Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Darling Harbour - Australian National Maritime Museum


We headed to Sydney by train (just over 3 hours from Bomaderry to Town Hall Station) to check into a hotel and spend a last night with Chantal and Dave - before they soaked in the Sydney city sights and headed back home to Canada.

Our flight to New Zealand was just a day away and we knew there was still heaps to do in this beautiful city....we decided to hop on board the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Ready for the exciting train ride!

City skyline from our Darling Harbour Hotel

This "skywalk" connected our hotel to the Darling Harbour shops and restaurants

A big buffet breakfast to start the day right at our hotel (the Novotel)

With such a rich maritime history, Australia has many amazing stories and achievements on the water. This museum's high point has to be the fact that we could get on some of the ships and explore them to see what life would be like as a crew member or captain. The boys loved it!


On board the destroyer - the last of the country's big gun ships

Display of naval-issued uniforms for the HMAS Vampire


A reminder of the military posters and war rhetoric of the time

Finally got up-close-and-personal with the huge octopus on the sub!


Perfect weather for a walkabout (on the ships)



Liam doing his best "land ahoy" pose!

Captain Bryce has arrived!

Great view of the Pyrmont Bridge from the HMAS Vampire's deck

And then it was time to expore the submarine - the HMAS Onslow!

We head to enter facing backwards and slowly climbing down this steep ladder through a hatch

Exploring the sleeping quarters

Lots of fun climbing from section to section through these small doorways

Checking out the periscope

Liam having a spy too





The Finneys getting their sea legs and fitting right in!

After exploring the ships outside, we headed in to check out the exhibits and watch a terrific theatre show. Very interactive and fun for the kids!

Liam was reading most of the information cards (non-fiction junkie!)

The Main Hall


We spent some time in the Shackleton: Escape from Antarctica special exhibit. 


Bryce was using some of the exhibit's ipads to animate maps and historical information. A great idea!


Finally, Voyage to the Deep was a great opportunity for the boys to have 'hands on' learning and exploring!

They checked out the sleeping area

Narrowly escaped a shark attack in an undersea adventure

Liam learned how to use some of the robotic arms to simulate an undersea task

We also had a look at an xray photo collection of underwater creatures. Creepy!

Next stop - New Zealand!

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