18/7/07 Decadent Hot Chocolate and the War Memorial

Pilotting an Iroquois in Vietnam
see all photos »

With the heater on full again, we all slept like logs and awoke to sunny, clear weather. It was very cold, with the maximum forecast being 5 degrees – to think we were in shorts only a couple of days ago!!!

We left the caravan park early – it is in great location, only 4km for the CBD. We arrived at Canberra City (the big shopping precinct just after 9am) and were surprised at how little traffic there was, with no delays whatever in reaching the centre of the National Capital!!!

The War Memorial
see all photos »

We had a wander around Canberra City shopping centre, waiting for KoKo Black (a decadent hot chocolate/coffee franchise) to open. We warmed up with steaming hot chocolates – yes Daz and Dave they were soy, but worth the bother! In addition, we felt we deserved a sample of the incredibly rich chocolate ice cream, mousse, handmade Belgium chocolates, chocolate cake and shortbread – YUMMMMM! Poor Ben and Rhys, they could hardly have any of it!!!

We headed off to the War Memorial and spent 5 hours wandering through some incredible memorabilia and tributes to the men and women of our defence forces. The kids were impressed with the ‘Discovery Zone’ an interactive display featuring WWI, WWII, the Vietnman War, Cold War and Peacekeeping.

The kids were able to dress-up in authentic period uniforms and experience what it was like to be in the trenches, fly in a real Iroquois helicopter, be submerged in an Oberon class submarine, have an air-raid shelter in a WWII backyard and assist counties as peacekeepers. It was extremely well done and they enjoyed it all.

Gary and I took turns at minding the kids in the Discovery Zone while the other wandered through the Memorial. After another hot chocolate and an obligatory ANZAC biscuit, we headed back to the caravan park. The sun was setting and the coldness was setting in, overnight forecasted temp is minus 1.