16 May 2018

For a small city Canberra has alot to offer, and much of it is free! In addition to Parliament House, Museum of Australian Democracy, and Australian War Memorial we also visited some of the city’s other attractions.

The Royal Australian Mint was interesting for the whole family. The guided tour was only 30 minutes but we spent another hour taking in the exhibits.

Australian National Botanical Gardens are at the foot of Black Mountain and the Telstra Tower. The gardens are nice but fall short of the botanical gardens we experienced in the larger cities. To be fair we visited in late Autumn, not exactly the best time of year to visit them.

National Museum of Australia is housed in a large sprawling modern building with a diverse range of exhibits. Throughout our travels across Australia we have been fortunate to visit most of the country’s major museums. The NMA sits on a prime piece of real estate and the building is architecturally daring however I think it failed to reach its potential. The collection has some interesting exhibits but much of it seems thrown together, loosely tied together with themes lacking definition. There are fantastic museums in Australia, this is not one.

We only had time to spend at one of the art museums. We chose the National Gallery of Australia over the National Portrait Gallery. The museum is a good mix of modern and classic art that had something for everyone in the family.

Royal Australian Mint

Australian National Botanical Gardens and Lakeside Walk

National Museum of Australia

National Gallery of Australia