You’d have to be of a particularly warped disposition – perhaps with a phobia of grass or a deep-rooted hatred of trees – to dislike Stanley Park. In many ways, it sums up everything that Vancouver is about; culture, wholesome outdoor enjoyment, room to breathe and a perhaps delusional determination to ignore the weather.

The second Cirque du Soleil of the week, this was never going to live up to the astonishing majesty of O. But Zumanity is more erotic than aquatic - lashings of sauce, a more humorous outlook and plenty that grandma wouldn't approve of make it distinctive and fun for a naughty 10pm treat.

The not-for-kids content shouldn't distract too long from the content. After all, Zumanity shows what Cirque du Soleil does best - astonishing acrobatics and supreme showmanship. The only difference this time is that it shows rather a lot more, too...

The Australian War Memorial is, hands down, the best museum in Australia. There’s so much in there, and almost all of it is both deeply moving and illuminating. The World War I section is the part that sticks in the memory. The 3D dioramas of famous Great War battles are a brilliant way of illustrating conditions, while the tales of the Western Front and Gallipoli campaigns are told through signage, art, sculpture and artefacts from the time. Even history scholars will find themselves constantly discovering something they didn’t previously know. Little things stick out, such as the remarkable picture of a soldier feeding a kangaroo – the 3rd Brigade’s Mascot – at a training camp in front of the Pyramids of Giza. The World War II and post-1945 sections are also utterly absorbing, while the Great Hall is swarming with aircraft hanging down from the ceiling.
You could easily spend a whole day here, and not feel a second of it has been wasted. It’s a marvellous work of dedication and passion, and a truly fitting tribute to those who have laid down their lives fighting for their country.

Out to the south-west of Canberra in the Tidbinbilla area is the Australian capital’s contribution to space science. A series of massive dishes sit outside the main complex building, monitoring what’s going on in numerous space missions.
The complex is owned by NASA but run by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. It’s one of just three such hubs in the NASA network – the others are in Goldstone, California and Madrid. It opened in 1965, with the aim of supporting the Apollo Space programme, and has been communicating with satellites, probes and manned space missions ever since.
Inside, there’s a free museum of sorts that goes into the history of space exploration and the role that the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex has played in it. On show are rovers that have investigated the surface of Mars, images sent from distant probes, space suits and the freeze-dried food that astronauts use.