Can you advise me please all you New Zealand Mumsnetters?

[mollymawk]

I am going on holiday in a couple of weeks to NZ with DH, DS1 aged 4.6 and DS2 aged 2.6. We have looked at various guides, websites etc for advice about things to do with children in the various places we are going to and have lots of ideas.

However, I wondered whether anyone has any insider tips on good things to do with little DCs like ours? (We are visiting my brother but he does not have DCs and so does not know about such things)

We are going to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Wanaka.

Any tips gratefully received!

Hi!

We live near Wellington. Not really "insider" tips as such, but things we like are:

• going up or down the cable car (which runs from the botanic gardens down to Thorndon Quay and back) and then visiting the cafe at the top
• alternatively picnic in the bot gardens themselves
• the zoo
• the Waterfront - just moseying around looking at the ships, helicopters, seagulls etc, but there's also a playground and loads of cafes
• Te Papa museum - lots of activities for children and it's really a "must see" in Wellington

That's just off the top of my head. I'll be back in a mo, hopefully with a link to a good "what's on"-type site because there are usually lots of good events too.

Not to mention a MN meetup! V.happy to join you for any of these things (mine are 3.3y and 18 months)

Thanks - lots of food for thought here! Welliemum, MN meetup sounds lovely! I will attempt to use CAT for the first time...

Another thing I have thought of is this - we went before when we only had DS1 when he was 2, and went to Queenstown, where I found a place which was like a parent and toddler group but open all the time. It was apparently fine for non-locals to go as long as we made a contribution. They had toys, books etc.

My brother seemed to think there were places like this elsewhere (he said it was called a plunket I think, but tht may be wrong). Is this right (in case of rainy days - which we won't have, I'm sure...)?

Here's a good website, mollymawk.

There are a few of us MN-ers here in Wellington, but 2 of them are going to have babies any day now, so are not really planning ahead that much!

Oh, I'm not sure about the Plunket thing. Plunket run baby clinics, but that sounds a bit different. Could it have been a playcentre? We have one locally and it's great - however, it does close in school holidays.

Thanks, the website looks very useful (although it is becoming clear that we are just not going to be there long enough!).

Maybe it was a playcentre, although I have a vague recollection of some health-type posters on the wall too. I don't remember much, as the reason I was there was to have something to do whilst DH and DB went skydiving so I was trembling with nerves the whole time.

Anyway, sounds like we will have plenty else to do!