Questicon

The trip to Canberra was long overdue. It's been months since Danielle and Chris moved there and I keep missing them when they're in Sydney.

Alison drove me down and began the weekend ferrying 8 of us around a selection of ACT's finest vineyards. An excellent start to an evening of revellry at Danielle and Chris's apartment.

The following day was dedicated to the many cultural opportunities offered by Canberra. After a preliminary investigation we decided to give the Questicon experience a miss. I should have guessed it from the name, but it was not quite what I expected. I was thinking "Smithsonian", "London Science Museum" or "Deutschemuseum". Questicon is more like a giant McDonalds Fun Centre. A group of about 6 of us stood in the entrance hall for about a minute. The blinding primary colours and near-riot of 6-year olds did not play nice with our collective hangovers. One of the girls commented that the tableau was causing her a pain in her ovaries and we departed for the relative serenity of the National Gallery.

We took in a visiting exhibit of "Soft Sculptures". These were a wide variety of objects that droop, ooze, squish or bend. It's just the sort of thing to do when you have a hangover. A lot of the exhibits put me in mind of the then state of my own grey matter; deformed and smushed.

Next time I shall go to Canberra I shall tick another gallary off the list. But I think Questicon will have to wait until mid-week when I have some borrowed 9-year olds and a clear head.