Travelling with Kids

Travelling with kids makes for a much different trip (obviously) than we would have had if we were alone. It means 1) shorter car rides - the kids start to poop out at 2-2.5 hours in the car, and they got very road-weary as the trip went on - so you can only get so far in a day. 2) less adventure - hikes of more than an hour or two are just too difficult. 3) more downtime - the kids don't care (that much) about travelling far to see scenery, and they love staying in the hotel, jumping on beds, going to the pool, etc. 4) visiting more kid-friendly sites - which tend to be more touristy rather than adventure-y, like kiwi houses and the like. 5) you make sure to find a playground in every destination.

It can be hard...sometimes you want to browse a nice bookstore or want to go on a little wandering hike, but if the kids are antsy, it just isnt possible. We didnt see as much as we wanted or do quite as much, but we saw and did a heck of a lot. And seeing a new country through our kids eyes was quite priceless.

Also, the playgrounds here are just awesome. We found some really awesome playgrounds - often with something called a flying fox, which is like a long zip line that allows you to fly across the park. I'll try and post a YouTube video so you know what I'm talking about. (update: here it is)

I've posted the first of a series of photo albums on our trips around NZ. I'll go in chronological order - this one is our first trip to the Northland a few weeks ago - click on the photo below to go to the album on Picasa:

New Zealand Travels 1