All in all a very disturbed night as Elizabeth woke up at 1:30am and came into bed with us. The mobile rang at 2am, and then Alex came through. I took Alex back to bed and slept in Elizabeth's bed. Not sure when but Alex woke me up again later on and Elizabeth woke David at 4:45am. I finally gave up at 6am and got up, sorted photos and charged the camera batteries. David and Elizabeht got up around 8am and I made eggy bread for breakfast. Predictably Alex did not want it.

It took us a while to get sorted, put washing in etc etc but by 9 we were ready to leave. We tried to get walking directions to the museum only to be given the bus information. I am not sure why but we were told it was not possible to walk. So in true Spurway fashion we completely ignored that and walked anyway. Once we found our bearings and found Auckland Domain it proved to be a good decision. We chose to walk up through Lovers Walk which was a wooded path roughly following a stream up. The girls both loved running ahead and were completely safe doing so. It was a steep push up with some steps, so not ideal pushchair territory. This brought us out at the duck pond just below the museum. The walk was steep but worth it ! The view from the musuem was amazing with the city laid out before us and we stood for a while until the children started asking what we were doing and getting bored.

Inside the museum Alex decided she would like to meet Sue, the T-Rex, this cost $12 for each adult. The girls both had a great time playing with all the interactive displays. I liked looking through dinosaur eyes to see their field of vision. After a while we walked around a great interactive children's area which was really well done and included things like a live rock pool you could walk over, drawers and jars of bits to look at etc. I went on ahead to look at the Maori gallery. I only had a short time before I was joined by babies and they got bored. In my brief visit I really noticed how intricate the carvings were. We all went into the Maori house they allow you to enter and the carvings on the inside were at least as good as those on the outside. We also saw a huge war canoe which could hold 100 warriors.

After leaving the museum we walked to the kiosk to buy some lunch, it took an age as the the man behind the counter was dead slow and stop. So David took Alex and Elizabeth for a play to some twisty trees and Alex did some tree climbing. The girls were both really upset by the number of birds about to the extent where Elizabeth refused to eat her food and Alex ate hers so quickly we were concerned she would choke. After lunch Alex played on the tree again and then we walked along Cenntenial walkway out of the park. Alex had a whale of a time running ahead of us along the path and around the trees.

We then walked the 30 - 35 minutes to the ferry terminal and caught the 2pm ferry to Devonport ($10, 12mins). The ferry journey was lovely and gave us a chance to see the city from the other side and also to view the harbour. Devonport itself is a lovely place, very quaint feeling with agreat play park and a small beach. We sat firnearly an hour watching the girls play and having a drink. We then walked along the shore enjoying the atmosphere and the view. We then caught the 4pm ferry back downtown.

After arriving at the ferry port we walked to the Sky PLaza and went up the tower. We were worried about the girls especially as the lift had glass panels in the floor and glass doors. I did NOT like this part at all. We made our way up to the very top viewing platform. David and I were pretty apprehensive when we arrived but the girls ran straight to the glass and started looking down at the ground 220m below. They really loved looking at what was going on and at those doing the skywalk and skyjump. At this point both girls were really delightful and lovely. We then moved to the main observation deck and they bioth were concerned by the glass panels in the floor but actually enjoyed going over them and looking down, more than David or I did. We completed our trip with coffee and babycinnos in the Sky cafe. At this point Elizabeth was beginning to lose the plot and by the time we left the tower she was in full meltdown and screaming mode., strangely David managed to get a lift down on his own. I did some shopping only to discover David had my wallet and he had already left with Elizabeth. She was still losing the plot when I met David outside and sent him downstairs to pay for the goods. I managed to calm Elizabeth down by the time David arrived back and he then took the girls home and sorted out interenet access for tonight so I could update the blog. I went and bought wine and pizza.

Elizabeth went straight to bed and Alex had dinner and went not long after. Now relaxing with a glass of wine, waiting for the washing to finish before we pack up so we can collect the van tomorrow.