Cool Collector

Collector is a tiny hamlet just a little north of Canberra. Not much going on in that rural area, save for an unusual, unique, cool piece of folk art sculpture.

Behold the Dreamer's Gate. Kind of a mix of Watts towers and an HR Giger work. It was done by Tony Phantastes in the 1990s and, of course, left unfinished after a battle with the town council. Bureaucracies have no taste!

Semi abandoned things in open fields seems to be a theme of Collector. Old bus and an old flag.

Small town, small graveyards. And headstones.

Graves get flowers, whether plastic or under glass.

Another field, this time, for sport. Good luck to the mighty Bushrangers!

Seeing Spring Blooms At Tulip Top

Ahh, spring. Nature wakes up and shows its beautiful colors. Canberra has a couple of nice gardens that overflow with flowers in the spring and a great place to go see blooms is a relaxing place about half an hour from the city, Tulip Top.

The garden is in the middle of rolling hills, a colorful oasis among bored cattle.

And the tulip blooms are out, way out.

A little picnic under the cherry blossoms.

Water feature, more blooms. Flower gazing, a hobby for all ages.

Oof, enough with the beautiful flowers, time to head to the well-placed pop up wine bar!

Woolfest In Boorowa

About an hour or so outside Canberra is the small town of Boorowa. Every year they put on something called Woolfest, basically a big celebration of the mighty sheep. The highlight is, er, shall we say, the Running of the Wools!

The main drag of Boorowa is closed for the event and the sheep are penned at one end, prepped for their big sprint.

Big balloon sculpture of the celebrity of the day. Parade undercard, old tractors.

Cool demo, the still manual art of shearing. Did the shearer do the top of his head first?

Another cool demo, confident kelpie corralling some sheep. The sheep had no chance. Awww, automatic pet me critters, mad adorbs. If only possible to house break them.

Finally, the big event, the sheep sprint. Reality: a frantic run down the street to a roundabout and then back to the pen. The reality reality: down to the roundabout, get stuck turning around, jump over shrubs, send spectators for cover. Excellent show!

Bringing Your Worst To The Sh*tbox Rally

There's a great event in Australia that raises money to fight cancer. It's a sort of rally car race, lasting several days and the only requirement is that your vehicle must be worth less than $1,500. In other words, a real shitbox.

The rallies are held a few times a year with different starting, ending points. One race started in Canberra and going to see the collection of shitboxes proved to be an event in itself.

Mmm, morning steam and smog. Not quite F1.

A big part of the fun of Shitbox is customizing your crapmobile. Why spend $1,500 on auto gear when you can add a boat or a Thomas the Tank Engine front?

If you're going to cover your car in grass, make sure to bring the lawn mower. Nice vest.

Bring the noise. Shitbox logo and a surround of a million rocking artists. Barbie is ready to roll.

Bogan mobile, classic. The term Bogan is an Aussie word, used to identify, shall we say, white trash? A mullet wearing, beer guzzling, idiot. Shitbox and Bogan, a marriage made in road rage hell. Vroom!

Going International At Cockington Green Gardens

Once you've built out quaint, miniature England, time to go international with some of the world's most iconic places. Especially if some of the local Canberra embassies are happy to sponsor a model.

A Ukrainian cupcake, St. Andrews church.

Don't be afraid to show your crest. St. Mark's church in Zagreb, Croatia. Heading to Asia, the impressive Lahore gate of the Red Fort in Agra, India.

As it was, the good life on a terrace. Israel's Masada, in reconstruction.

What color to paint your house? Any color! The La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hmm. Mining headframe, representing Australia. Suck it, Sydney Opera House.

Brutal, in a fantastic way. The Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban parliament building of Bangladesh. Designed by the concrete-loving architect, Louis Kahn.

Ye Olde (Miniature) England At Cockington Green Gardens

Think a big miniature golf course without the golf. An elaborate model train set without the trains. OK, one train. Cockington Green Gardens in Canberra is a cute, throwback type of attraction, just lovingly detailed model after model of examples of iconic English architecture.

Here's Lavenham, known for its leaning buildings.

Quaint. Cockington village, the namesake for the gardens. Modern village example, a row of council houses, a style quickly built after WWII.

There's that train, doing the commute around the lake.

A little gentleman's cricket match on the village pitch. Country church wedding.

Ole! Attending a CG (Cockington Green) FC game.

Cute details. Commerce on an early canal. Getting rough in a golf game.

No miniature of England is complete without a little Stonehenge. With picnicking friars.

Building With Lego Bricks At Questacon

Questacon is a science, children's museum in Canberra and it frequently hosts cool shows for kids of all ages. Lego is always cool.

Solar system with nifty cutaways.

Adorable dog in space. Laika, is that you? Adorable human in space. Yuri Gagarin, is that you?

Great moments in bridge engineering.

Mission control in Houston with giant, red phones. There was a great section of women pioneers in various scientific fields. Who knew that famed actress Hedy Lamarr was crucial to the development of radio signals and modern Wi-Fi? Look it up!

Getting arty, trippy. Some animal illustrations and 3D illusions.