We have a busy next 3 days in Canberra with lots to see and do. We started at the Mint. Only coins are produced here and the notes are printed in Melbourne. I was surprised to find out they also produce coins for many other countries including Thailand, Fiji, Malaysia and Tonga. It is quite a small area where the coin process is completed in which we were able to view. The robots do a large amount of work and are programmed to work independently. Each container holds 25 000 blank coins weighing as much as a rhino and this is what one robot lifts and tips into a counting machine. They can press 10 coins per second! The bravery awards was a small but very interesting section. This mint was fairly different to the Perth Mint so both are worth doing.



Next on to the arboretum. The boys had a play at the awesome pod playground before lunch and we checked out some bonsai.



Then onto the National Australia Museum. It holds a good range of items relating back to first white discovery, lots of aboriginal items and also had two movie cinemas. One was empty besides us and the other was unique in that it rotated and had different display screens in each section.



Then we had time to look at the National Portrait Gallery which didn't take long. There were a few pieces I really enjoyed but there were alot of old artwork which doesn’t interest me.