On May 18th the whole family were off to Canberra to visit the Swedish Embassy in order to show our passports and be 'verified'. Although Alana was not planning on making the move to Sweden, she still came with us to ensure she had to option to come later if things didn't work out.
Despite having travelled to around 22 different countries, the kids had never been to Canberra the capital of their home country. Kris and I had been there before when we were in High School, and I had been once for a work trip around 2010.
Work organised accommodation and flights for us and we all stayed at Alana's house the night before, as she lived close to the airport and we had an early (6am) flight.
The flight was uneventful and short and we soon landed in Canberra and picked up our car. We were only staying the one night, so we had packed light and didn't have more than a backpack each.
Our first stop was the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), where the top athletes and sports teams in Australia train:
From there we headed to GIO Stadium (formerly Canberra Stadium), home of the Canberra Raiders (rugby league) and ACT Brumbies (Rugby Union) teams.
After the stadium we still had several hours before we could check into the hotel, so we headed to the Australian War Memorial. The war memorial was created in 1941 as a shrine to fallen soldier in the wars that Australia has been involved in and expanded to include a museum and several exhibits.
The War Memorial is located in a direct line down Anzac Parade from parliament house, and the mast of the parliament building can be seen from the entrance of the tomb of the unknown soldier:
The first area we entered was the Aircraft Hall:
After the aircraft hall, we headed to the Second World War Hall, passing through the Hall of Valour which had the stories of Australians who received the Victoria Cross of George Cross.
The Victoria Cross is the highest award given for bravery in the face of the enemy. The George Cross is an equivalent bravery award, but given to civilians, servicemen and women for bravery not involving contact with an enemy.
Of particular interest to us on this trip was the battle of Ambon, which occurred in 1942 on the Dutch Indies owned island of Ambon. Kristine's grandfather was serving there with the RAAF at the time it was invaded by the Japanese and the island was the site of one of the biggest massacres of Australian Prisoners of War - over 300 men who had surrendered at Laha Airfield.
The wooden cross below reads "In Memory / VX35406 DVR W T DOOLAN / 2/21 BATTALION A.I.F / KIA 1st FEBUARY 1942" and originally marked the grave of William Thomas Doolan who was one of the heroes of the Battle of Ambon.
(https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/hero-of-ambon)
Outside of the halls is the Commemorative Area which houses the Pool of Reflection and the Eternal Flame.
The walls are lined with the Roll of Honour - memorial plaques for the fallen of each of the wars
At the end of the area is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - that of an unknown Australian soldier, killed in World War I in Villers- Bretonneaux in France and returned to Australia in 1993.
After a few hours at the War Memorial we checked into our hotel and then headed out to explore Parliament House. The building was opened in 1988 and is topped by an 81m high flagpole, flying a 12.8x6.4m (half the size of a tennis court) Australian flag, which weighs approximately 15kg.
The view from Parliament towards Old Parliament House (white building) and the War Memorial (green dome with the red and white crane)
Apparently there are good Pokemon to catch at Parliament house:
The House of Representatives:
Senate:
After Parliament House we headed back to the hotel and then headed out for dinner.
The next morning we had a quick visit to the Swedish Embassy and then headed out to the Telstra Tower, which was unfortunately closed for renovations:
Our final stop before catching our flight back was the Royal Australian Mint where Australia's coins (but not notes) are produced.
Even the steps had coins:
The kids (big and small) enjoyed the word search:
One of the main displays showed some common misprinting errors for coins, such as the ones below:
Out of Collar Error - where the blank was not fed into the press collar property:
and these coins with various errors, like the obvious attached bolt in the first one:
Some of the first currencies brought to Australia:
Some concept sketches for the 10c piece:
Plaster casts of the coins:
After the mint we had to head to the airport and we bumped into the ACT Brumbies rugby team on their way to Perth to play the Western Force and Tomas got a picture with Noah Lolesio:
We arrived in Adelaide with enough time to head straight out to the boy's rugby game at Brighton Oval.
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