Looking for info from Melbourne Mums

[BettyBlack]

Hello all, I'm a newbie here. Hope you won't mind me diving right in with all these questions... Currently feeling a bit overwhelmed about our trip to Australia in January.

My dh and I are coming to Melbourne first and then going to Sydney. For most of the two weeks we'll be in Melbourne, I'll be on my own with my two children as my dh is taking part in a sailing competition at Black Rock. Ds will be 7.5 by then and dd will be a couple of months off her 5th birthday, though she is pretty immature 4 year old - still does runners from me in public places - but fingers crossed another 5 months will make the world of difference!

I'm doing loads of scouting about the internet to plan things that me and the kids will get up to, and it is pretty easy to find all the 'pay for' activities and places to visit, but less easy to find information on the best play parks and similar things for children. I'm hoping we'll do the beach quite a bit, but if the it's really hot then I guess we'll need to limit our time completely exposed on the beach. Would really appreciate all suggestions on great places to take the kids.

We're got a house booked in Sandringham for the majority of our stay but that wasn't available for the first 3 days we're in Melbourne. As the dh's sailing comp won't have started yet we can pretty much choose any location for these dates. If you could choose any area, where would you say was the best place for a family with two young children to spend sometime? I had spotted a wee house in Port Melbourne but was unsure.

Sorry for this hooooge post. This is my last question!! My dd has grown loads the past few months and I've bought a few summer things in bigger sizes from the sales to fit her in the middle of our winter. I think DS's summer clothes should mostly be okay by January. Shoe size is trickier thing to predict so have decided to take the wait and see. I'm familiar with Pumpkin Patch (though we don't have any branches in Scotland) and what other nice kids brands/stores were in Melbourne?

Thanks in advance for reading and any help you can give.

[savoycabbage]

Hi, I live on the other side of Melbourne so I can't be much help I'm afraid but there are plenty of others on here that live over there.

Where I live there are parks everywhere. You will be falling over them so I wouldn't worry about that. I moved to Australia in a January and it was too hot for parks though so you are right to look for other things to do too. Some have huge shade sails over the top and others have trees so I am fairly sure you will come across some.

You might be able to find a little play centre in a shopping centre for when it's hot.

Most people have little tents for the beach if you have one.

You should definitely go to the zoo. Or one of the zoos! I like going to Scienceworks which would be great for your children's ages, but it can be crowded in the school holidays, which it will be in January. There in a really good information centre in the city, opposite Flinders St train Station. There is so much going on in Melbourne, especially in the holidays.

When we got here it was the first week in January and my oldest dd didn't have any sandals that fit her and I struggled to find any. I ended up having to get crocs and then get some sandals from e-bay in the US.

There are plenty of children's shops and there are two Westfield centres in Melbourne where the children's shops are all grouped together. Chadstone and Doncaster they are called.

[BettyBlack]

Thanks for all the info SavoyCabbage. Really useful and much appreciated. Will reassess the shoe situation when you had trouble finding sandals. I've got admit to not being a fan of crocs, though dd would probably be delighted.

After I posted I found this great website that lists and rates what looks like every playground in Melbourne, as well as other activities. www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/

Would still really appreciate Melbourners recommendations though as there is really nothing to compare people's real experiences and recommendations.

[savoycabbage]

No, crocs are revolting. My three year old actually thinks that they are called 'hideous crocs'.

The thing is that it might be too hot to put anything else on your dd's feet until you get to the shops if you see what I mean. This is what happened to us. We get Timberland sandals here like these now, rather than lovely leather ones as they are waterproof and therefore very practical. You won't need anything other than sandals as even if it is not really hot it will be hot.

[BettyBlack]

oh fab! was going to say they were the perfect size, but then I have no idea what the perfect size will be next january. lol

Bizarrely after only talking about not liking crocs yesterday, when I came home from work this afternoon, my dd had inherited a pair of (rather done in looking) crocs from the little girl two doors up. My mum, who'd been looking after my kids, said the little girl had come round to play, bringing the crocs with her "because my dd might like to have these for playing in the garden." er, let me think about that for a millisecond...... NO! My dd apparently couldn't wait to try them on and declared them 'prefect'. I will now find a place to hide them for a few weeks before they somehow, mysteriously, find their way into the 'recycling'.

And will never breath of their existence to dh, as he too will think them 'perfect', not to mention 'what a lovely gesture' and 'how could you possibly consider binning them'. In a word. Naebother!

ok, sorry for the rant.... thanks again for the help. much appreciate.