With Tourism Media’s dramatic growth, directors Nick Joy and Matt Cassidy don’t get out on shoots as much as they used to.
So they jumped at the chance to take their families and spend time capturing all the great destinations on offer in Canberra.
According to Matt Cassidy, the whole trip was made extremely easy because of the support they received, not only from VisitCanberra but each of the destinations they visited once they were in town.
“Over the years, we have discovered that the areas in which we get the most support often result in the most striking results and that is certainly true for Canberra,” he said. “One call to VisitCanberra helped our production manager secure assistance at all the major attractions in the city and the support and enthusiasm everywhere we went made getting great footage a joy.”
Matt said his kids were extremely taken with the Earthquake Lab at Questacon, but his personal favourite was Old Parliament House. He enjoyed visiting Bob Hawke’s old office, which looks almost exactly the same as the day they moved to the new Parliament House, including “some slightly dubious toiletries…”
He also loved Parliament House which made him proud to be an Australian. “I love that people are able to wear thongs as they are walking around and relax in the sun on the grass roof. Such an Australian atmosphere.”
Nick’s favourite was the Australian War Memorial which he describes as “stunning.”
“One of the things I liked most about it, is that it felt first and foremost like a memorial and then a museum,” he said.
It feels almost unfair to pick favourites though,” he said “because everyone in our group was fascinated by different destinations.”
“We all really enjoyed the wartime memorabilia at the National Library and there were many historic artefacts that we were not expecting to see. In particular, we were impressed with Captain Cook’s journal and the fact that it takes a whole day to turn over a page.”
The group were also struck by the incredible artwork at the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia.
Ned Kelly’s death mask was really striking as were the portraits of Brett Whiteley and Nick Cave.
Matt says that the large canvases of stunning aboriginal artwork were easily the most breathtaking he has ever seen.
Matt and Nick were so taken with Canberra that they fast tracked the Expedia Vacation Travel Guide – take a look for yourself.
