Big boats and fish-men

Daddy and Master T watching soccer

It's been a historic week for Spain -  we witnessed their tears as their soccer team fell from grace (losing two games in the World Cup and consequently won't make it through to the next round) and their joys with the coronation of King Felipe VI.

This is our second week in Cantabria and our third in Spain. We are slowly adjusting to the fact that everything shuts between about 1:30pm to 4:30 or 5pm, the late eating hours, and the heat. We have started to chat regularly with our neighbours, and continue to work on 'quiet apartment living', given that our hosts, who live below, welcomed a new daughter into the world on Monday. With our noisy lot, they'll be looking forward to our departure in just over a week!



Outside the Maritime Museum

We've had somewhat of an aquatic and historic theme this week, kicking off with a day in Bilbao at the River Maritime Museum. We went on a Tuesday and it just happened to be free! Cantabria is located next to the Pais Vasco/ Basque country (where Bilbao and the more famous San Sebastian can be found) and it is a short 20 minute drive from our 'home' to Bilbao. Bilbao is located along a magnificent river and the River Maritime Museum provided us with a historical account of the development of city, bridges and river bed. The Museum included games for the children (such as pirate fishing and rowing), a life-size replica of a barge for the upper class and dozens of miniature boats.

Wee Master T adores boats - possibly an accumulation of experiences of water-taxis, his favourite Dali book with a 'boat' sculpture included and the fact that Castro Urdiales (the township we regularly visit for food and beach time) is a sea based town - so he was in his element looking at all the ships and nautical paraphernalia.



Dry docked boats

The most outstanding element of the Museum is the inclusion of the Bilbao city exhibition that was presented at Shanghai Expo in 2010. Developed in conjunction with the Guggenheim Museum, this display combined 'architectural lighting' with audio-visuals for an emotive account of development of Bilbao. The static photos don't do it justice (and I was too in awe to take any), but if you get the time, check them out.

Outside the Museum is a dry dock housing a variety of different boats. Unfortunately this area was not open on our visit (perhaps this is why it was free? -although museums in Spain frequently have 'free days'), but we enjoyed strolling around them from above and looking at the massive anchors and chains.

Museum visit was followed by a good lunch in a cafe by a fountain and exploring a park of amazing sculptures... stay tuned for a post on food in Spain in the next few days...

Lunch in Bilbao - despite Master A's face, it was delicioso!



Kids interacting with art.

We also visited Bilbao later in the week to take in the Bizkaia Archaeology Museum, tracing the human archaeological history of the area from Neolithic to modern times. While not exactly a 'child friendly' place (the security guard trailed us through the three levels), our lot really enjoyed watching the video footage of early people in the temporary display, learning about archaeological digs and research and discovering the visual differences in tools, utensils, cemeteries, housing and boats over time. The museum is free on Fridays, but all displays are in Spanish and Basque. We purchased the accompanying guide book, which has detailed photos and information (we got the English version) so we've been able to discuss a lot of what we saw in more detail.

Between visits to Bilbao, we decided to head West towards Santander and visit the small village of Lierganes, where there is a Fluvarium (a river based eco-museum). Many small villages will open their (sight-seeing doors) for two sessions: 10am to 2pm and 4pm (or 5pm) to 6pm (or 7pm), closing for lunch in between. Because our stomachs are still mostly on NZ time, and we have to travel some distance to many locations, when going to these places, we try to get there early to maximise our visit before lunch. On this occasion, the Fluvarium was closed for the morning - no sign posted on the outer gates and we had a some what disgruntled guide inform us we needed to come back at 4pm.

How does one kill four and a half hours with three children in a small town?

We had a snack drove another half hour to Santander, hoping to visit another Museum, only to discover, by the time we'd parked and located the building, it was also closing for lunch... so when in Spain... do as the Spanish do... we found a cool little restaurant and ate lunch. By which time the Fluvarium was open.

A great lunch finished in Santander

The Fluvarium is a little dated and quite small. The introductory film is very informative and reinforces a sustainable message and the otters in fluvarium area are adorable (even if they are practising their mating - nothing like a biology lesson for our bemused children). We were lucky enough to watch the otters being fed with a group of touring Senior Citizens, who adored the children and ensured they got front row seats!

One of the stars of the Fluvarium

Master T and Daddy check out the turtles

Our little people were in the Fluvarium for a good hour or more - and we decided to wander the streets of Lierganes to find the hombre pez (fish man). There is a legend of this mythical man dating from the 1600s (makes interesting reading if you have the time) and there is a wee house and sculpture depicting this story. While the house was shut when we got there, the fish man was sitting on the banks of the river and the amble through the cobbled and quaint village was lovely.

"We've discovered a fish-man!"

"With scales"!

On our travels we've visited sights where we've queued for hours and been engulfed in hoards of tourists and visitors - thus far, the 'attractions' of Bilbao and Cantabria have been almost void of people (aside from the Guggenheim, but comparative to some places was relatively quiet). It's not that there aren't lots of people, just not lots of people in the museums! I wonder what that says about our choice of activities?

School holidays have just started in Espana, the sun is shining (with the exception of a spectacular electric storm we had last night) and the boardwalks are coming alive...less of the history and more of the mystery of Spain this week me thinks... ciao guapos!

A bottom note
Carrying on from an earlier blog on loos... Miss K has observed an oddity of toilets in Spain - the toilet paper always seems to be placed in the most difficult-to-reach locations (including in our current residence). She asked me to take a photo of the toilet in the Fluvarium to demonstrate this point...

Honesty, Ono and Osos

I read somewhere that when travelling abroad, around about the three month mark one gets a little homesick. In my own experience, this has been true - you hit some weird slump where you'd just rather be back in your own home (in spite of all the amazing around you), surrounded by your own stuff, food and friends.

Maybe it's a coincidence that it's about that three month mark... or maybe it's because we've really slowed down, given the Man of the House (MOTH) a break from daily driving and are doing the things we might do at home (the 'home school' project stuff, cleaning house, eating in a lot more) that all of a sudden, I've hit a bit of a rough patch and am homesick. This time the kids are fine. I'm a bit of grumpy mess.

Jeff-Koon's flower dog

And yes, I will get over it - after all there are so many things to be grateful for and to look forward to and to share. But I have intended to be honest about the joys and tribulations of travelling as a family of five in this blog, and there you have it - the adventuring is awesome, but sometimes, you miss 'normal'. So for my wonderful friends and family who have sent emails and made comments here and on FB, thank you - you help my sanity!

This past week, irrespective of my slight wobblies, we have had fun. The MOTH wanted to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao, about a 20 minute drive from Otañes (the fact that the location we are living in looks like 'O Tanes', is not lost on the MOTH :-) However, the ñ is pronounced more 'ny' than a hard 'n', so not quite O Tane). After our Park Gaulle parking debacle, we found a parking building via the GPS before we departed, which sped things up considerably!

The Guggenheim, Bilbao

The Guggenheim contains an interesting collection of permanent and temporary art installations. Unfortunately, the exhibit on the second floor of the three story building was being redone/upgraded and was unavailable when we visited. We had somehow missed this on their website and the information wasn't posted at the ticket booth, and visitors still had to pay full price to enter (a tad annoying). However children are free, as are the audio guides, and you can enter and re-enter the museum on the same day, which means you can go for a wander for lunch outside (many places we've been to do not allow this).

Although we only had access to two levels, there were plenty of exhibitions to see and interact with. Richard Serra's massive steel sculptures play with space and shape and are brilliant for children to run through and explore.

The children tentatively enter one of Serra's sculptures

 

"This space makes me feel like dancing!"

 

This is an aerial shot (from level two) of the steel sculptures - they were huge!

 

Yoko Ono's Half-a-wind-show took up the entire third floor and included many interactive exhibits such as climbing into giant sacks and become 'moving mountains' and a video of just bottoms, which the children thought were amusing! I've always been a bit sceptical of Ono's work, but this exhibition really demonstrated her ability as an artist to evoke thought and reaction (photos were prohibited here - I think they may have been in Serra's too, but no one said anything to the dozens of visitors taking pictures).

Not Ono's work, but another sculpture outside on the Guggenheim's terrace by Jeff Koons

And after all that 'art and culture' - a play ground! Parents and children happy all round.

We followed our day of art with a day of nature at Cabaceno Wildlife Park. While a little pricey, this drive through Safari park is an incredible opportunity to view wildlife in huge open spaces. Glimpsing animals in the midst of these spaces is sometimes a lucky treat (such as the hippos) and I can't count the number of times I cursed the limited zoom on my camera. Zebras, camels, gorillas, jaguars, rhinos, baboons...only a handful of the many animals we were blessed to spend time observing. Being spring time, there were lots of babies to see.

We were a long way from this Mummy and baby hippo (yay for zoom on camera!)

 The only issues we faced were getting in and out of the car dozens of times (a bit painful with car seats) and the heat increasing over a four hour time span (but hey it's Spain). This wildlife park is worth every penny and a definite must do. Here I've included some long shots of the 'enclosures' and some of the animals my poor pocket camera could capture... We'll leave with you with the Osos...besos a todos...

What can we see here? I've only got about a quarter of the enclosure in this shot.

 

A family of elephants who did an elephant walk for us! - spot the baby?

 

Can you see what Miss K is looking at?

Tama points out the Osos to the MOTH - how many can you see?

Adios from the endangered Osos (bears)of Cantabria

Bye Bye Australia, Hello Tokyo!

As of tomorrow we will begin week five of our overseas adventure! This last week has

been a blur of hotels, airplanes and fast train rides.
Exploring Essendon
In my last post, the poor MOTH had been struck down by a horrible stomach bug which laid him low for the rest of our stay in Australia. This meant most activities needed to be undertaken either (a) on my own with the kids, or in pretty close proximity to our house in Essendon. On our last few days we discovered mega mall Highpoint and I finally had the chance to wander a Melbourne Market - St Kilda's with my dear friend Jo. She and her husband also took Miss K and Master A on a Tram ride, a special highlight before we left the land of dingoes and kangaroos.

Bye Bye Australia, Hello NZ (briefly)
On Tuesday, we set out from Melbourne to arrive back in Auckland. International flight logic made it cheaper to return to NZ first before flying onto Japan, and we found ourselves at the Jet Park Hotel. If you ever need a family friendly hotel, close to the airport, this is it. They run a free shuttle to and from the airport, have a swimming pool, free lobby Wi-Fi, a small outdoor play area and an excellent collection of indoor toys and books. The restaurant is very child-friendly (ensuring little ones are fed first so parents can enjoy their meal) and the food is top quality.

Next stop... Japan
At 4:30am our friendly 'wake up call' had us rousing sleepy children to head to the airport. We had been held up at security (with long lines) in Melbourne and were probably the last people on board our flight. While this has its advantages (no sitting about in departure lounges), from a stress-level point of view, it's not so advantageous and we ensured we got through security with about 10 minutes to spare before our boarding call to Japan.

I was paid a lovely compliment on the plane by a fellow passenger while waiting for the toilet (as one does, particularly near the end of a 10 hour flight): he said he had no idea that there were young children on board, least of all a one-year old. Yep, our kids travelled beautifully! Miss K and Master A were entertained by all the movies and TV programmes we never let them watch at home. Master T had a collection of finger puppets, wind up toys, stickers and an etcha-sketch to entertain him; but his favourite past time was pushing the viewing screen sending Peppa Pig (which Mummy had to view all the way to and from Australia and for about 7 hours to Japan) into fast-forward frequency. My saving grace was when the MOTH took a sleeping Master T and I watched Saving Mr Banks - now there's a good movie!(Note MOTH somehow managed to watch 3.5 inflight movies.... hmmm go figure).

If you ever take this flight with small people, ensure you have a good supply of snacks. There is quite a long gap between being served 'breakfast' and 'dinner' (about an hour either end of the journey) and the in-flight meals are nothing to write home about - so I won't.

Hello Japan!
Our flight landed just before 5pm at Narita Airport. Rather than encounter rush hour traffic, by this I mean people, as much as vehicles in Tokyo, we opted to stay a night at the Narita Tobu Hotel and face the train system the following day. We also sent our luggage on from the airport to our accommodation to avoid lugging 3 backpacks, two car seats, a stroller and 3 children onto the trains. This hotel offered a free shuttle to and from the airport (a key criteria for me when booking), and while Miss K had her first 'oka-sama meal' here (meals designed for children), the food at the hotel was also nothing to get excited about. Suffice to say the hotel was clean and excellent value for money.

The boys on the Narita Xpress

Thursday found us navigating the airport and railways via elevators (the stroller is a necessity because Master T is too heavy to carry and his legs too short to go fast, but most of Japan travels on the escalators and stairs, and elevators are NOT very efficient), and negotiating with ticket machines. I had intended to buy a cheaper one-way fare for the Narita Express, but the queues at the JR office snaked out the doors with a half hour wait, so we opted for normal prices and speed, reaching Shinjuku by lunchtime, where we found a restaurant with Master A's name - of course we dined there. Hospitality 10/10, food well 6/10...

After full tummies we successfully conquered the Tokyo Metro and more ticket machines (thank goodness they have an English option) to finally reach our tiny apartment in Shin-Nakano (about a 6 minute ride from Shinjuku). We have been treated to fantastic hospitality by our host (this property was also found on airbnb) and for a little over $100 a night (a bargain for 5 people in Tokyo), we are in a cosy two bedroom, one bathroom and kitchen - known as a 'mansion' here. Roomier than the campervan at least.

Friday was supposed to be one of those 'recovery days' the MOTH and I try and build into the schedule, because three days being itinerant is exhausting (for me, never mind the kids!) BUT, we discovered our adapter for the laptops was not suitable and we journeyed into Shinjuku to find a replacement at a local department store. Here, the children had their first introduction to Japanese toys, gachapon and Akira acquired some new shoes. This was also the day the MOTH got himself a haircut. It included an ear trim and a 'vacuum' of his head all for Y1000! (see photo at end of post for his new, improved look).

Saturday became a rest day with exploratory walks around the area, visiting local stores and hanging (literally) with some children at the playground. As the children played with their new toys and poured over Japanese children's magazines for the afternoon, it became evident how important this 'settling' into their new environment was. We had all become a bit fractious with each other and this 'down day' helped rest the family kindness barometer.

The beauty of the Cherry Blossom
When I was in my mid-twenties, my mother and I arrived in Japan during early March. I was struck by the beauty of tentatively awakening cherry blossoms, surrounded by skirts of slowly dissipating snow. It took my breath away. Cherry blossoms were also what Miss K first commented on during the drive to the hotel when we arrived, but today's viewing at Shinjuku Gyoen park was absolutely breath-taking. Photos do not do justice to the beauty, tranquillity and sheer awe we all felt in that park. Late March to mid-April is a spectacular time to visit Japan.

Lunching like the locals do on a Sunday in Japan

Leaving you with some of the beauty we found today... tomorrow it's Disney Magic!

Big sister takes little brother on a bird hunt through the woods

Check out that dashing man!

Terrific Trains, Dashing Dingoes and Lingering Lurgies

Melbourne. We made it on Monday afternoon. Kudos to the MOTH for driving that hulk of a campervan all the way into Melbourne. More Kudos to him for managing to get one day's free rental out of Britz (after some pressure on his part; they were not forthcoming in offering it).

Campervan space

The space we're staying in
Our first day in Melbourne was one of enforced rest (for me and the kids - I had a migraine and my intention of going to the Victoria Market for produce was foiled) while MOTH went off to file a police report for the missing money belt, get a NavMan and groceries. The kids spread out and enjoyed our two bedroom villa in Essendon; a contrast to their space in the campervan (note the photos showing them playing in the area that converted to the MOTH & my bed, and our new - proper- sleeping space).

Essendon space

 We've opted mainly for self-catering options on this journey, this makes meal times much cheaper, although if you are considering doing self-catering on a long international journey, start collecting salt and pepper sachets from cafes (sugar too if you need that) and soya sauce from the sushi cartons. I'm finding cooking without flavourings and fridge fixing (and my thermo-mix) somewhat challenging and it's quite difficult to purchase small amounts that will suffice for between one to three weeks. Jars of herbs and spices are not exactly ideal for transporting around the world in your luggage.

Self-contained accommodation also means no shared bathrooms, privacy, in some cases space to run around, and a chance to try out the suburbs. The downside is that hiring a car is necessary (and dragging car seats about), but with five of us, it generally works out cheaper than all taking public transport.

In Melbourne, we have wonderful friends that have kindly lent us their Toyota Yaris (another contrast to the campervan), which is fantastic. The MOTH has managed to get a botty-vomitty lurgy, which is not. The MOTH has convalesced all day in bed (dispelling any plans of a market visit again today), but before the bug really set in we managed two days of magic.

Terrific Trains

Master A drives a train at Trainworks

Trains are somewhat of a theme for us, spurred on by Master A's passion for all things rail. Trainworks (1.5 hours south of Sydney- mentioned in a previous post) was a world class museum of trains and well worth the visit on that campervan rumble down to Melbourne.




This Wednesday, we drove out of Melbourne to ride Puffing Billy - a steam engine with open air carriages and permission to dangle one's legs over the side. It takes about an hour to drive to Belgrave (Puffing Billy's departure station), and almost double that coming back in peak traffic - but the ride all the way to and from Gembrook was worth it, not to mention the dinner, another pair of friends whipped for us that night too :-)

Akira pretends we're going faster than 24km/ph

Dashing Dingoes
Wildlife and conservation also figure strongly in our family's travel activities. Featherdale in Sydney was great, but Healesville, about an hour out of Melbourne, is absolutely breath taking. Paying tribute to the Aborigine caretakers of the land, the santcuary is a blend of Aborigine creation stories, conservation messages and stunning Australian wildlife in a relaxed setting. The crowning highlight was the 'wildlife encounter' they offer.

At AU$12pp for a 10 minute encounter (children under 8 have to be supervised by a paying adult), the MOTH initially was a bit sceptical , when he booked for an echidna encounter. Ms Echidna was not co-operative in coming out to see us (mainly because the 31C heat we encountered on our arrival to Melbourne has dropped to about 20Cand she was cold ). We chose the dingo over a refund - all proceeds go to helping save the wildlife.

Originally named Tingo by the Aborigine (and misheard by the settlers...), these are beautiful cousins of the wolf. Our encounter allowed us to enter their enclosure with the ranger, touch and be photographed with the animals. At the same time we learnt a great deal about the plight of the dingo - it is anticipated that they will be extinct in ten to fifteen years due to in-breeding, and we heard many positive stories about them.

 Healesville will probably, most definitely, make our Top Ten.

Mother Musings -a list of random thoughts...
Things I'm glad I packed

The Mum who muses...

• Lavender oil - great for sore tums, disinfecting, relaxing baths
• imodeum (for obvious reasons)
• spare microfiber face cloths
• spare towels
• antibacterial wet wipes
• hand sanitizer
• cool-store lunch bag, extra zip lock bags and small plastic containers

Things I wish I had packed - but thankfully we can purchase

• Tea towels
• a few more pairs of socks
• scissors (I did pack some, but they've disappeared)
• salt, pepper and soya sauce sachets

Things we've lost so far

• Money belt
• MOTH's shower gel (at a camping ground)
• Master A and Miss K's pjs (one set)
• One of Master T's shoes (at Healesville - there's probably a wombat wearing it)
• scissors
• a piece of a magnetic puzzle which now renders it useless
• several coloured pencils

To date, children and sanity have not yet been lost (almost but not quite - sanity, not children).

Quiet day today. Visited local park, walked to shops, found Australian animal stickers and sensational patisserie. Nice just to wander around. Hoping the MOTH is mended tomorrow and that I can get to at least one market before we leave Australia on Monday!

Milestones and Miracles

Milestones

It's hard to imagine, but pretty much, what we did all day on Saturday related to teeth. After we go home form Saturday morning swimming, Keilani refused to go anywhere in case her very wiggly tooth fell out.

There were questions about what front teeth were for, and what back teeth were for. How many teeth will I lose? How long will this one take? I was instructed to URGENTLY make a special box for the tooth, because my 'tooth pillow' I wanted to work on would take too long. Akira decided to he'd had enough of the tooth talk and set about exercising his artistic talent.

Keilani was right in getting the box made. Halfway through cross-stitching words for the tooth pillow, the tooth fell out.What excitement! (The pillow pocket currently says 'Toot' - never mind, I'll finish it in time for the next tooth).  The tooth was carefully placed in her felt lined and covered matchbox and placed by the bed for the tooth fairy to visit.

In our house, each person has their own special tooth fairy who bestows a special gift. Keilani received a beautiful fairy charm to start a necklace that will grow with each tooth she loses. Just magic.

Miracles

Sunday and I've still not quite blown the grumpy cobwebs out. We head out to the Sustainable Home and Garden Show, then join another beautiful family who are starting out on the homeschool adventure like us, at the nearby rock pools. The local library had been showcasing some fantastic resources about rock pool critters (you can find these free on the NZ Marine Centre Website), so armed with these, we set off to investigate.



Keilani and Akira peering into the rock pools

Four big kids, a baby, a toddler and four happy grown-ups scouted around the pools for well over an hour. What a treat to see a crab shed it's shell and scuttle for safety beneath a rock. It's real miracle of nature to observe!

Investigating a second, but less fortunate crab we found in the pools

What a treat, to be invited back to a friend's house for dinner, to relax while the kids played (most of the time) contently together (learning the art of communication, turn taking, different temperaments...), that the Dads got on, and to have our decision to home educate reaffirmed by like minded people. It's a real miracle of life, that sometimes when you need some support, it's there.

That's what we did all weekend...loved it. Learnt HEAPS!