Canberra Day One-Questacon

     Today we embarked upon our journey to Questacon in Canberra

. From what we had been told it was a very interactive science environment with rave reviews. The boys and Dave took some photos at the entrance to the building, including the very cool Einstein statue (from the side it looks like an eagle!). The boys were very excited to get inside so we wasted no time.

    Our host family in Canberra had given us a gift pass for free family entry (the family are amazing hosts!) and we quickly made our way to the first of the exhibits. Big C was intrigued by the ‘noise’ tower’

 that dropped different density spheres through a track to make different pitches of sound. Monkey meanwhile was quite impressed by the visual sensory activities.

  We took in the natural disasters show where Big C was chosen as the volunteer to make the volcano erupt using liquid nitrogen. He was an excellent Vanna White and was all smiles throughout the demonstration.

  After a quick lunch on the steps of the Australian High Court next door we returned inside to check out many of the other rooms inside. Big C’s favourite was the aerodynamics wind generator where he was able to cut up paper cups and have them float in the air. He one little guy in stitches every time that he started up the machine and made his cups float. I think that he would have spent all day there given the chance. When we left there however he was keen to check out the water zone with Saje and make water on the screen stop and accumulate.

   Monkey favoured three areas in particular – the free fall drop zone where you were dropped about 5 meters after suspending yourself on a bar and then letting go onto the slide below; the psychedelic light show where your body movements were transformed into 70’s disco images on the screen; and the earthquake zone where you could make buildings and then see how they stood up to minor tremors and then a series of earthquakes.

  Dave had a great time with the chemistry area and watching the day unfold through the eyes of his boys.

  Saje had a great time throughout the place, but I think she particularly enjoyed the ‘games room’ with the 4-person air hockey game with the spinner in the middle, the full-body ‘bop-it’ game against Dave, the 3D tic tac toe with Monkey  and the times watching her boys being boys.

  It was a superb day and we’d certainly love to come back again if time allows.