DAY 27 - 16/03/2010 - Canberra, ACT

Off to the Australian Institute of Sport. Johnny is taking us on a tour around the complex.

John Thornell is a mate of ours. Look out for his name as he will hopefully be competing in the next Olympics. His specialty is Long Jump and I am sure he will be a medal contender. All the best Johnny and go for Gold. Thanks again for taking time out of your day and showing us around your stomping ground. The girls said they had an awsome time.

A lot of athletes were out and about training in various sections. The girls really liked the gymnastics area. We watched the gymnists practicing their moves on the beam and uneven bars. We saw the junior basketball players and the volleyball players train. There were athletes in the gym working on their strengh training as well. Aparently we were lucky to see so many athletes training.

The favourite part of the tour for the girls was the sports activity room. They had an absolute ball. They took turns on various equipment replicating Olympic events. They didn't want to leave this area.

After the AIS, Johnny took us out for lunch at a place where they serve Canberra's most famous Laksa. It was the best Laksa I have ever had. I think every person in that restaurant ordered Laksa.

Later in the day we headed over to Questacom Science Centre. What a fantastic place to visit. They had so much fun. In particular there was a face your fears area which is a theme ride that replicates how a person would feel if free falling from a high place. The girls freaked out and they are usually pretty good on rides. There was also a guilotine that replicates the sound and feel of a real guilotine. You have to put your head in it and wait for it to drop. When it does drop it feels so real or as real as I would think it would feel. We all freaked out over that one. Very funny video footage.

Alicia facing her fear of free falling. Check out the Guilotine in the background.

Now its Taylah's turn

DAY 26 - 15/03/2010 - Canberra, ACT

Today we visited the Australian War Memorial and the New Parliament House.

George was our tour guide at the War Memorial. He was a lovely old vet who had lots of historical and personal war stories to tell. George had been a pilot during the war. He could tell we were very interested in what he had to say which is why I think he extended his time with us. The girls were so well behaved and listened intently.

Waz and I could of spent a couple of days there and the kids, well, I think they had had enough. They were pretty into it during the first part of the day but as the afternoon went on their interest diminished. We also managed to find out more personal information regarding Waz's great Uncle who died in WWI in France. We saw his name on the Role of Honour and the girls placed a poppy next to his name. The poppy signifies the end of the war.

Sydney August Jelfs died aged 20 in WWI

We managed to get to the New Parliament House around 4pm. This was too late for the first part of question time. There were 3 politions in the House of Rep. One was talking, one listening and one was on the nod. We sat down in the viewing gallery for a whole 2 minutes. We were worried Lilly was going to yell out something out of boredom. The gallery isn't sound proof and Lilly gets bored very quickly.

We went up to the roof top to check out the flag pole and the view. I must say the flag pole/mast is pretty cool to look at in person and the view across to the War Memorial is a good view too.

DAY 25 - 14/03/2010 - Batemans Bay, NSW & Canberra, ACT

We arrived in Canberra today and gee what can I say.....we miss Batemans Bay.

No vacancy's anywhere and the parks with available sites look like something out of a Quentin Tarrantino movie set. We had sussed out a campsite earlier on in the day Exhibition Park which was at the showground. The home of the Summernats. We thought after seeing what was out there we would give Exhibition Park another look. At second glance it seemed ok.

We found our spot in amongst the other travellors then Waz needed to fill our water tank. What he didnt realise that when he was filling our tank with a hose, the hose end that is in the van under the sink popped off. Waz kept filling the tank and wondered what was taking so long to fill. Water everywhere. He only realised what was happening when water starting dripping from everywhere. It all got fixed and everything dried out pretty quickly.

As it turns out our neighbours in Exhibition Park also live in North Lakes. What a small world.

Taylah made friends with a couple of girls the same age. They too come from families that are travelling around Australia and are being home schooled. She was so happy to find kids her own age.