I recently took a trip to Canberra with my Mum. Mum was attending a bobbin lace making conference in Queanbeyan, New South Wales and asked me if I’d like to go with her and do my genealogy research while she was at her conference.

We took two days to drive from Adelaide, South Australia. The first leg of the trip was from Adelaide to Hay, New South Wales where we stayed overnight and then Hay to Queanbeyan, New South Wales. Queanbeyan is only about 20 minutes from the centre of Canberra which is in the Australian Capital Territory. Canberra basically has its own state which is surrounded by the state of New South Wales.

I did a lot of preparation for this trip so I had already pre-ordered the records I needed to see from the National Library as well as the Butlin Archives at the Australian National University. I won’t go into what I was researching and the results of my research in this post, I’ll do another one for that.

Whilst at the National Library one of the staff, a fellow Whovian, spotted my TARDIS tattoo on my left forearm and commented that there was a great TARDIS to see and photograph not far from Canberra in a cute little town called Hall. He gave me the address and I decided to go there on my ‘day off’ from research. I also got an I Love Trove badge which I have wanted for ages!

On the way back to Queanbeyan I found the National Dinosaur Museum and called in for a visit. As well as all the large dinosaurs the museum also has extensive fossil displays including real fossils as well as plaster cast replicas.

In the special collections reading room at the National Library I saw this incredible fabric wall hanging and it made me think of ways I can celebrate and commemorate my ancestors through my own fabric art.

On the way home we took the same route only in reverse. Some of Mum’s fellow bobbin lace makers were also driving back to Adelaide and staying overnight in Hay so we had dinner with them at one of the local hotels. Altogether it was a really lovely trip!