Monday 15th September, AIS and the Arboretum

We had decided to visit the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) this morning and so headed out to pick up Pat before driving to the AIS. Our tour guide was a young male track and field athlete currently training at the AIS for the 800 metre race. We had a lovely 90-minute tour enjoying viewing many of the wonderful facilities the athletes use. Our tour started in the “Sportex” area. Here there were many physical challenges that you could have fun at trying as well as many displays of past athlete’s memorabilia, clothing and equipment. Rob had a go on the “luge”, the standing jump and the cricket bowling net. I tried a reaction time activity and was pretty woeful, but not as bad as I was on the balance challenge. Anyway, it was all fun. We visited several indoor stadiums for different sports including netball, basketball, volleyball etc. In one of the gyms we entered, we viewed some male gymnasts working on their techniques. It was quite spectacular. The main gym for the use of all athletes was huge and full of weights, machines and cardio bikes and machines. Our guide told us that one athlete had pushed 720kg on the leg press machine and another had lifted 340kg doing a standing lift, press and squat, just while training. Following this tour, we dropped Pat off at the National Library Café as she was meeting up with a friend for lunch and Rob and I went to a lovely waterside Asian restaurant for a delicious lunch. In the afternoon we drove to the National Arboretum, forest plantings. The arboretum was spread over 250 hectares with over 44,000 trees planted from 100 different countries. Paths, tracks and trails are everywhere and this area is definitely the place to come to explore, run, walk or ride your bike on the many paths. The Arboretum was opened in 2013 and so many of the trees are still growing and the area is still being developed. We enjoyed spending time there, walking through the Himalayan Cedar Forest, enjoying a stunning view from the Dairy Farmer’s Hill Lookout and learning about bonsai in the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection display. We finished the day by revisiting the Mt Ainsley lookout with Pat before driving her to the airport for her return flight to Adelaide. We’ve certainly managed to squeeze quite a bit in over the few days we’ve been here.