Five Reasons to Visit Scienceworks Melbourne

I have travelled to Melbourne many times but never taken the time to head out of the CBD much.  On a recent trip we were lured 15 minutes out of the city to visit the town of Spotswood, home to Scienceworks - and aren’t we glad we did! A whole day of educational fun awaited us, I had to drag the kids out at the end of the day.

Here are five reasons to take the journey out of the CBD and let the kids enjoy a day at Scienceworks Melbourne.

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1. Race Against Cathy Freeman
My kids love being active and have been involved in Little Athletics since they were toddlers.  Scienceworks includes a fascinating sports exhibition that was like the holy grail for our sports mad kids.  

One of the fun displays provided the opportunity to line up at a race start line and run against a video wall featuring Cathy Freeman in action.  The track was only about 15 metres long - the race took 2 seconds - but they did it over and over and over again!

Other highlights of the sports exhibition included rock climbing, virtual soccer goal keeper, a virtual wheelchair racing game and a balance beam to try out some gymnastics. 

2. Discover the Tallest Buildings in The World
One of the intriguing exhibits I found as an adult was the display depicting the tallest buildings in the world. It is fascinating the engineering that has gone into building architecture that has allowed modern society to achieve such heights. 

In 1931 the Empire State Building, New York, was considered an amazing accomplishment at 381m but in 2010 when the Burj Khalifa, Dubai, reached heights of 828m it makes it seem insignificant.  When Jeddah Tower, Saudi Arabia, completes construction engineers will reach yet another milestone with the building planned for a height of 1008m. 

The exhibit was presented pictorially and really made you appreciate how modern engineering has changed the landscape of modern society.

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3. See the Lightning Shows
Apart from the interactive displays, the lighting room provides some cool kids science shows.  We were entertained with Bolt from the Blue.  A great interactive display explaining how lightning is created and how to avoid getting struck during a storm!

The presenter was theatrical and enthusiastic and aimed the content right at the kids. From producing storm clouds in a plastic bottle, making balloons statically stick to a child’s head and showcasing how the hair on your head can point straight to the sky, there were plenty of educational takeaways from the session. 

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4. Visit the Planetarium 
If you have never been to a planetarium, it is likely you may not even know what it is.  A planetarium is a domed shaped theatre designed to view projections of the night sky. Additionally, specially created films are produced to be shown on the unique shaped screen. The Melbourne Planetarium holds a 16 metre dome with reclining chairs for pretty comfortable viewing (or a nap if you are worn out from all the activities!).  

We attended a viewing of the film Blackholes, which was interesting if not a little unusual, followed by a live commentary of current Melbourne night sky projections.  It is the live commentary that we enjoyed.  Being able to see the constellations that are in the Melbourne night sky that evening was fascinating for the kids. 

5. It’s Great Value
We arrived at about 10:45am and did not leave until close at 4:30pm.  There is so much to see and do here and the kids loved every minute of it.  We visited on a weekday, it was quite busy with school groups when we first arrived, but by about 2:30pm the crowds resided and we had free range of all the exhibits.  If you only have a few hours, you may want to visit in the afternoon otherwise be prepared to deal with the crowds.

Tickets for Scienceworks are priced at just $15 for adults and free, yes FREE, for kids up to 16 years old. Additional extras are the Planetarium and Lightning Room which are priced at $8 each or $12 if you do both. For a full day of activity and learning Scienceworks offers great value.

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Getting There
If you have a car, this is your best option, however if you are like us and staying in the CBD then Spotswood is about 15 minutes out of the city.  

My first option was to catch the Williamstown train from Southern Cross Station to Spotswood, it seemed a simple and affordable idea. However it turned out that Melbourne does not have a very visitor friendly transport system outside of the free CBD tram system. 

In order to purchase a day fare for metro train travel at a cost of $8.60 adult and $4.30 a child, we first had to purchase a Myki Card each at a cost of $6 per card.  So I had to buy a $6 card to load with $4 of travel!  What!!!!! 

I decided that by the time we purchased the transport cards and loaded them with a day fare, an Uber would be around the same price and much more comfortable.  An Uber from the city cost $18 and that is how we got there!

Let us know if you have visited, what was your favourite exhibit?

Penny - Itchy Feet Family

*Itchy Feet Family was a guest of Scienceworks on this visit.

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