Canberra

Glass factory


Celebrating Cas' 12th birthday at Hog's Breath Cafe. This is the equivilant to the "Outback Steak House" in the states. They have American license plates hanging all over. Many Aussies are surprised to know that we do not have Hog's Breath in the states.


Birthday cake in the hotel

The Parliament House

The red, white and blue wreath is from the US in memory of Au's unknown soldiers

I think that Cas is surrendering in the Vietnam war

The war museum. This pic has a pool with an eternal flame and the building behind the pool is the memorial for the unknown soldiers

We so wanted inside the gates, we pleaded, we begged, we used the best American accent that we knew how, we waved our passports...no luck. The sign on the outside is as close as we got to American soil in Australia

We once again thoroughly enjoyed our travels in Australia. RT had a 2 day course in Canberra so this gave us the perfect excuse for one more trip. The first day RT was in class the kids and I enjoyed some "schooling" at the glass factory. We all enjoyed seeing how glass was made and molded. The next day the kids and I rode around the lake. It was approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles). It was a bit cool - probably in the upper 50's- but flowers were blooming, birds were singing and people were having picnics.

The next day we went to the war memorial museum. The Aussies have done a great job describing battles and displaying momentos from the war. Abbie and I really enjoyed the first 1 1/2 hours we spent there, while Cas and RT enjoyed the whole 5 hours.

The parliament house was a bit of a surprise to us. We went there expecting to have another "boring" (ok RT was not expecting boring) tour. This was not the case. We got to listen in on the Senate and then we got to sit in on Kevin Rudds question/answer time with the house of representatives. This was very exciting. Even though the speaker kept saying "order". There was not much order on the floor. They were questioning the gov't spending. This subject matter led to loud outbursts from both parties. To us observers, it was great entertainment.

The last day, we spent at a great science center. The kids got to "free fall" 20 feet feeling the effects of adreneline. We all got to experience an earthquake, perception deceptions and many hands on activities.

We concluded our tour of Canberra with one last trip to the War memorial to listen to the bagpipes play as they closed the tomb for the day. It was a very somber and moving moment.

All in all we had a great trip. We are back home. Our next trip will not have a return ticket.