The Beach in Wintertime

It's winter. It's cold. It's time to hit the beach!

Step One: Check the weather.
Choose a sunny winter's day - one that has a daytime temperature of at least 12 degrees is best! And try to avoid a windy day! Sand in kids' eyes ruins a nice day out.

Step Two: Check the tides.
I read the Press each day so I can look for the tide info there, on the weather page, or you can check out the Metservice website. You want to ideally choose a day where you get there bang on low tide.

Step Three: Go to the beach.
Dress warmly. Take gumboots and jackets. Maybe beanies if it's windy. We prefer South Brighton beach, but any old beach will do.



Step Four: Remember your shovels and spades!
We've got kid sized shovels, they're brilliant. Start digging!

Step Five: Dig.
Once you've dug your "island" and your "moat" sit on it and wait for the tide to come in. It's surprisingly fun!



Step Six: Home time!
After a couple of hours of this it's time to come home. Everyone is muddy and exhausted. An ice-cream on the way home is mandatory.

Have fun!

The Art Gallery

Oh we love the Art Gallery!

There's nothing better on a rainy day than to spend a pleasant hour or two wandering around the various galleries. My kids are aged 6 and 4 and they really love it too.

We usually park in the basement carpark ($1.10 per half hour). We peruse the downstairs exhibits (the temporary exhibits - by the way, the current Daniel Crooks exhibit is AMAZING! Well worth a visit!) before heading upstairs to the more permanent rooms.

There is a gallery set aside especially for kids, with plenty of interactive activities for them. It's great (not to mention educational)!

But even the main galleries are well worth a wander. My kids enjoy taking in all the different types of artworks, trying to decide what the picture is of, or what the artist was thinking when he or she made it.

There's a cafe downstairs if you fancy a snack (although to tell the truth, we avoid it when we have the kids with us as it just seems too fancy and I'm scared they'll break something!). There's also a gift shop which sells all sorts of exciting things (I was very excited to see my favourite painting on a gift card, mine for the very reasonable sum of $3).

Occasionally the gallery has shows and concerts on in the gallery foyer - last week we happened across a fantastic brass band concert, another time we came upon a hiphop dancing show.

And of course, admission is free - fantastic!

Visit the Art Gallery's website for more information on current exhibits and other bits and pieces.

The Art Gallery is in the central city, on Montreal Street, between Worcester and Gloucester Streets (the carpark entrance is off Gloucester Street).