• A visit to the Central Highlands Science Centre is a must for children. The hands-on complex is open Monday to Wednesday from 10.00am to 1.00pm and other times by appointment. Admission fees apply.

• If you’re sports minded, you can play a game of bowls, swim in the heated pool or play 18 holes at the golf course.

• Walk the Mosaic Pathway. Set beside the visitor inform-ation centre, the pathway is 100m long and celebrates 100 years in Emerald. Mosaic art is set in the pathway at intervals and encompasses 12 themes from Aborigines to settlement to past and present industries in the region.

There are 21 circular mosaics, and at the end of the pathway is Emerald’s gigantic sunflower painting on a 25m high easel. The painting was created to be one of a series of seven “sunflowers” honouring those painted by Vincent Van Gogh during the 1800s.

• The Emerald Exhibitions Gallery has exhibitions hanging most days, and admission is free. Many travelling exhibitions are shown throughout the year and there’s an annual art competition as well.