Wellington Holiday

While shopping in the mall (mums in heaven) we came across "yoghurt story", a place where you can build your own dream frozen yoghurt.  With flavours like watermelon, white chocolate and fudge and a huge variety of toppings....it was a delicious treat for lunch!

At Te Papa we went to the Gallipoli display.  It was the best war display I have ever seen, explaining what went on in ANZAC cove so clearly and with great personal details and stories.  It was incredibly moving and powerful.  At one part, you walk through the trenches, all sandbagged around you with gunfire shaking the floor and viewing tunnels with soldiers huddled inside.  Jaimee found that very moving and needed to leave in tears.  As my great grandfather fought at Gallipoli (although with the English) it was quite personal too.

Hunting for a dinosaur fossil in Te Papa was great fun.  They always have lots of interactive things to do.

The kids loved the "Bush walk" in the museum!

We went for a drive to see the very bottom of the North island.  It was rugged and windy.

We didn't quite mean to go for this long a drive - we drove ALL THE WAY around this part of the island....mostly with a petrol light on and a slight panicked look.  It was really really windy, so I was a little nervous being so close to the open sea!

At the Botanical gardens it was lush and green - look at that sunshine! Perfect day for a play.

Off to the Zoo, the kids have been waiting for this for the whole trip!

We were very blessed to be able to get up close to so many animals who were out in the sunshine.  The Sun Bear was being fed and we were so close!  And the lion sat beautifully just behind this fence while the keeper talked about prides.  Amazing.

I love this Chimp perched high surveying the city.  

Jaimee made a friend in this squirral monkey, who tried to touch jaimee's hand through the glass and sat there for a long time staring at her as it ate some fruit.  So sweet.

We checked out Weta Cave as Jaimee has seen the first couple of hobbit movies so was familiar with these characters!  We had fun posing with the trolls.

At Captial E, they had three different puppet theatres for the kids to explore and play at.  We really enjoyed watching them use their imagination here. 

And we finished off our Wellington trip with a trip to the Wellington Museum, which did a great job on its displays.  Check out the girls trying to lift 50kgs from the docks with the pully system.  

There was still enough time to stop in Palmerston North for a quick swim with all the cousins at the local pools - Check them out, aren' they beautiful kids!  They all have so much fun together.