Enjoying summer..

while it lasts.

A couple of weeks ago we caught up with a bunch of other homeschoolers for a morning at Cornwallis Beach. It's a great place, bordering the Manukau Harbour, but close enough to the harbour entrance to have lovely clear water and not be so tidal that the water just about disappears entirely, like happens at some of the beaches closer to home! 

One fascinating aspect to this beach is the combination of normal, beige coloured sand from the harbour, and the black, iron-rich sands of our west coast beaches -

It was just after low-tide when we went, so not so good for swimming, but fantastic for exploring -

and there is grass and shady trees right next to the sand, so it's perfect for relaxing or playing games

Nothing seems to make this boy quite as happy as a good tree.

then once the kids had got tired of the beach, we went for a geocache hunt, one of which took us up to the memorial at the top of the hill -

which looks back over Cornwallis Beach -

and the entrance to the harbour -

and the bays around Huia - 

On our way down the hill, I spotted some white daisies, which means only one thing to us educatory types - 

the green hardly worked at all, mostly just added a slight tinge to the edge of the centre, I wonder why that was?!

This is the perfect experiment for illustrating the need for a control, especially when one doesn't appear to have changed much!

Day at the museum

Yesterday marked the first of our 3x per week hospital trips, which would naturally be a pretty dull 2 hour round trip, most of that spent in the car. So instead of coming straight home, we went further afield instead, to the Auckland Museum!

It's free for locals, and a wonderful resource! We haven't been in a while, so the kids were very keen. Unfortunately someone forgot to replace the memory card in the camera, so it was the dodgy phone camera to the rescue!

First stop is always the volcano room! The museum is actually built on the crater rim of Pukekawa, one of Auckland's oldest volcanoes.

It's nice getting to watch a volcano being created right outside your window, whilst being in complete safety!

Then off to explore...

Spotting the live cave wetas -

Mealworms and assorted things in jars -

Playing with the electronic microscope -

Watching crickets -

And finding Nemo -

The armoury and WWII planes are always interesting -

There's also currently a free special exhibition on called Moana - My Ocean, which takes you from the tiny creatures that live near the surface of the water, right down to the denizens of the deeps in the Kermadec Trench.

I thought this was a cool idea, a giant pink anemone made from pool noodles forming the walls of a 3D cinema space!

And this was cool, a wrap-around projection room showing how a 'Bait Ball' of small fish is created & how the various predators manipulate it - 

And who can resist some sharks?!?!

Maungakiekie

We had a hospital appointment to get to just after lunch, so morning was spent doing maths & literacy stuff (learning the different ways to spell the "k" sound, fun times), then lunch & into the car! One short tour of the dermatology ward later, and we were free... and free just around the corner from one of our favourite places!!

Stardome!

The ever-popular concave mirror

A big set of scales that flies you around the solar system & tells you how much you would weigh in different places (and on a neutron star, ouch!)

I think Lexi would like to sew some of these badges onto her uniform!

The much fought-after gravity well

This is my favourite, it's called the Magic Planet, which is an internal projection globe that creates a 3D video projection of the selected planet or moon.

Maia and Maia!

 (this is the Pleiades,also called Matariki in New Zealand, the larger star to the top right of the picture is called Maia)

And the obligatory... 

(did you spot the alien?)

and then into the parks on the slopes of Maungakiekie!

Then off for a walk....

where, somewhat bizarrely for an inner suburb of our largest city, you can currently check out the lambs!

now that is more like fun!