A weekend of markets & beach fun

It’s been a while since we’ve hung out at the Wellington Underground Market of arts and craft at Frank Kitt’s Park, on Wellington’s waterfront.

So, after a Saturday morning of play dough making we ditched the flour covered kitchen and escaped into the sunshine (with a few sneaky flour hand-prints here and there) to enjoy a showcase of Wellington’s best makers, bakers, crafters, artists, designers, musicians and more.

A bonus delight was the ‘The New Zealand Art Show‘ at the TSB Arena in Queen’s Wharf, which we had a quick oooo and ahh at… (though there was little we could afford). We consoled ourselves with the fact that we don’t have the wall space for any art… with our three girls creating artwork quicker than we can make room! Nevertheless, it was still lovely to look at some inspiring and amazing New Zealand art.

Then we went to the market, where the girls had a great time. They came away with a braid in their hair each, henna tattoos and beautiful flower clips (I had a coffee!).

Sophie had a go on the vertical bungy (doing heaps of dizzy spins and descents upside down). Alice had a good play on the slide at Frank Kitts and we all enjoyed the winter sunshine.

Before heading back home, for Dan’s afternoon of soccer, we enjoyed a quick bite in the Old Bank Arcade, at Smith the Grocer Cafe. The food was scrumptious, the cup cakes divine and the atmosphere very European.

Feeling full and happy we returned home to tuck up warm, as a cold southerly blew in (just in time for Dan’s game of soccer!).

Sunday was a stunning winter’s morning and we headed to Scorching Bay, where it was super calm. There were many people out enjoying the beautiful day, low tide, crystal clear rock pools and soft sand.

We treated ourselves to smoothies from Scorch-O-Rama and later enjoyed lunch at California Home and Garden centre in Miramar. Charlotte and Sophie explored the rock pools, with a very low tide making it possible to climb through the little caved arch way and discover star fish, crabs and cats eyes.

Alice was delighted to see a real rowing boat (she really loves row boats!) and Dan dug her a boat in the sand, where she could sing away and pretend to row, row, row (watching out for crocodiles of course!).

A perfect weekend.

Everyone got to bed early Sunday night – in preparation for Charlotte’s first day at her new school (much excitement in the house). Dan did the honours with ironing on the copious name labels to her uniform (what a star!).

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NB: The Wellington Underground Market will be open Sundays 10am to 4pm as well as the usual Saturday trading, 10am to 4pm, during both World of Wearable Art – WOW and while the Rugby World Cup games are on in Wellington. That is for 8 weekends from 27th Aug to 16th Oct.