I am a Mummy…and I have been unraveling… fast.
The school holidays had hit suddenly.
With two little ones not of school age, I didn’t see it coming.
It totally blind sided me as all my weekly activities simply disappeared.
Library kids club? GONE
Playgroup? GONE
Dancing? GONE
However, on the flip side; the playground, the shopping centre & the soft play….?
INFESTED with kids crawling, sliding, screaming & squawking…with my kids leading the chase.
I was in desperate need of an activity bound to tire my son out educate my son and provide him with a hands on learning experience.
It was time to check out the Australian Museum.
Seriously; if I put my son on the bus and we did a complete round trip and went home, that would be enough. Despite all of a sudden hitting panic stations when I realised that Hyde Park was actually quite big and I had no real idea where William Street actually was (still new to this city!!), we were soon strolling in the right direction…until ‘the toilet emergency’; you know the one where you think moaning, “Didn’t you go to the toilet before we left?” will actually change the situation at hand? Despite this hiccup, we were soon heading up the ramp into the foyer…with a view of the city to die for. General admission for an adult is $15 and it is so worth its while, given kids under 16 are FREE.
And it began…
dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs, mummy, dinosaurs….
so we decided to head straight up to see the dinosaurs on level 2.
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| WWWWOOOOOOWWWWW!!!! |
They did not disappoint.The displays were actually so ‘real’ that the dino roar that echoed out had my son running back to the safety of the back of my knees. However, he was soon happily engaged in the interactive ‘create your own dinosaur’ game and was reunited with his happy place; in front of a screen. Once we had finally darted back and forth from one display to the next, and then back around again for more, we chose to head to ground zero, otherwise known as “Kidspace” (also on level 2).
And lo and behold, it was JET PACK making day!!! Seriously; a few weeks ago, I was forced asked to try to create one of these at home with pipe cleaners and an empty fruit box. It was not pretty and it had to keep going to the galaxy garage for repairs (or the kitchen bench, but…whatever). An enthusiastic attendant handed us a brown paper bag full of crafty ‘things’…I held my breath…(please no glitter, please no glitter) and hunkered down on the teeny tiny kids seat and table combo. I faced my fear bravely. I grabbed the glue and tin foil and encouraged my son to design his very own jet pack, which closely resembled that of the provided model…OK, was a dead copy, except for my sons unique designs…did I mention craft is not my strong point? When he ‘programmed’ his control panel for a trip to the moon (I tried to change his mind to head to the cafe, but no go) he seemed genuinely shocked when we didn’t actually shoot off into the stars.
Birds and Insects were another favourite…”birds that were alive, but now dead dead’, according to the wisdom of my 4 year old.
In the Search and Discover section, he was allowed to roam wild and get a bit more hands on…though there was no chance this sunshine would lay his hands on the echidna…smart kid, that one! I loved that little ones (& grown ups) were allowed to relax in here…I could switch my helicopter roving back a mode…he could touch, squeeze, pick up, move things and even throw…no, NO throwing!
The next part was my personal favourite…the Rooftop Cafe…
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| Mmmmmm…chips…. |
Lucky it had a fantastic view because the influx of holiday people meant the seats were few and the spuds for the hot chips were yet to be picked. Oh…but did I mention chocolate tart??? Not cake; the real deal, my friends…obviously I just admired it from the display as hot chips and chocolate tart is not a well balanced meal…
This break did give us time to pick out one last spot and head to my son’s other favourite exhibit; the elevators. Buttons, lights, up, down, sliding doors; what’s not to love?
We found our way to the Wild Planet room, where the bear was my favourite and the smile never left my date’s face. Also loved the fact that you weren’t forced to walk through the Museum store in order to exit; hate places that do that!!
And there we have it.
Back through Hyde Park, where I respectfully pointed out the ANZAC Memorial and tried to explain its meaning…to which he replied, “Is that where Jesus is..?” Not sure if that means I explained really well or really bad…
On the bus; my little fellow was asleep 5 minutes later.
Peace.
A special thank you to the welcome shown to us by the lovely people at :
Australian Museum
1 William Street
Sydney
NSW
Australia
