Questacon and National Library of Australia Storytime Exhibition (Snowy Mountains and Canberra Trip)

Sunday 29 December 2019 – 281 016

Questacon was today’s adventure and I am not sure whether the grownups or the teenager were looking forward to it most. https://www.questacon.edu.au/ As a family of science nerds this was full of all sorts of fun for us!  As well as exploring all the galleries, we watched two shows. “Instrumental as Anything” https://www.questacon.edu.au/visiting/spectacular-science-show/shows/instrumental-anything which explained the scientific principles behind the production of music – oscillation and resonance; and “Natural Disasters” https://www.questacon.edu.au/events/natural-disasters-50 which explained how cyclones/typhoons/ hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunami occur.  Favourite displays were air hockey against the robot and marble chase (Tracy); four way air hockey with a spinner, air hockey against the robot and marble chase (Hayden); and the AI and robotics (Drew).

Second stop was the National Library of Australia’s Storytime Exhibition, which showcased a variety of Australian Childrens Literature.  It lived up to its descriptor – find old favourites and discover new ones. 

https://www.nla.gov.au/storytime

Next up we drove around the Embassy district.  I was a bit disappointed with this as the most visible element was high security and not distinctive national styles. 

https://visitcanberra.com.au/attractions/56b23b4fd5f1565045d80193/embassy-drive

We then had a short walk along Lake Burley Griffin https://visitcanberra.com.au/attractions/56b23b58d5f1565045d801cf/lake-burley-griffin at Commonwealth Place before heading out to dinner at the Steakhouse, Kingston Hotel. https://kingstonhotel.com.au/ This is a Canberra icon where the meat is served raw and each person cooks their own on large hot plates.  It is fair to say that we were all full when we finished.

13 November - Gravity Discovery Centre

13 November 2016 – 195 107

Gravity Discovery Centre

Overnight it was again very cold when we went to bed, then warming up when the wind dropped in the middle of the night and cool again just before dawn – quite different to what I am accustomed to.  This morning we drove north to the Gravity Discovery Centre near Gingin.  

https://gingin-observatory.space/

This is a very cool centre for all science nerds, particularly physics nerds!  So, our family really enjoyed it.  Inside there are a variety of interactive experiments set up that demonstrate things like magnetic fields, gravity, wave movements, visualisation of sound waves, Bernoulli’s principle, black hole, how electrical conduction affects magnet movement and so on. There was also a section on lasers and their interaction with different optical mediums such as soap bubbles, dripping water (projecting images of the microbes in the water onto a screen), seismic movements and so on.  There is also a 45m tower, complete with 222 steps to get to the top, that is on a fifteen-degree lean.  This allows investigation of free falling – each person takes two balloons, one partially filled with water and the other more extensively filled with water that are dropped simultaneously from the top and you can see that they each reach the ground at the same time.

https://gingin-observatory.space/leaning-tower-of-gingin/  

Outside there were also other interactive exhibits including a 1km walk with a scaled representation of the solar system – with Pluto 1km from the sun, the sun was still huge, and earth was about the size of a basketball. 

https://gingin-observatory.space/solar-system-walk/

We weren’t sure how long we would need at the Gravity Discovery Centre so we chose to arrive at opening time – just as well as we only left one hour before closing time! When we got back to the van the boys had haircuts again.