[Sam B]

The kids have had a rotten time recently, what with all the rain and endless tree planting. We have to go to Auckland on Saturday to pick up a car - any suggestions for a good day for the kids. We have already done MOTAT, the museum (twice), the sky tower, Kelly Tarltons. So what do you suggest?

[Familyofmonkeys]

The zoo is good fun for a couple of hours....but you'd need the waterproofs as it is supposed to rain again this weekend. Or to avoid the rain, how about over the bridge and up the motorway to Snowplanet:

http://www.snowplanet.co.nz/

[mgbridges]

My immediate thought was the zoo given you've already done Kelly Tarlton's however as FoM says we've got rain forecast for the weekend (again!)

If its fairly dry you could always go to the Luge which is practically next door to Snow planet (www.aucklandluge.co.nz) They only close the fast track if its really very wet.

There is also Rainbows End (www.rainbowsend.co.nz) but I haven't been there so can't comment on whether it would be a good option if the weather is a bit dodgy.

Alternatively the circus is in town at North Harbour Stadium (www.weberbroscircus.com)

Have a good trip!
Anneliese

[Sam B]

Something indoors and cheap ........?

[Jo Jo]

McDonalds? :laugh

[jubjub]

McDonalds? :laugh


:laugh you are wicked...

Zoo, or erm...... oooh the wintergardens at the domain? The museum has apparently had a few changes recently, so that might be worth another go?

Rainbows end prob wouldnt work in the rain

Our other rainy day standby is S Park or Botany and let the kids run riot in either Borders or Whitcoulls kids section! Prob not qiute the great day you had planned though!

[mgbridges]

Can't quite remember how old your kids are so these options might be a little young for them but how about:

Chipmunks: www.chipmunks.co.nz
Lollipops: www.lollipopsplayland.co.nz

If they are into shopping/browsing there is always the Albany Mega Centre or Sylvia Park.

Trip to the cinema.

Will keep thinking for you...
Anneliese

[Sam B]

Cheers everyone. They are 7 and 11 - I'm thinking maybe a quick trip to the art gallery (they both quite like art in small doses) and then back to their favourite place in the world - the natural history section of the Auckland Museum ..... unless it's not raining, in which case we may give the zoo a try. Snow planet looks ace, but we are really tight for money at the moment, and it looks almost as pricey as a day at Whakapapa...

[Tia Maria]

How about Clip n Climb - not particularly cheap but it is indoors:

www.clipnclimb.co.nz

or the Stardome:

www.stardome.org.nz

If the weather is nice, Butterfly Creek, its a bit small though and the cafe is expensive.

www.butterflycreek.co.nz

or check out this newsletter for 'whats on', you want ak@play:

http://www.aucklandcity.tx.co.nz/go/to/subscribe/tep112j184023s4f2n200728c8682898z

Cheers

Tia

[Sam B]

Oooh, they all look good thanks

[Tia Maria]

You may already know but they often do kids workshops at the art gallery, I've not been so I'm not sure what the deal is:

www.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/activities/childrenfamilies/default.asp

If the weather is OK how about a trip to Mission Bay? There's quite a good park just before Mission Bay, (someone will probably know exactly where). Then once you get to Mission Bay there is the beach and Movenpick Caffe Glacier - yummy :D:

http://www.icecream.co.nz/html/movenpick.htm

Or, after all that tree planting - a manicure and a back rub for the girls?!

I also had this bookmarked:

www.kidsfriendlynz.com/destination/northisland/cauckland.html

Cheers

Tia

[Tia Maria]

If you don't mind crossing the bridge to Takapuna there is always:

http://www.painttheearth.co.nz/

You could kill two birds with one stone and they could make a gift for Fathers Day! :)

Cheers

Tia

[Sam B]

Well, we have just returned from a fairly successful day out, thanks for all your suggestions. We went to the Art Gallery in the morning ..... and it was RUBBISH!!!! The main building that houses all the paintings etc was shut until .... 2011!! So it was just the new gallery, which was actually smaller than Falmouth Art Gallery in Cornwall, and housed a few rather puzzling installations and some photos of a beached whale (actually they were quite good, but still). It was a real disappointment, because we were all in the mood for a good art fix, the girls have been learning about Goldie at school, but there wasn't a painting in sight. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of contemporary art too, but this was mainly dross, in my very unhumble opinion. Unfortunately Sorrel decided to rearrange an installation that consisted of some plastic racks, bags and other bits of recycling waste, which upset the curator a bit - I think Sorrel thought the cleaners had left it there. The curator then followed us round and proceeded to alarm the girls by telling them stuff that was way above their heads about the stuff they were looking at - e.g. (to 7 year old) "So what do you know about apartheid?"

There were only 3 rooms, when we got to the 3rd room, we were looking around to see where to go next .... nope, that was really it. And we'd paid for 2 hours parking - grrrrrr.

Anyway, I made it up to myself, but probably not the girls, with a quick shop around Ponsonby and lunch at Fatima's (nice cheap middle Eastern).

Then off to the zoo - 100% success. Sun came out. All the animals were on good form, not hiding, even being comical. The kids got to feed emus tomatoes and touch parrots. Our favourite bit was a mere cat eating a rabbit head and growling and attacking all the other mere cats if they came near it. Hilarious - and completely dispelled our fantasies about how cute they are. I'm a bit ambivalent about zoos, always used to boycott them, but every enclosure was huge and lovely, and the animals all looked v happy.

And my car - which we picked up at the end of the day - a complete bargain off trade-me - only done 14,000 km. Ok, it is a rather odd shade of rose pink, but you can't have everything for $6500.

Finished off with dinner at Wagamamas at Silvia Park, and the discovery of a massive sale in a shop that was selling all clothes that I liked - it was a bonanza.

Drove home happy.

[Sam B]

P.S. meercat, meercat, meercat. dammit. Been a long day.

[Carey]

P.S. meercat, meercat, meercat. dammit. Been a long day.


Ohhhh, I'd been wondering why 'just' a cat was in a zoo!

[KerryS]

Oh no - if I'd seen this thread earlier I could have warned you about the art gallery, and recommended some much better places to see some art. (There are loads of small galleries around which are way better than the city gallery imo.)
Glad you all enjoyed the zoo though. And Fatimas, which is at the end of my street - so next time you could pop down for pudding!

[Sam B]

uuuurrrhhhgg, I wish you had Kerry, we feel very unsatiated, art-wise....

God that meercat thing is really bothering me .... I wonder if ENZ will remove it.

[pinkpiggy]

So good to hear you had a fab day out, even if the art gallery was a bit of a let down.

[Sam B]

And here is the meercat ... or meerkat as one pedantic member who shall remain unnamed has pmed me ... as proof

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/brydons_2007/DSC_6363.jpg

What a cutie

[dharder]

You know, there really is nothing you can do now. Neither asking ENZ to remove it, nor sending gruesome pictures as distraction will help at all. The fact that you wrote mere cat will be etched into all of our minds eternally now :)

But I'm glad you had a good day, and always read these threads with interest as I'm worried about running out of interesting (rainy weather type-)things to do here too :)

Daniela

[Sam B]

Thanks Daniela - just wait until you do an annoying typo - I shall hound you....

[dharder]

Thanks Daniela - just wait until you do an annoying typo - I shall hound you....

Have done a couple of real howlers here already, sad as it is, it's the kind of thing that occurs to me at three am, when I sit up and think 'oh no, I didn't!'

:)

Daniela

[Jo Jo]

Last week I sent someone I work with an email explaining some statistics I'd done. The email started, "OK, you count blah blah blah." But it had a typo... :o Luckily they didn't stop reading at the third word, and realised it was a typo, and not a really aggressive email....

[Sam B]

HAAAAA ha ha ha, how funny

[Sam B]

J keeps pointing out that my mistake wasn't actually a typo, just me being incredibly thick. But I'm sticking with typo.

[Carey]

Surely it's just that, like the water going down the plug hole the other way, because you're all upside-down, with some words, the letters come out the wrong way round?