Canberra Attractions

Canberra features several noteworthy museums, memorials and monuments. But if you visit only one museum in Australia, make it the National Museum of Australia. Using state-of-the-art technology and hands-on exhibits that rely more on images, soundscapes and personal stories than dusty old objects, the museum profiles 50,000 years of indigenous heritage and key events, including the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The museum has everything from a carcass of the extinct Tasmanian tiger to Australia's largest collection of bark paintings, racehorse Phar Lap's heart, and the No. 1 Holden Prototype car.

If you're more of a nature-lover, a visit to the Black Mountain Nature Park is a must. The largest of Canberra's 27 nature parks, Black Mountain is home to Black Mountain Tower, a city landmark, and the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

You can also visit Lake Burley Griffin, which is the brainchild of Walter Burley Griffin, the architect of Canberra City. Many diverse habitats and ecosystems, natural and man-made, surround this body of water, which is the focus of such leisure sports as fishing, swimming, cycling, walking, jogging and rowing. There are picnic areas at Yarramundi Reach, Weston and Commonwealth Park as well as Black Mountain Peninsula. So if you're planning to take in a nice mix of culture and nature, there will be plenty of things to do in Canberra.

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