Moving into the afternoon, what’s something that the whole family loves to do?
Z: In the afternoon, we do have some chores to take care of, so we often head to the farm to feed out the animals, grab some veggies and eggs to ensure we can have scrambled eggs for the morning!
G: We love taking a drive out to Arrowtown and walking around the river and surrounding trails. This is great family time: winter, spring, fall or summer. Mum likes to poke a nose in at all the design shops and art galleries. We’ll often pick up a few pies from the Arrowtown Bakery for lunch (world’s best pies in my opinion) and we usually succumb to the kids requests for Patagonia ice cream before heading back home to wind down.
What if it’s raining? How do you keep everyone having fun?
Z: Maple says, “why wouldn’t we go biking in the rain?” We gear up and either hit the local pump track in Alberttown or Bike Glendu for a spin and treat!
G: There are so many options for the kids. The pools, obviously ice skating, go-karting, bowling, the cinemas, the older kids love Site trampolining and Brooke likes to go to Chipmunks as well. I prefer lighting the fire and reading a good book.
Finally, the evening. How does everyone wind down? Do you have a go-to dinner spot? A night-time activity that the whole family loves to do?
Z: If it is evening time, we often do ‘crazy hour’ at the Wānaka lakefront with everyone’s favourite takeaway, it’s a mix of Burrito Craft and Red Star to keep everyone happy.
G: We don’t dine out a great deal with the kids, but when we do they like the family-friendly favourites: Lone Star and Winnies do a great job hosting kids. Mum and Dad prefer Rata, Blue Kanu, Botswana Butchery & Flame on the very rare occasions we get out alone. If there is a special event like fireworks, night markets or Luma we’ll make a family outing, but otherwise with three young kids, we find it wise to get them settled at home in the evenings; the earlier the better!
