There's no excuse for cries of "I'm bored" this school holidays with myriad things to do across the country. We've scoured Australia high and low for the best activities – some where you can drop the kids off and others that are a great way to share some "quality time" as a family.
ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS
BABY ANIMALS
A visit to Taronga Park Zoo is all about the cute-as-a-button babies these days. Thousands of visitors have already flocked to see the elephant calf Luk Chai and sharp-eyed zoo visitors might also spot Lincoln, a seven-month-old koala joey that has just started making little journeys out from the pouch of his mother, Maggie. Open daily, 9am-5pm, $41/$20/$103.70, phone 9969 2777 or see zoo.nsw.gov.au.
TOTALLY TURTLES
Learn more about the mysterious world of turtles at Oceanworld Manly this month, with turtle education talks and the chance to meet and greet a turtle during the daily Lovable Lizards show. You can also watch a diver hand-feeding sharks at 11am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Open 10am-5.30pm daily, $18.50/$13.50/$9.95/$45.95. See oceanworld.com.au or phone 8251 7877.
CENTENNIAL PARK
The park is hosting three one-hour spotlight prowls these holidays. Bring a torch and a sense of adventure and join the park rangers in spotting possums, flying foxes and other big-eyed creatures of the night. Robertson Road Gates, Centennial Park, October 7, 9 and 16, 7.30pm, $11.50 a person, bookings essential, phone 9339 6699.
AUSTRALIAN REPTILE PARK
The park turns 60 this year and throughout the holidays there will be free face-painting for kids and daily wildlife shows with creatures such as Elvis, the biggest crocodile in NSW, together with historical anecdotes and interactive experiences and a "snappy hour" and venom shows.
Pacific Highway, Somersby. Open from 9am to 5pm seven days a week. $22.50/$15/$11.50. Family $60. See reptilepark.com.au
NATURE WALK
The Mount Annan Botanic Gardens (Phone 4648 2477, see www.rbgsyd .nsw.gov.au) displays more than 4000 native plants across 416 hectares. During the day, go on a Dinosaur Discovery Walk – a self-guided tour with activity work sheets ($2.20 each) through the Connections Garden to uncover hidden dinosaur figures and learn which plants where thriving during the period when dinosaurs roamed the earth. No booking required. Alternatively, enjoy special access to the gardens after closing on an escorted Wallaroo spotting sunset tour. $5.50 a person or $22 a family. Bookings essential. Phone 4634 7935. Open all year, 10am-5 pm. Entry: $9 for a car seating up to eight people, or $2.50 a person. Mount Annan Drive, Mount Annan.
For those beyond reach of Sydney checkout a zoo, wildlife park, aquarium or reptile park in your region. We'd love to hear about the best ones here in the EB forums.
ACTIVE
ICE-SKATING RINK
These school holidays are the last chance this year to whiz around the all-weather covered EQ Ice Rink – it packs up for business during the warmer months. There's music to keep the vibe jumping on the 40-metre by 20-metre rink – you can even try your luck with requesting a favourite song. Sessions start 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm from Sunday to Thursday and from 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 8pm on Friday and Saturday. Adults $17 ($20 with skate hire), under 13s $14/$17, under 5s $5/$8, spectators $3, Showring, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, phone 1300 455 088.
Or checkout the closest ice-skating rink in your area.
POWERHOUSE DISCOVERY CENTRE
In 2007, the Powerhouse Museum opened up its major offsite storage facility at Castle Hill so the public could enjoy some of the 50,000 objects stored within the six warehouse-style buildings. Among the collection is the Harry's Cafe de Wheels 1940s pie caravan, the Olympic Torch used to light the cauldron in Sydney in 2000, Kylie Minogue's Showgirl costume worn at the Sydney Olympic Games closing ceremony and even a meteorite found in 1889 in outback NSW.
The Discovery Centre usually opens to the public on the second Saturday of every month but over the school holidays it is also open during the week to host a range of themed activities. These holidays, the centre is turning into The Odditoreum, with a display of weird and wonderful curiosities from the vaults, including horse's teeth, a griffin, a broom-making machine and a magical bezoar (or furball, to the rest of us).
Inspired by the "oddness" of each object, award-winning author and illustrator Shaun Tan has replaced the real descriptions of each object with fantastical stories. For example, he says a giant liquorice allsorts shoe bicycle is “one of several outlandish objects used to test young guide dogs for their susceptibility to distraction while on duty”.
Visitors can write their own bizarre descriptions and stories, which will be displayed. A storyteller will also bring Shaun Tan's book, The Lost Thing, to life with a presentation on four days (October 6, 8, 13, 15) at 10.30am and noon. Both activities are included with admission. Open 10am-4pm, October 6- 9 and 13-16, $8/$5/$25, 172 Showground Road, Castle Hill. Phone 9762 1300.
LEARN
WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK
Aspiring novelists can learn the tricks of the trade at this one-day creative-writing workshop. Vogel award-winning author Bernard Cohen, who has written four novels and a children's picture book, will show young writers (grouped from 8-12 and 13-17) how to create brilliant settings and memorable characters, then plan, build and finish an extended story. October 12, 10am-3.30pm, $125, Field Studies Tower, Bicentennial Park, bookings on 0418 246 396, see sydneyolympicpark.com.au.
ROCK SKOOL
Got a budding Miley Cyrus or Nick Jonas living at your house? Young singers and musicians can sharpen their skills at Big Music's Holiday Rock Skool. Over the four-day rock-band jam session for junior performers, kids can be coached in their instrument of choice – guitar, bass, drums, voice or keyboard – alongside fellow performers of a similar age and experience level. Intermediate to advanced players can sign up for The Band Program, while The Ultimate Rock Experience is designed to suit kids of all ages and playing levels. $390 a student, see bigmusic.com.au.
GOLF
Youngsters inspired by Tiger Woods, who first swung a golf club at the tender age of two, can finesse their own game at a golf clinic these holidays. Three- to six-year-olds can sign up for half-hour lessons at a four-day ($48) or five-day ($60) clinic, while the six- to 14-year-olds can learn the finer points of swinging, chipping and putting at one-hour lessons over four days ($88) or five ($110). October 6-9 and October 12-16. Golf Centre, Sydney Olympic Park, bookings on 9764 6300.
DOCUMENTARY MAKING
Kids can unleash their inner actor at this Australian Theatre for Young People workshop, which will introduce them to performing for the camera. Taking inspiration from the Powerhouse Museum's Earth to the Universe and Space exhibitions, kids can create their own documentary then try their hand at being a presenter, actor or out-of-this-world character. Suits seven- to 10-year-olds. October 6-9, Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris Street, Ultimo, $220 for four days, bookings essential on 9251 3900, see atyp.com.au.
CARTOONING
Ginger Meggs cartoonist Jason Chatfield will teach kids about the fun of drawing cartoons in an interactive cartooning class at Art Est. Art School on October 15 and 16. Jason is in his 20s and only the fifth cartoonist in 87 years to write and draw the Ginger Meggs comic strip. Children can also learn screenprinting on fabric and Japanese manga cartooning, make mystical dragon
