Tourist attractions of Canberra 2016

Today we went into Canberra with a primary objective of taking Arabella to the Zoo.  As we drove there Parkes Way was down to a single lane as workers did something to the Tunnel:

I'd like to say they repaired it, but all they seem to have done in the several weeks they have been working on the tunnel is remove the few panels the truck that hit it didn't take out.   Another legacy project for the construction industry!

On getting to the zoo we fought our way through a school group which thoroughly blocked the path into the Aquarium.

OK: enough with the negative waves - Moriaty has left the building.  As we got towards the Aquarium a guide-keeper had a group in an area close to the hyenas.  These beasts look so much nicer that the ones we saw in the wild.

For some reason my camera was working well on the fish.

This groper (hereafter known as "Donald" - all it needs is some boofy orange hair) was most impressive with a vast open mouth.  The little pilot fish was interesting - I thought they were shark-friends not just general cleaners.

This gives an idea of Donald's size.

Out in the open another keeper gave the school group instruction on how to feed an emu.  After it lost interest and wandered off we followed it and Arabella was able to give it a pat.

One of the Wallabys was equally obliging.

The best thing was watching the Meercats doing a Pollock.  The paint is stuff used by pre-schoools and is guaranteed non toxic.  The canvasses were collected and will be sold as fundraisers for animal charities.  (This has been written up in the Canberra Times.)

The bait used to get them to walk over the canvasses is fly eggs and cat kibbles.

This guy was the most daubed.

At the lion enclosure more (keeper-supervised) kids were feeding one of the lions by poking chunks of meat through the mesh.

We then dropped Herself back home and Frances and I went for a walk round Floriade.  Moriarty briefly re-enters the post to note that one of the first things you see is this unattractive set of demountable dunnies .Possibly that is unavoidable with Floriade having to be set up from scratch each year, so the bogs can't be camouflaged by bushes etc.

I have no idea what this balloon lady was at, but she obviously attracted the TV cameraman's attention.

As well as showing the attractive beds of tulips these images show the very small number of people that were at the event.  I have no idea whether that is:

• a reflection of the event recently being closed for a couple of days due to bad weather; or
• the flowers getting close to their use-by date; or
• the event getting close to its use-by date; or
• all of the above.

There were a couple of installations like this (by Kevina Jo Smith) which we thought a clever bit of weaving of scrap twine of various sorts.

There was a very good reptile display.  I presume the reptile here is a carpet python.

Finally, looking up into the usual trees the fruit bats have returned!