Ah, the Sutherland Shire. Who needs Sydney Harbour when you have Port Hacking? Who needs the Manly ferry when you have the Curranulla? OK, so it’s not quite as memorable as that rocking ride across Sydney heads to Manly, and there’s no Opera House or Harbour Bridge to gawk at, but the kids don’t care…
With the summer school holidays upon us, I’m posting a series of cool outdoorsy things to do with kids, highlighting some of our favourite local spots. Our stomping ground is the Sutherland Shire, in our fair city’s southern outskirts, and while living down here (in north Melbourne, as my Northern Beaches bro-in-law calls it) can…
For the past few weeks I’ve been an imposter, of the blogging kind. Steve and I have been holidaying in Malaysia (hello, if you’ve been following!), tripping about with our four-year-old-twins. It seemed like a good time to turn Raising Explorers into a travel blog, just for a while, to try to pass myself off…
Kuching, in the state of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo, is a fantastic place to visit with kids. Not only does the city itself offer an array of activities – I wrote about them in my post about the Top 5 things to do in Kuching – but there are some brilliant things to see and…
As our plane rose into the dusky evening over Kuching, bound for Penang, four-year-old Blake gazed wistfully out of the window, and said, “Oh, I miss Ka-Ching.” It’s that kind of place. The river flows quietly by, the people smile and say hello as you pass them in the street, and dozens of cat statues…
It was a steamy morning in Kuala Lumpur when we jumped into a taxi and headed 13km out of town to Batu Caves. Despite being early, the place was already buzzing with activity when we arrived. There were a few other tourists around, but we were overwhelmingly outnumbered by those making a spiritual visit, rather…
Ah, rainy weekends in winter. Or, more aptly, (and much, much worse) arrrggghhhhhhh, rainy weekends in winter! Pre-kids, we loved these days… Books, food, TV marathons, movies, wine. Heaven. Ah, rainy weekends in winter. Now, arrrggghhhhhhh rainy weekends in winter begin like any other day, but quickly deteriorate as cabin fever sets in mid-morning. I mean,…
Welcome to Cake Wars. Two parents go head to head in the kitchen in daring combat for cake decorating supremacy. Will the cake crumble? Will the icing stick? And most importantly, who will prevail? Our twins turned four on Monday. Of course, they were super dooper excited. Presents, balloons, lolly bags, and cakes; what more…
My mum read my first blog post. “It’s great!” she said yesterday when I popped over for lunch. (She’s my biggest fan – that’s her job.) “You know, I really love that photo of the kids in the tunnel.” (She means the header above). “Yeah, me too,” I agreed, sensing the not-so-stealthy approach of a ‘but’. “But,”…
“My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart With tender gladness, thus to look at thee, And think that thou shall learn far other lore, And in far other scenes! … thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds…” – “Frost…
Raising Explorers 