Old Dubbo Gaol

Today we had another day in Dubbo so we decided to go and visit the Old Dubbo Gaol.

It had the usual 'Gaol' type stuff with the stocks and the gallows:

But it also had a staff member walking around in character as a simpleton cleaner who tried to steal our watches, got offended when the boys entered the women's quarters, and showed Justin how to empty the latrine buckets from the cells.  Good fun.

After the Gaol experience, it was back to the caravan park to enjoy some of the Big 4 facilities like the jumping pillow for some family fun.

Dubbo - Western Plains Zoo

Today we went to the Zoo in Dubbo. It is quite a sizeable zoo so we hired bikes for the day, packed a picnic lunch and off we went.

The kids enjoyed seeing the Siamangs (a black gibbon), rhinos, otters, elephants and giant tortoises

And they definitely enjoyed the playground at the end of the day:

But the highlight was that we all got to feed the giraffes!!  Woohooo!!

Dubbo - Day 1

We arrived in Dubbo 2 nights ago and spent yesterday doing housekeeping and hanging out at our caravan park.  Fortunately it has a heated swimming pool so we were able to have our first holiday dip!

In the afternoon we went to the Dubbo park called 'Livvy's Place' for a play on the playground and a kick of the footy.  All in all a very relaxing day.

Parkes - The Dish

Today we headed 20km north of Parkes to see the Parkes Radio Telescope, made famous by the movie 'The Dish'.  I have been wanting to see this since I saw the movie years ago so I expected to be a little disappointed.  I wasn't. 

The dish itself is enormous, and the tourism centre built around it is fantastic with enough to keep the kids interested.  We stayed there for nearly 2 hours looking at all the displays and could relax with a coffee.

One of the big hits was the whispering dish display.  These were two concave dishes set up facing each other about 50 metres apart to display the concept of the focal point of the dish.  If you whisper into one dish, another person standing in front of the other one can hear your whisper.  It is very cool (if you are a nerd like me!).

And when you have finished being scientifically educational, you need to choose whether to carry the dish, or wear it as a hat...

Cowra

Today we thought we would have a look at the history of the 'Cowra Breakout', a time when several hundered Japanese POWs escaped from the Cowra POW camp and several hundered more were killed in the attempt.

The information centre in Cowra has a hologram presentation about the breakout.  It is really impressive for such a small town.  Following that, we headed to the site of the POW camp.  None of the buildings are standing, but you can see what a remote area it was.

From there we went up to Bellevue Hill Lookout, where you can see the surrounding area.  Needless to say, the mountain was not high enough for our meerkats:

Cowra's history with the breakout has led to a huge reconciliation push with Japan.  The town has the largest Japanese Gardens in the southern hemisphere, several of their streets are named for Japanese words, and the town holds an annual 'Festival of International Understanding'. For this work, they have been awarded the 'Australian World Peace Bell', which is a replica of the World Peace Bell in the forecourt of the UN.

So, of course, the boys thought they needed to ring in some Peace...

We packed up and moved on after that, rather deafening interlude, and headed on to Parkes.  We have come to a caravan park where we could cunningly place ourselves between the playground, the footy oval and the tree house.

And after spending some time playing footy and building a treehouse:

...the heavens opened and we have been trapped inside the caravan while an extremely impressive thunderstorm and associated torrential rain inundate the park!  So we have caught up on some 'indoor activities'.

Cowra

We arrived in Cowra at about lunchtime today.  We have parked in the Cowra Showgrounds which are fantastic.  Basically a footy oval with amenities. 

We went to the Cowra Japanese Gardens today which are some of the most stunning gardens I have ever been to.  They were so well designed and peaceful, and beautifully maintained.  They were spectacular.

They (of course) had the obligatory gold fish in the pond, so the kids got to feed them pellets.

And then it was back to camp for a kick of the footy before bed.  Jack is hopeful that my kicking will improve by the end of the holiday!

Canberra - National Dinosaur Museum

After breakfast this morning we headed to the National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra.  This place is a wonderland if you have dinosaur crazy children.  Even more fun if you are armed with a camera!

Heading off to Cowra ... no.... Canberra!

Today we headed off for our big 11 week trip up the East Coast.  It has been a very busy few weeks so it was very exciting to finally be ready.  Mum and Dad and Adam came to help us get the van out, and say the final farewell, and off we went.

We thought we were heading for Cowra tonight, however as we looked at the map we realised that our route passed only an hour out of Canberra.  So we made a quick change of plans, called around and found that Miranda and family were home and available for visiting.

So we parked the van on the street outside her house, had takeaway pizza and enjoyed a good night in.

In the morning, the kids had a last play.  The younger ones with 'trash packs':

And the older ones being typical boys!!

We finished our visit with a delicious breakfast at Tilly's.  Divine!

Preparation for the 'Big Trip'

We are off on a major trip up the East Coast, so we had to get the caravan serviced.  This involved getting the tyres replaced.  Our holidays have worn out the old ones.  It was very strange to see the caravan with no tyres.

Kinder Duty

I was the parent on duty at Lachlan's kinder this week.  His favourite thing to play on was the 'rope swing'.  He mentions it fairly regularly at home too!

Jack Turns 8

Jack's birthday this year had the usual presents at home:

Followed by a party at the 'Dark Zone'.  The party started with a Garnett men's Daytona race:

And then Jack's friends arrived:

And while Lachlan enjoyed his air hockey game with his friend Sophie:

And some of the Mums got out their inner warrior:

The kids had a lazer tag game.. with the help of the parents of course!

Happy Birthday, Jack!