Caz
This is gonna be a photo heavy post,  (but I'll keep them small) be warned ;)  We met up with the kids Uncles (who are visiting from New Zealand) and MaMa (great grandmother) at the local Botanical Gardens today for a wander around.  Uncle Nigel arrived before us and had maps in hand for the childrens 'Hide & seek trail' and the boys were stoked.   Basically it's a marked trail through part of the gardens with numbered things for children to discover as they walk.  I think there were 17 items in all, sculptures and various neat peices of art, and the boys found them all.  Without further adieu.. pictures!  






Blogger isn't wanting to cooperate with formatting here, so we'll see what comes up where LOL.    Pics are in no real order, as that's where blogger & I did not see eye to eye and I can't strongarm it much!  But they show a (mostly) lovely day. 

The boys got to see a real sundial.. and as the winter solstice was yesterday, it was right on time, showing a perfect 11am to match my phone.   The boys enjoyed hanging out with the uncles, and MaMa (they just dote on her.. up above is a shot of Merry and her, hand in hand, marching up a path :)    The funky fruit bats hanging on the tree,  panda  sculpture and the koala were items the kids had to 'find' on the trail.  I loved it.. the pandas were in the bamboo garden, the koala near the eucalypts etc.  

The first two pics are the kids in the Japanese garden.. they all loved the stepping stones across the water and went on about how 'treacherous' it was hehehe.  

The BEST item in the whole garden (aside from the natural items of course;)  was the Xylophone.  It was near the fern house, and was a fern shaped bench.  It had an assortment of mallets and the boys (and uncles) had a great time making music with it.  It had a lovely, deep sound.. not the obnoxious tinny clang of some.  

The kids have not stopped talking about it and have ticked off all the great things they 'found' during our trek.    It would have been a little bit nicer had Merry not had several meltdowns over not being allowed to run wild *insert eye roll here*  but ah well, such is life I guess??  

6 Responses
  1. oh geeze...that was not bok choy..it was napa. brain cloud on my part!!!! sorry. it is wonderful though!


  2. Caz Says:

    LOL I thought I was seriously losing it... I MUST make that dish!


  3. Kez Says:

    What a cool park! I love the idea of a hide & seek trail.


  4. Caz Says:

    Thanks Kez, it was really neat! They make it easy enough that younger ones can do it too, by having little numbered signs near the item ;)

    I've heard the botanical gardens IN the city are even better (these are at Mt cootha near the city) so one day I'll have to make DH take us in there!


  5. Anonymous Says:

    The xylophone sounds amazing! I love deep tones.


  6. Kylie Says:

    Gotta love the Botanical Gardens!