Australia With Kids - Tasmania
Veronica, a mum of 2 living in Tasmania, has been kind enough to share some things to do with children in Tasmania.
Veronica blogs at Sleepless Nights and Veronica Foale. Her writing is very compelling and when she writes she “tells it like it is, good and bad”, which is what I find I like when I’ve had a difficult day.
When Catherine approached me and asked me to do a guest post about things to do in Tassie with Kids, I thought YES! That's something I know all about.
Then I thought about it a day or two later and realised, wow, I don't actually.
See, I live in the middle of nowhere. We go into Glenorchy once a week to supermarket and stuff, but mostly, we don't go out. So things to do with kids? Well, let me see.
I love Bonarong Park located at Brighton, the animals are used to being hand fed and if you can get over your terror at having 7ft tall kangaroos eating out of your child's hand, you'll have a great time. I personally couldn't, so we spent a lot of time finding joey's to feed and leaving the large males alone. Something about 2 inch claws makes me not trust them so much.
Mostly, we stick to parks. The memorial park at Pontville is a good place to play, with BBQ's and seats around it, as well as being mostly fenced in for the kids safety. The only thing is, it's often packed with other children, so if you want a seat and a BBQ on a sunny weekend, then get there early.
I love love love Waterworks Reserve - we used to live on Waterworks RD at Dynnyrne, when Amy was born and mother's group picnics at the reserve were always fun. The ducks and geese are used to being fed and will come right up to the bbq areas looking for food. Great fun if you've got a handful of active toddlers and a bag of bread, not so fun when you watch a cheeky duck steal half a sandwich off a child.
We don't go out to cafe's very often, Amy's coeliacs keeps us eating at home more often than not. That said, when she was a baby, I used to go to the Botanical Gardens for coffee and cake quite often. On a nice day we would let the babies crawl all over the grass, before heading up to the cafe and getting coffee. The wait staff there were lovely and always happy to oblige and if the kids got fractious, we could always grab coffee's to go and let them eat flowers and things. They've also got a duck pond and when spring hits, I expect we'll spend a fair bit of time at the gardens, so that I can take photos of the flowers. The upside to that is the kids getting a whole lot of space to run around in.
There is also the Salmon Ponds which is good fun, but I couldn't get over the terror of having Amy fall in the water and having to fish her out of the middle of 30 rather large fish. She was only 2 and a half when we visited last though, so it's on my list of things to do. What child doesn't like fish that come right to the edge of the water to eat the pellets you're throwing? The fish are huge and gorgeous and I recommend it if your children are old enough to not run away and get soaking wet. They also have a cafe on site and BBQ areas.
Myer in Hobart's centre has a great baby change area with small rooms for either private feeding, or like I used them for, keeping the toddler contained while you feed the baby.
So there are my 'things to do in Tasmania with children'. Tassie is rather small and you'll find most businesses are quite accommodating of children.
Have you visited Tasmania with your children? What things to do with children in Tasmania would you recommend?
Veronica blogs at Sleepless Nights and Veronica Foale. Her writing is very compelling and when she writes she “tells it like it is, good and bad”, which is what I find I like when I’ve had a difficult day.
When Catherine approached me and asked me to do a guest post about things to do in Tassie with Kids, I thought YES! That's something I know all about.
Then I thought about it a day or two later and realised, wow, I don't actually.
See, I live in the middle of nowhere. We go into Glenorchy once a week to supermarket and stuff, but mostly, we don't go out. So things to do with kids? Well, let me see.
I love Bonarong Park located at Brighton, the animals are used to being hand fed and if you can get over your terror at having 7ft tall kangaroos eating out of your child's hand, you'll have a great time. I personally couldn't, so we spent a lot of time finding joey's to feed and leaving the large males alone. Something about 2 inch claws makes me not trust them so much.
Mostly, we stick to parks. The memorial park at Pontville is a good place to play, with BBQ's and seats around it, as well as being mostly fenced in for the kids safety. The only thing is, it's often packed with other children, so if you want a seat and a BBQ on a sunny weekend, then get there early.
I love love love Waterworks Reserve - we used to live on Waterworks RD at Dynnyrne, when Amy was born and mother's group picnics at the reserve were always fun. The ducks and geese are used to being fed and will come right up to the bbq areas looking for food. Great fun if you've got a handful of active toddlers and a bag of bread, not so fun when you watch a cheeky duck steal half a sandwich off a child.
We don't go out to cafe's very often, Amy's coeliacs keeps us eating at home more often than not. That said, when she was a baby, I used to go to the Botanical Gardens for coffee and cake quite often. On a nice day we would let the babies crawl all over the grass, before heading up to the cafe and getting coffee. The wait staff there were lovely and always happy to oblige and if the kids got fractious, we could always grab coffee's to go and let them eat flowers and things. They've also got a duck pond and when spring hits, I expect we'll spend a fair bit of time at the gardens, so that I can take photos of the flowers. The upside to that is the kids getting a whole lot of space to run around in.
There is also the Salmon Ponds which is good fun, but I couldn't get over the terror of having Amy fall in the water and having to fish her out of the middle of 30 rather large fish. She was only 2 and a half when we visited last though, so it's on my list of things to do. What child doesn't like fish that come right to the edge of the water to eat the pellets you're throwing? The fish are huge and gorgeous and I recommend it if your children are old enough to not run away and get soaking wet. They also have a cafe on site and BBQ areas.
Myer in Hobart's centre has a great baby change area with small rooms for either private feeding, or like I used them for, keeping the toddler contained while you feed the baby.
So there are my 'things to do in Tasmania with children'. Tassie is rather small and you'll find most businesses are quite accommodating of children.
Have you visited Tasmania with your children? What things to do with children in Tasmania would you recommend?
Comments
Hobart has some really great kids playgrounds - the best would be Train Park (Caldew Park) in West Hobart, Princes Park in Battery Point and the park at Lower Sandy Bay, which is right on the beach.
The Museum (TMAG) has a great little kids play & learning area next to the cafe that is fantastic on a rainy day.
Salamanca square is great fun for kids and Machine Laundry Cafe include 2 marshmallows with their babycinos (that's important to some of us) and the kids can play with the giant chess set while the grown ups sip their lattes!
The waterfront is great for looking at boats and wandering around - T42 and Fish Frenzy are kid friendly places to eat. A morning tea cruise on the water would be great fun for little pirates!