Canberra and Jindabyne
Leaving the park in Sydney was a very easy exercise, turn
right, 500m down the road , turn right again and then 210km later stop at the
lights at Canberra. At least it was easy to get out of Sydney even if getting
around it was a bit of a drama compared to what we are used to.
On arriving in Queanbeyan 10km from Canberra we set the van
and then set of for Parliament House. After Sydney, free plentiful parking was very
welcome and it was easy parking underneath the Parliament House. After
entering the building and getting through security we viewed both the House of
Representatives and the Senate, The Great Hall and the roof which of course is
lawn. One feature is the quality of the
building, as you would expect and the
many wonderful works of art throughout the building. Good to know our money is well spent.
Looking towards Anzac avenue and the War Memorial
Wednesday saw Jim dropped off at the War Memorial for the
day whilst the kids went to Questacon, a science discovery centre with Chrissy.
The kids had a ball at Questacon doing
many activities whilst Jim soaked up all that the memorial has to offer.
Canberra would be a brilliant place to take children on camp and 120,000 kids
visit there each year. We met back at the memorial at the end of the day to watch two guards from the Menin Gates in Belgium (where
22,000 Australian soldiers without a known grave are listed), play The
Last Post in front of the main memorial. A special moment indeed.
Questacon
The next morning we all returned to the War Memorial where
the kids enjoyed the discovery centre as well as the many sound and light
displays, dioramas and wonderful sculptures and paintings. Jordy was
particularly keen to find the remains of the original Desert Corp Memorial
which he studied in Year 5. We completed our visit by walking along the walls
of honour where the names of 105,000 Australian war dead are listed. We ended our visit with a sobering visit to
the sacred Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - A beautiful place with amazing
artwork, including the largest known mosaic in the world which was created by
an injured WW1 soldier.
Will the chopper pilot.
The Desert Corp Memorial
The Menin Gate guards play the last post
Lone Pine Diorama
Anzac Avenue
The tomb of the unknown soldier.
Captain Cook Memorial Water Spout
We finished our day with a visit to the Royal Australian
Mint where all Australian coins are minted. We all learnt a lot about the
making of coins and watched as Titan the robot lifted a 44 gallon drum with
$200,000 of $2 coins for sorting. 600 million coins are minted there every
year.
Canberra was great but once again we hardly scratched the
surface with many galleries and museums still to visit, next time.
Jindabyne
Jindabyne is about 160km south of Canberra along the very
straight Monaro Highway. The Monaro high plains are generally treeless but very
picturesque country. Arriving in Jindabyne we set up camp at the Big 4 on Lake
Jindabyne which is part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The kids were keen to
get out and explore but were warned by some locals about the large number of
snakes around at the moment so they were a little careful - well sort of. We all survived our first night of zero
degrees temperatures. As usual the cold is not the problem it is the wind that
comes with it.
Lake Jindabyne
Next morning we headed for Thredbo some 30km away on the
Alpine Way. The mountains were stunning going up the valley and after arriving
and organising passes for the day we were quickly on the chairlift heading for
the top of the ski runs. There was some patchy snow around as we made the 2.5 km
trek to the Mt Kosciuszko lookout. It was very pretty up there although it was
quite barren. The kids had a ball in the snow that was left but there was none
at all on the ski slopes. With a bit more preparation we may have made an
attempt at the Kosciuszko summit a further 4.5km away but we erred on the side
of caution with a few threatening clouds
around (much to Jordy’s disgust).
The rest of the day we spent flying down the bobsled at
Thredbo and again taking the chairlift for a sightseeing ride. There was also a
downhill mountain bike completion on which was interesting to check out.
At the Mt Kosciuszko Lookout, Kosciuszko in the one above Will's head 4.5 km away
The Chairlift with the cyclists
We would have loved a
bit more time at The Snowy’s, but it
will have to wait for another time. The drive towards Victoria was a lovely one
on nice roads but funnily enough it was hailing within a minute of crossing the
border into Victoria. I hope it is not a sign of things to come!
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