Floriade (Canberra)

In September we visited the capital of Australia - Canberra. It takes about 3 hours to drive there from Sydney, and on the way there, we stopped at a cafe in Mittagong. We happened to sit next to some very friendly people with a very friendly dog. Owen loved the dog, but what was really funny was that Owen would obey the commands the dog owner was giving to the dog. This is a photo of Owen obeying the "sit" command. He also responded to "stay", and "lie down"!

One of the main tourist attractions in Canberra is the annual Floriade. Thousands of flower bulbs, mainly tulips, are planted in intricate designs that only become visible when they flower. The theme this year was "aussie icons", such as the iced vovo (a type of biscuit) and the hills hoist (a rotating clothes line). Here are a couple of photos of us all enjoying the the sights and smells.

The flowers can get boring after a while, but there's nothing like a Magnum ice cream to spice things up. Owen also used some of the chill time to share a drink with his friend Alysha.

This trip Owen discovered that he was big enough to climb out of his travel cot! Good fun for him, but bad news for us. How were we going to get him to go to sleep? In the end we had to post a "guard" in Owen's field of view. That was enough to keep him in his cot long enough for him to succumb to his tiredness.

Another feature of Canberra is the Cockington Green Gardens. It's a garden that features miniature buildings from around the world. Owen was most attracted to the things that moved - like this miniature train.