Friday Tours included in Registration
A range of tours in and around Melbourne are on offer to delegates for Friday 20 April. These tours are included in the registration fee. The tours will incorporate science and tourism sites.
Tours will depart and return from the conference venue. Tours will vary in length.
Places are limited on each of these tours and online bookings will be available shortly.
Tour 1 - Science down under
Will
include:
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Dairy Cooperative Research Centre:
The Dairy CRC's research provides dairy farmers, processors and
manufacturers with access to advanced technologies and products, helps make
milk more competitive in the market place and expands the choice of
health-giving milk products. Witness a wallaby being milked and discover how
milking these marsupials - as well as echidnas and seals - is assisting the
Australian dairy industry.
- CSIRO Research Hub, Clayton: Visit the largest site of Australia's national science agency where a diversity of research takes place. Play with plastic solar panels and a magnesium alloy car engine that weighs just 14kg. Find out about the latest developments in energy storage and how maths helped animate the Titanic. Discover the secret life of termites and how the mining industry is going back to the future for sustainable steel production. Learn how petroleum scientists are applying their methods to understanding volcanic evolution and eruption.
- Australian Synchrotron: Opening this year, the Australian Synchrotron will help scientists make major breakthroughs across a wide range of scientific and industrial applications. Throughout the world, synchrotrons have been used in a diversity of areas, including making better, smoother chocolate, and faster, more efficient jet engines; solving crimes; producing finely detailed x-ray images for medical and industrial purposes; and manufacturing tiny microcomponents. This is a rare opportunity to walk on the technical floor, meet key scientists and find out how the facility will assist researchers, particularly in Australia and New Zealand.
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Tour 2: Australian flora and fauna
Will include:
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne:
Experience one of Victoria's most precious areas of native bushland, which
is home to thriving animal life, including several rare and endangered
species. Immerse yourself in the new Australian Garden - 2006 winner of the
Australian Tourism Awards. The remarkable landscape design, native bush
plants and art forms are used to celebrate the diversity of Australia - our
land, our culture and our stories. The Australian Garden is the only garden
of its kind in this country. Transformed from a former sand mine, it is now
a world-class public garden that conserves and celebrates Australian flora
in an innovative setting.
- Phillip Island Nature Park: An absolute must on a visit to Victoria is experiencing the Koala Sanctuary and Penguin Parade. Each night at sunset, the world's smallest penguins - the Little Penguins - emerge from the sea after a hard day's fishing and waddle ashore to their sand dune burrows. Enjoy this natural spectacle from elevated boardwalks and viewing stands that allow you to enjoy all the action without disturbing the penguins or their burrow homes. Hear from a researcher about their world-leading penguin research programs and how they contribute to the management and ongoing survival of this and other precious species. Please note that admission to the Park is included in this tour, however participants must cover their own meal costs (about $30 for dinner at the Park).
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Tour 3: Healthy mind and healthy planet
Will
include:
- Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne:
Recognised as one of the world's finest botanic gardens, the Royal Botanic
Gardens are graced by more than 10,000 species and 50,000 individual plants
in the 38-hectare gardens, including some of great cultural value. Many of
these plants are irreplaceable, endangered or even extinct in the wild. The
Royal Botanic Gardens has been a treasured icon of Melbourne life for the
past 159 years - with its stunning vistas, tranquil lakes and diverse plant
collections, the gardens are a place of continual discovery and offer a
great range of outdoor opportunities for visitors. Also housed within
the gardens is the National Herbarium of Victoria.
- Howard Florey Institute: Visit Australia's largest brain research institute and meet scientists working on a variety of brain disorders including Parkinson's disease, addiction, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and Huntington's disease. Learn about the Florey's ambitious plans to become one of the world's top 10 neuroscience institutes.
- CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research: Visit the heart of the national research agency's expertise in modelling, monitoring and predicting changes in the atmospheric environment and climate system. Check out the unique Cape Grim air archive - which provides CSIRO and international researchers with priceless air samples dating back decades - the ice and gas analysis labs and the wind tunnel.
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CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research |
Tour 4 - From biocontainment to the beach
Will
include:
- Australian Animal Health Laboratory (CSIRO):
CSIRO Livestock Industry's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) is a
national centre of excellence in disease diagnosis, research and policy
advice in animal health. AAHL plays a vital role in maintaining the health
of Australia's livestock, aquaculture species and wildlife, while sustaining
Australia's capability to quickly diagnose exotic (foreign) and emerging
animal diseases. Find out about AAHL's ongoing research programs to develop
the most sensitive, accurate and timely diagnostic tests, which are critical
to the success of any eradication campaign in the event of a disease
outbreak.
- Surf World Torquay: Australia - land of sun and surf. Immerse yourself in the history of a favourite Aussie pastime at the largest surfing/beach culture museum in the world. Marvel at the surfboards on display, dating back to 1919 and chuckle at the swimming costumes, wetsuits and photographs from 1900 onwards. Check out the wave tank as it generates swell breaking on a beach, or test your skills at surfing a ball across the mechanical wave. Then feel the sand beneath your feet on the legendary Bells Beach.
Tour 5 - Fire and water
Will
include:
- Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre:
Little more than an hour's drive from Melbourne, visit the town of Anakie
and the Brisbane Ranges National Park, which were badly burnt by bushfire
early in 2006. Walk amongst Australian bushland with scientists talking
about research into prevention and suppression of bushfire, preparation of
home owners and regeneration of the bushland post-fire. Climate change,
drought, conservation priorities, land management, urban growth, community
emergency education, animals and insects will also be discussed in relation
to this. Be on the lookout for koalas and kangaroos.
- Melbourne Water Treatment Plant: Experience the innovative side of what can otherwise be a messy business. Melbourne Water uses biogas to generate electricity, produces Class A recycled water for the local agribusinesses and harnesses a lagoon system to treat 52% of Melbourne's sewage at the 11,000 hectare site in Werribee. This system includes Lake Borrie - part of a Ramsar Convention Wetland of International Importance - which hosts migratory birds from Alaska, Siberia, China and Japan; and is considered one of the top 10 birdwatching areas in Australia. With water storages across Australia at all-time lows during our record drought, Melbourne Water is developing ways to squeeze value out of every last drop.
Tour 6: Culture, cures and creatures
Will include:
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National Gallery of Victoria: The
National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has two galleries of outstanding
artworks: NGV International and the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at
Federation Square (Australian Art). The NGV is known internationally for its
conservation work in paintings, textiles, objects, drawings, photographs,
frames and furniture, exhibitions and other visual arts media. The work -
often in partnership with CSIRO - involves such processes as x-radiography,
infrared imaging and portable x-ray fluorescence non-destructive analysis,
as well as light microscopy. Important discoveries have been made about many
of the NGV's greatest works through application of these various examination
and analytical techniques. Conservators will discuss conservation
examination, analysis, restoration and preservation at the NGV.
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- Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research: WEHI is one of the world's leading medical research centres. Its work covers cancer, genetics, malaria, autoimmune diseases, medicinal chemistry, drug discovery and translational research - taking scientific discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic.
- Healesville Sanctuary: Meet some of Australia's unique creatures - from the well-known koalas and kangaroos to the mysterious and misunderstood platypus. Experience the sights, sounds and scents of the stunning bushland surrounds. Come on a behind-the-scenes tour of the sanctuary's conservation breeding programs, including special opportunities to see Victoria's six most endangered species: orange-bellied parrot (Victoria's State Bird Emblem), helmeted honeyeater, brush-tailed rock wallaby, easter-barred bandicoot, mountain pygmy possum and spotted tree frog. Take a close-up look at the world-class interactive veterinary hospital - the Australian Wildlife Health Centre - and our breeding program for Tasmanian devils.
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| Koala | Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby | Helmeted Honeyeater |
