Australian Institute of Sport, Australian War Memorial and the Royal Australian Mint (Snowy Mountains and Canberra Trip)

Tuesday 31 December 2019 – 281 106

First stop today was the A.I.S. – Australian Institute of Sport. 

https://ais.gov.au/visit 

There was some memorabilia on display and a shop, to see anything else you must go on a tour with one of the athletes.  Our tour guide was a young female track runner who had just finished year 12.  She took us around the various training facilities.  She explained that some sports people are fully funded by their national sporting body e.g. Basketball Australia; whereas some other sports the athlete pays to be at the A.I.S. e.g. volleyball.

Lunch was a picnic in Remembrance Park – a beautiful shady park of memorials.  We then spent another hour in the Australian War Memorial, looking at the sections on Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as peacekeeping missions. https://www.awm.gov.au/

Last stop for the day was the Royal Australian Mint. https://www.ramint.gov.au/ We took a tour, which was very informative and saw video footage of the factory in operation. We also looked at displays and saw versions of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Medals.  I learnt that the bronze medals were made from melted down 1c and 2c coins, so they had literally been touched by millions of Australians.

Then back to the van to relax.  After dinner the smell of the smoke suddenly changed and parents all simultaneously appeared to gather their children.  We had three bushfires break out with 5km of us, good to know out instincts still work.

National Capital Exhibition and Parliament House (Snowy Mountains and Canberra Trip)

Monday 30 December 2019 – 281 059

The National Capital Exhibition was today’s destination.  Unfortunately, they opened an hour later than their signage indicated. https://www.nca.gov.au/attractions-and-memorials/national-capital-exhibition This gave me an opportunity to look at Lake Burley Griffin from another angle and at the Captain Cook Memorial.  The water level in the lake is visibly low, reflecting the prolonged period without rain. 

https://visitcanberra.com.au/attractions/56b23b58d5f1565045d801cf/lake-burley-griffin

All that smoke!

Stop two was a quick visit to the Australian War Memorial, where we looked at the outdoor exhibits as well as information on the Cold War, Korea, Malaya and Borneo. https://www.awm.gov.au/

We then met up with a friend of Drew’s at Parliament House and her husband walked us around many of the non-public areas.  After lunch in Queen’s Terrace Café, we looked at the artwork adorning many of the public areas, including an enormous hand-woven tapestry.  We also looked at the Alfred Deakin display. 

https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament  https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Whats_On/Exhibition/Alfred_Deakin_exhibition

A guided tour at 3:30pm with “Kylie” took us to view both chambers, as well as explaining the symbolic layout of Parliament House.  I had not realised just how enormous it is – 300m by 300m!  Last of all we went onto the grassed area of the roof.  A strong wind had sprung up and the sky was the clearest we had seen it and the flag was definitely flapping.  Another full day.