What is there to do for 17 year olds?

I was a bit depressed when I realised the antique kitchen on show in the National Museum was the same as the one in my house – except in better condition.

A fun thing to do with visitors is take them to the AIS for a swim.

Then a wander down the lake and picnic lunch at the sculpture garden.

Gold Creek is good for an afternoon too – lunch at George Harcourt, check out he reptile exhibit or the bird aviary and have a coffee in one of the tragic cafes. Check out the old school house bit too.

caf said :

There is of course the Foreshore Festival which is in late November.

Foreshore is 18+ and has sold out. They have run out of tickets as well 😉

I’ve lived in Perth, and hard to believe, Canberra is actually more fun. I think your WA friends will find much novelty in being able to go to the shops after 6pm, or to walk through the streets at night without being bashed, or simply to be able to put their shoes on without shaking the sand out of them first. But if you’re still stuck and down for some comedy, show your friends the National Museum of Australia. It’s either the most ironic museum in the world, or the most failed. Highlights include part of the heart of a NZ racehorse, a 1950’s style caravan, a rotary clothesline, a Victa mower, a ball of string, and a plastic spoon. These are actual exhibits! I implore all my friends who visit Canberra to take a look at the place. They usually laugh their guts out initially, but later when the reality hits home that this is our national museum, they become strangely quiet and solemn. I guess that’s two forms of entertainment from one venue. Good value if you ask me.

I believe a lot of the Canberra Musicians’ Club gigs are all ages.

The Impro ACT shows are usually quite fun, and not too expensive.

There is of course the Foreshore Festival which is in late November.

Spartacus said :

On the subject of Paintball, when are we getting the vastly superior Airsoft in Australia?
Seriously, Airsoft is safer than paintball and you can already buy gun replicas from military stores in Australia so that kind of makes the “AIRSOFT GUNS LOOK LIKE REAL GUNS!” argument invalid… hell you can buy REAL guns in Australia, how the hell is Airsoft more tightly restricted than guns that fire actual bullets and are designed to kill things?

Check out Operation Irene III on Youtube, it is amazing.

Isn’t this all a bit sad to suggest? Playing cowboys and Indians, or soldiers and Afghanis at 17 years old is a bit naff tosay the least.

Spartacus said :

Seriously, Airsoft is safer than paintball and you can already buy gun replicas from military stores in Australia so that kind of makes the “AIRSOFT GUNS LOOK LIKE REAL GUNS!” argument invalid.

Care to name a local store which sells them now?

Spartacus said :

… hell you can buy REAL guns in Australia, how the hell is Airsoft more tightly restricted than guns that fire actual bullets and are designed to kill things?

Airsoft guns are not restricted more. They are restricted exactly the same.

cones

On the subject of Paintball, when are we getting the vastly superior Airsoft in Australia?
Seriously, Airsoft is safer than paintball and you can already buy gun replicas from military stores in Australia so that kind of makes the “AIRSOFT GUNS LOOK LIKE REAL GUNS!” argument invalid… hell you can buy REAL guns in Australia, how the hell is Airsoft more tightly restricted than guns that fire actual bullets and are designed to kill things?

Check out Operation Irene III on Youtube, it is amazing.

If you look old enough – Fyshwick by night…

Get mugged at the ATM
Recover lost money by robbing Maccas
Get laid with proceeds.

Here’s a thought off topic, if and when they allow same sex marriage in the ACT, will they have chapels and celebrants open 24/7 ala Vegas except in Fyshwick, I wonder?

Tour of the New Belconnen Bus facilities – Canberra boring never!

reckon i would go for paintball or indoor rock climbing by day. smoking and video games by night. or you could try this ….

http://misterdavid.typepad.com/traditional_sports/2010/01/shin-kicking.html

go heckle in the public gallery at the house…

Take them on a tour of the shrines to Canberra’s only saint, the Risen Mully!

There’s the wayside memorial, the sprayed toilet door, the information sign down the ravine….

Disposable said :

Maybe we should start a Hammonds thread? as I would love to know the story of their demise without taking this thread further off topic.

Agreed – I’ll dig out the album for inspirations when I get home and see if I can get a thread going soon!

Spartacus said :

…Canberra Internet Defense force…

I feel that we really should have shirts as part of the CIDF.

http://paintballs.com.au/upcoming.html 🙂 3 v 3 tournament.

JessicaNumber said :

… catching some culture in places like street theatre…

If you want culture eat yoghurt. Certainly more culture in one tub than you’d get at the Street Theatre, that is, unless you’re eating yoghurt at the Street Theatre.

Jungle Jim said :

Disposable said :

Jungle Jim said :

There used to be gigs at the various youth centres around town – is that still happening? I remember one of the best ‘underage’ times I had was at the Civic youth centre when The Hammonds played a CD launch gig.

The Hammonds were awesome and did a lot for the A.C.T. music scene. I was at that gig, they used a crowd shot from there in their next EP.

Great band – shame they got screwed over when they tried to move on up. I’ve still got that EP and a friend and I are both in the crowd shot on the inside cover! Also, I’ve got a signed drumstick, possibly from that same gig, from Steve!

Good times.

I’m in that shot too. Steve was an absolute legend, they all were. Maybe we should start a Hammonds thread? as I would love to know the story of their demise without taking this thread further off topic.

Get Fake ID’s !!!

Disposable said :

Jungle Jim said :

There used to be gigs at the various youth centres around town – is that still happening? I remember one of the best ‘underage’ times I had was at the Civic youth centre when The Hammonds played a CD launch gig.

The Hammonds were awesome and did a lot for the A.C.T. music scene. I was at that gig, they used a crowd shot from there in their next EP.

Great band – shame they got screwed over when they tried to move on up. I’ve still got that EP and a friend and I are both in the crowd shot on the inside cover! Also, I’ve got a signed drumstick, possibly from that same gig, from Steve!

Good times.

There are plenty of things to do in Canberra!

Enjoy such exciting things as:
-Watching grass grow, place bets with friends to which blade of grass grows 5 centimeters the fastest!
-Listen to a fountain, close your eyes and imagine that you are at Niagara falls.!
-Watching leaves fall off a tree!, again place bets to see which leaf falls to the ground the slowest!
-Walk through National Parks that don’t have a single interesting landmark within them, but who needs Waterfalls and stuff when you have LEAF LITTER WOOOO!
-Go to Capital Funland!, they have like 3 Arcade machines now! Heard of a game called Pong? Its the newest thing!
-Check out the newest and grandest thing, it is called a Shopping Mall, be amazed by like 100 stores located in A SINGLE BUILDING, OH WOW 8th wonder of the world anybody!
-Be a bit cheeky and go makes as much noise as possible outside of the Waldorf and see how quickly every music venue in the city gets shut down by Government authorities!
-Try catch a rare and mysterious creature that roams Canberras roads… the Action Bus! Just don’t get your hopes up that it will actually show up on within half an hour of its posted sign and will actually stop and pick you up!
-Go on RiotACT and complain about Canberra has very little to do for the youth and get into a flame war with the Canberra Internet Defense force who will tell you that Canberra is by far the greatest and most flawless place on the entire planet and is tantamount to heaven on earth and if you don’t like it, GET OUT!

Canberra, It isn’t any worse than North Korea!

What you can do depends a lot on what you like to do (obviously) and what your transport situation is.

Personally, at around that age, I was doing a lot of hiking, mountain biking, climbing, caving, canoeing and the like. All of these things can be done within the city, and done extensively within an hour drive.

Then there are the usual city type things, but you get them anywhere. Maybe do some of the less obvious touristy things, check out the various deep space tracking stations, walk around the embassy district counting countries, go ice blocking down parliament house, etc.

You could always vandalise some stuff.

In all seriousness though, bike riding or a LAN PARTY! would be my two choices.

You could play a game of “Labradoodle”!

there is a lot of touristy stuff to do in Canberra – you can’t have seen it all last time.

What week are they coming, and what do they like – eg -= exhibitions, outdoor, movies, hiking, cafes?

Jungle Jim said :

There used to be gigs at the various youth centres around town – is that still happening? I remember one of the best ‘underage’ times I had was at the Civic youth centre when The Hammonds played a CD launch gig.

The Hammonds were awesome and did a lot for the A.C.T. music scene. I was at that gig, they used a crowd shot from there in their next EP.

I moved alone to Canberra at 16. Apart from drinking a lot around campus, I used to enjoy going for coffee and catching some culture in places like street theatre. The markets are always lovely and the area has some beautiful hikes. What are your hobbies? I enjoy dance classes. 🙂

UrbanAdventure.org said :

…snip…

All incredibly exciting activities for a teenager I’m sure. Ride the monorail!? You ANIMAL!!

The only thing I “soak up” when walking the “vibrant streets” of Sydney is the disconcerting odour of 8,926,140 armpits.

There used to be a MySpace for “allagesact” gigs. I don’t know where that went though. Maybe the owner of that MySpace page turned 18 and moved on from that scene.

As my old ma used to say, “Only dumb people get bored!”

Make use of some of free mountain bike facilities around the territory.
http://ridecanberra.com.au/

I saw some fencing that hasn’t been tagged yet in Tuggeranong.
Is your friend artistic?

Yeah he probably would not wanna catch a 8 hour bus ‘for shopping’ in melb.

You have ‘Electric Lake’- Saturday 13th Nov.

Rollin 2 Summer – A BMX Comp with the awesome sounds of D’Opus & Roshambo, also Raw City Ruckus and Still Cool.

Tuggers Youth Centre does a lot of gigs for U18’s, so there’s 3 hours out of your week. Check them out through the Googlenet.

Is your friend cute and female? I could think up something we could do…heheheh.

Jungle Jim said :

There used to be gigs at the various youth centres around town – is that still happening? I remember one of the best ‘underage’ times I had was at the Civic youth centre when The Hammonds played a CD launch gig.

Yes, they only play rubbish hardcore punk.

There used to be gigs at the various youth centres around town – is that still happening? I remember one of the best ‘underage’ times I had was at the Civic youth centre when The Hammonds played a CD launch gig.

Ha! Kids these days, there’s no imagination. nothing to do, why I can think of plenty of things in Canberra for uner 18 year olds to do. Just take these…..

Catch a bus to Sydney and go to Paddy’s markets.
Catch a bus to Sydney and ride the monorail.
Catch a bus to Sydney and explore the historic Rocks district.
Catch a bus to Sydney and enjoy the Powerhouse museum.
Catch a bus to Sydney and discover nature in Royal National Park.
Catch a bus to Sydney and just wander the vibrant streets soaking up all the action.
Catch a bus to Sydney and enjoy the multicultural atmosphere.
Catch a bus to Melbourne for great shopping.
Catch a bus to Melbourne for that great Cafe culture.
Catch a bus to Melbourne for the wonderful architecture and old buildings.
Catch a bus to Bedigo and Ballarat for the eciting gold rush tours.
Catch a bus to the coast for a swim in the ocean.

See, plenty of stuff to do in Canberra. 😉
I am so glad I was not brought up in this town. It would have bored the socks off of me. I think the poster has a valid point, what is there for under 18 year olds to do do here? It probably explains why some of them block bike paths for a bit of excitement.

In Queanbeyan, 17 years old? Either get pregnant, or get someone else pregnant.

Skatesalive is the hottest place out.

LAN Cafe’s.

Paintball.

Weston Creek Wanderers.

BMA (print edition) has an all-ages section for gigs. But yeah, it’s generally pretty small.