Day 5a--Cockington Green and the National Carillon

 Cockington Green-Miniature English village

 The first miniature is a replica of the gift shop/entrance

 It just looked so real!

 See The Stig??

 The spring flowers everywhere were GORGEOUS!  

 

On Wednesday we went to Cockington Green which is a miniature English village.  We were amazed by the detail put in to each scene.  And the details in the gardening.  The grass looked fake it was so carefully manicured!  There were lots of things to see and they even had a couple trains that you could run.  Nathan loved that.  We also rode the little steam train.  Dad and Josh took Nathan and Naomi to the playground so us "big girls" could go in and see the dollhouses.  They were pretty amazing as well. 

After we left Cockington Green we went back to the motel and made lunch then headed to the National Carillon on Lake Burley Griffin.  On Wednesdays and Sundays they play recitals so we had a picnic while listening to the bells.  We thought it might be automated but there was a video feed set up so you could watch the lady as she played.  It was really cool.  As we left we spied a huge anchor so of course the kids had to have a picture.  You can see Mom walking a very cranky Susannah down by the water and in the very background you can see the (Nathan-named) "Rocket Tower"

A family of astronauts

Day 4

 you can't see him but Nathan is hiding behind Emma.  Because I told him he had to be in the picture. ha

 hard to see but this is a platypus.  =)

 Nathan (and the 3 older girls) loved these slides.  Mom tried it out too. 

 hard to see but there were 7 (I think?) different satellite dishes you could see

Tuesday had great weather and there were warnings of rain later in the week so we started off with a 45 minute drive out to the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.  All we knew about it was that we would see emus, kangaroos, wallabies and possibly platypus and that it had a great playground.  Our first stop was an old dwelling.  There were gorgeous daffodils and other spring bulbs planted all around.  We had to get photos.  We saw a field with lots of kangaroos including one who would just stand there and pose.  Later we drove back by this lot and there were some emus walking around as well.  We stopped to take a 15 minute walk to a pond of some sort and this ended up turning into a 3 hour walk.  It wouldn't have been that bad but gates were closed off and we were hoping to see the pelican feeding, etc. etc. and it turned out into a BIG walk.  which wasn't good for Dad's knees.  =(  But we got to see lots of nature and on the way out we got to see the platypus playing in the water and climb up a big rock.  We stopped at the playground and it was fun.  They had great slides, a flying fox, a little kids' area, and a bore with a pump so you could pump the water into a little stream that had several dams you could put down or up.  Hard to describe but the girls played with the water stream for over half an hour.  There were lots of wallabies around here and an emu just wandering around the park as well. 
About 10 minutes away was the Deep Space Communication Complex.  We weren't sure if this was going to be interesting but it was.  Those dishes are so huge!  And they had lots of info inside the building along with a fun interactive area for the kids. 

Day 3

We visited the Sydney Opera House and viewed the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance. I know Naomi looks upset or grumpy but actually she LOVES steps and was having a great time. =)  Then we drove to Canberra.  On the way we saw a wind farm in the distance.  Hard to see in the photo but it made a nice break in the drive to stop and have a look OUT of the car.  We arrived in Canberra checked in at the Red Cedars Motel and bought some groceries to stock our pantry for the week.  This was also Nathan's 4th birthday so we celebrated with cake and ice cream but we forgot to take photos. 

Day 2

Before we left Coffs Harbour we visited the Big Banana and the Butterfly House.  We hadn't realized there was a Butterfly House there until the night before when we were waiting for the pizza and had a look at all the tourist brochures so that was a fun unexpected stop.  Do you like the very grumpy butterfly?? =D  We eventually left Coffs Harbour and drove to Sydney.  That night was like going from rags to riches as we stayed in a very nice Rydges hotel.  Josh asked the chef if he could heat up the pies from Saturday for us.  The chef agreed and said he would send the pies up via room service along with glasses, plates and cutlery.  I should have taken a picture as the pies came up in covered dishes and when opened we found they had even put a bit of garnish on them.  =)  Even though it was a bit of a posh hotel that probably don't have families like us show up often they were so very accommodating and kind. Josh took the kids on a tour mainly because the girls had seen a sign for "The Ballroom".  They were very disappointed that it was just another big empty plain looking room.  I'm afraid Sound of Music has spoiled them.  =D

Day 1 {of our whirlwind Canberra+more trip}

So, we took a trip.  =)  A very quick, full trip.  These are the highlights from Day 1.  Saturday, the 24th of August, we packed up the Jubilee 14 seater bus and left for Canberra.  4 seats had been taken out of the bus so it fit us and our luggage perfectly.  We planned to take 3 days to get to Canberra so drove to Coffs Harbour, NSW this day.  We stopped at a little park just over the NSW border.  Nathan loved the swing and let Papa push him for a LONG time even after everyone else went down to look at the beach.  We stayed that night at the Coffs Harbour Youth Hostel.  Cheap but clean and surprisingly very quiet.  When we passed Yatala Pies on the Gold Coast we decided to stop and buy some meat pies that we could cook for dinner as the YHA had a shared kitchen.  Turns out they don't put ovens in shared kitchens because of the fire code.  so Dad and Josh went out and found a pizza shop that was open and we had pizza that night along with the apple pie and caramel tart.