Capital Capers

There was lots to do in Canberra. We drove down on Monday in a hire car and arrived at our accommodation by mid afternoon. The girls spent the first 20 mins running around the 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment looking at everything, taking photos and being excited at the space. Just 3 months living on a boat has had quite an impact that is evident when we find ourselves with lots of room!

We had a great dinner with our friends Sam, Olivia, Jen and Dave before heading to the apartment for Em to get ready for work. The girls and I borrowed bikes for the week and settled into a great routine over the coming days of school in the morning followed by a ride to an attraction in the afternoon.

Canberra the cyclists paradise

First stop was the National Science Museum Questacon which was just fantastic. 4 hours of non stop fun with the girls running from activity to activity. Freefall slippery slides, the delights of the deep ocean, earthquake simulators, lightning displays, myriad puzzles and problems to solve along with singing robots were just some of the highlights. Ava declared it the best museum she'd ever been to.

Problem solving at Questacon

We haven't caught one of these yet! 

Ava tries to boil water by hand

The next day the rain set in however the girls were not deterred from swimming in the pool at the apartments with friends Emma and Megan and we still managed to ride to the National gallery clad in our raincoats. There we saw Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly paintings, amazing indigenous art, Vanuatu Kastom works and also spent some time creating our own art in the kids gallery area.

Nolan's Ned kelly

Young artists

A wet ride

Next it was off to the National Museum where we looked at Australian history including lots of indigenous artefacts and the giant skeleton of a Diprotodon.

Dwarfed by Diprotodon

We followed up with a quick trip to the war memorial where it was submarines, planes and then bagpipes being played at the daily closing ceremony. Our final night was spent at Stu, Margot, Matty and Will's place and we really enjoyed catching up so with many various friends over the whole week.

Submariners! 

D'Arcy and a Lancaster as flown by her great grandfather Tom

Em gets her Canberra Laksa fix with friends 

Em had a great time being back at work for the week and we have now returned to what is a continuing theme of a very wet and windy Port Hacking. It's nice to be back on the boat though as it now feels very much like home. This week will be full with various boat jobs, school and more cousin time before we head North when the weather allows us sometime from early next week.