Friday, May 8, 2015

Canberra Episode III - Somewhat aimed at the W side of the family

Dave posting here.

There was a moment in particular at Questacon that made me think of my childhood fondly and wonder if the boys should be spending summer on a chicken farm as their dad had for so many years.
There was a section of Questacon devoted to machines that performed 'simple' tasks. There was a mechanism that spun magnets around until the centripedal force ran out and they all tumbled to the bottom of the wheel. There was a crank that made odd-shaped arms spin around in a seemingly random sequence of events. There were heaps of others that were totally ignored by the WB boys.
Why you may ask?

There was an interconnected series of pulleys, chains, lifts and silly devices that moved fake eggs around through a number of different stations. One of them even shone a light through the 'egg' to see if it was a bad egg or a good egg. The boys excitedly played at that station alone for at least 45 minutes making the eggs moved around, watching them climb to the top and then tumble to the bottom - only to start the whole process all over again.


If there are part time jobs in their future, I feel pretty confident that I can sign them up for some farm work on a nearby hen farm.

I imagine that if these types of devices were around that they'd even do it for free ;)


Also of note, the boys did spend (significant less) some time checking out the 'invisible harp' that played music by interrupting beams of light;

they were wowed by both the 'tube of intense blue light'

and the 'floating sphere' that resides on a side street outside Questacon.


All-in-all, this was one of the best places that we've checked out so far in Australia and one that we would go back to if we have the chance.

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