Friday

The boys woke up early as they needed to grab some brekkie before heading off for a recovery session and swim following the successes of the day before. The food at the AIS was fantastically health which proves to be quite a shock to some of the lads as they got their heads around the fact that some of the athletes walking around were training for next Olympics and that there were also some females!

Everyone then headed over to the swimming pool as part of the experience we had the pool booked and also two sessions in the recovery area. The recovery session was led by one of the on-site experts and involved the boys being taken through a range of exercises in a fast flowing pool in order to relax their muscles and remove all of the waste products from their bodies from the matches the previous day. The next part proved to be the most amusing for the casual observer as the boys then had to get into the cold water area (15 degrees) which helps to flush the body by increasing blood flow and causing vasodilation of the blood vessels. Once through the cold water section the boys then had the pleasure of the warm water pool which was a welcome relief and one they didn't want to get out of but the process was repeated several times. 

Once through the recovery session the boys then had some free time in the 50m Olympic pool complete with diving boards which made for some interesting viewing and painful bellies as they tried to dive in.

After another healthy lunch we headed into Canberra to take in some of the local tourist sites which included the National History of Australia museum, Parliment building and Australian War Memorial. This was a fairly quick whistle-stop tour as the weather was very English as the rain was bouncing down but the lads got some culture. The museum had some very interesting exhibits including a bicycle that a 70 man had used to cover the whole of Australia, a Citroen car which had been driven across Australia in the 1930's and the biggest ever horses heart. Possibly the most pleasing thing to observe was the boys connecting to the museum wifi which I'm assuming they were using to do further research and reading around some of the topic areas that had been highlighted in the exhibits.

When then moved on to see the Parliment building which was a very impressive structure and provided an excellent photo opportunity before quickly diving back into the coach to avoid the rain.

Finally we arrived at the Australian War Memorial which proved to be the most interesting of places we visited. It had exhibits inside paying tribute to those who had been involved in all conflicts starting from the 1902 Boer War right through to those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan. The boys had an hour to look around and watch some of the videos explaining the role that the Australian servicemen and woman played in the various wars.

We then popped into the local shopping mall to allow for some retail therapy following all that culture and for those suffering from junk food withdrawal to get a quick fix. It was time to return to the AIS for our last healthy meal and an early night before the 5am get up which some of the boys stated that it was the earliest they had ever got up, even on a school day!