Library houses Captain Cook's Endeavor Journals, and the original 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place drawings for the Sydney Opera House contest. We actually did show up to see these things -- on Saturday when the display was closed. Bummer.
• New (or current) Parliament House - We were out of time, and the kids (and most of us adults) were out of energy. I'd have loved to have seen the inside of this interesting building. The building is dug into Capital Hill, its roof covered in grass and topped with an 81m high flag pole. In addition, one of only four known copies of the 1297 Magna Carta is on display here.

Gretel and me at Floriade.

Yared just being his cute self.
Ravi, Bryson, Carrie, and Madison don some super cool sunglasses.
Ravi, Madison, me, and Bryson showing off the latest hats. I look like a Muppet.

This colorful cow made us laugh.
Chris and Ravi survived the Questacon Freefall.

Old Parliament House. If you look really, really close, you can actually see us on the steps.

Inside Old Parliament House.
Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

Parliament & Capital Hill.
The white building in the middle of this picture is Old Parliament House. The hilltop with the flag behind it is Capital Hill and new Parliament.

War Memorial.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Memorial.

Sleepy, sleepy kids on the drive home.


Except for Yared, who was wide awake.