National Multicultural Festival in Canberra

Last weekend was the National Multicultural Festival in Canberra. Largely it's an excuse for the many embassies in Canberra to give away balloons, brochures or free plastic things to the general public.

Combined with this though was a host of food stalls, and a lot of music, dancing and entertainment.

Even though we've been in Canberra a couple of years we hadn't ventured along until this year, but actually found the day was pretty good.

The normally desolate Centre Point/Garema Place was crowded, and the warm day, the general hubbub and smell of cooking food added to the atmosphere of it all.

Audrey loved watching the Chinese dancing and we enjoyed a cool Belgian beer while eating Thai food served up with Indian Curry and a Turkish dessert.

Whilst right wing leaders Cameron, Sarkozy and Howard are busy saying that Multiculturalism has failed, here in Canberra I must admit it tasted pretty good.

A tiger and a fairy (both of whom sat incredibly patiently to have their faces painted)

A tired tiger on the drive home

Two Goannas

Two felt goannas (Joanna and Hannah) - made by Dad for Audrey and Eli's Gymbaroo session on Wednesday (hope they don't get lost/pulled apart by then!

Eli's body art

If he ends up covered in tattoos we can trace it back to this moment!



In case you're wondering they are water-based pens that came off in the bath!

To the park by bike and trailer

We took a pretty unremarkable trip to the park this afternoon by bike (pulling trailer). In fact the only remarkable thing about it was that I didn't fall off my bike while dangerously trying to film the kids out the back of my hand.

As a result this clip probably won't win any awards. Fortunately because of youtube's editor facility I was able to remove the most dangerous bits.

Here's the clip



And here's evidence that the kids arrived unscathed!

and the trusty steed!

My middle name is Adorable!

(most of the time at least)

Alphabet Soup

Back in July 2010 I bemoaned the fact that football league tables on the BBC always start in alphabetical order, giving Arsenal a distinct head-start over other teams and Wolves (in the absence of Yeovil in the Premiership) a distinct disadvantage.

This is how the bottom half of the league table looked (with no games played)

Twenty five games in and the ACTUAL league table looks like this;

So despite Wolves fantastic win at the weekend against Man United, we're pretty much back where we started when the teams were arranged in alphabetical order! Birmingham City are unlikely to capture 3rd spot though, which they looked likely to at the start of the season!

Amy's Birthday

We celebrated Amy's birthday with a trip to the Pork Barrel, a small but nice restaurant near Old Parliament House. After lunch it was time to head home for cake and tea. The kids had several goes each at blowing out the candles.

Australian Museum of Democracy

We paid a short trip to the Australian Museum of Democracy which is housed in Australia's old Parliament House.

There's a couple of rooms with kids activities, one of which is a dressing up room celebrating key moments in Australia's recent history. Here is Audrey and Eli recreating the Queen's visit to Australia in 1954. Eli was a bit of a reluctant Prince Phillip (clearly he didn't know enough swear words to play the part accurately)

Here's another picture of them in The Parliament House Rose Garden

Summer Fun at Manuka Pool

Manuka Pool in Canberra celebrated its 80th birthday party this year. Considering nothing in Canberra is very old it makes it an architectural relic. There are lovely shady trees around the pool and it's a nice place for a picnic. We enjoyed a sunny morning there with the kids. Here's some pics