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curlykat 
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Joined: 12 July 2010
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 Topic: moving to Dunedin
Posted: 12 July 2010 at 8:38am |
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Hi, i will be moving to Dunedin in the middle of August and would really appreciate any advice and support going! We are coming from northern Scotland as my husband (who is from nz) is starting a new job. I will be home alone for extended periods of time (he works offshore)with our 3 children - a 6month old boy and two girls aged 2 and 4. I would like to find as many activities as possible for them to do but dont know where to look. I would also like to meet other mums - any suggestions? And finally, if anyone can tell me what the equivelant of nursery is (my 4 year old is used to going 5 mornings a week) and how i enrol her, that would be fantastic.
Thank you so much, kat
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LittleBug
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Joined: 29 July 2007
Location: Dunedin
Points: 4277
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 11:28am |
If you want to meet up with other mums, post another message on OhBaby when you get here and we will organise a meet-up with you 
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Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years).
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grrrgrrrr
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Joined: 15 March 2008
Location: Wellington
Points: 234
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 11:46am |
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Hey CurlyCat, we are in the exact same position as you, I have a 1yo and a 2yo and we are movign to Dunedin from Wellington. I am from Sweden originally and my partner works away from home alot. PM me once you are in Dunedin and we can catch up if you want to. I am also tryign to find things to do with my litlte ones. I work form home but I still have to keep them busy and happy :)
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Mattias 2yo
Henrik almost 1
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hannibal
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Joined: 04 December 2008
Points: 611
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 11:49am |
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Hi,
I live in Dunedin and we have been here four years.
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/newcomer/newcomer-support
The Dunedin City website might be helpful. We have Kindergarten here or Daycare and you should be able to find information in the yellowpages.co.nz for website/contact numbers. Most places do have waiting lists though.
I work at a real estate company and we have rentals/properties for sale so let me know if you need help with areas to consider/not consider.
Dunedin Parents Centre http://www.parentscentre.org.nz/dunedin/ (small joining fee) have a toy library, playgroups, morning tea sessions - so you maybe able to met some parents this way.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
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LittleBug
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Joined: 29 July 2007
Location: Dunedin
Points: 4277
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 12:18pm |
There was another thread somewhere about things to do in Dunedin for mums... can't remember quite where it was!
There is also a group that runs for mums at the Gardens Cafe, I think it's once a month... and they have guest speakers on all sorts of topics, it's to keep mum's brain active  while the kids play. There are a couple of toy libraries, lots of different play groups and support groups, through parents centre and plunket... there are mainly music groups, tropical forest at the museum is awesome, what else... there is a weekly story time for little ones at the library on Wednesdays, and there are always activities running in the school holidays.
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Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years).
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MyLilSquishy
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Joined: 25 July 2009
Location: Dunedin
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 2:08pm |
pm me for a cuppa when you arrive  my boy is 4 months old now
also there is a Dunedin mums-meet-up group, we meet every wednesday at 2pm (location varies).
there are daycare options (im not sure if the government still does the 20 free hours a week or not, and if they do, what the conditions are) but might be worth a look.
Library has kids sessions (i think every week), there is the discovery world at the museum (hands on interactive stype stuff) aswell as the butterfly forest (again not sure what its called lol)
The gardens are beautiful to walk through when its sunny, also if you register to a website called eventfinder ... there are heaps of one-off kids things to do.
and im home all day every day (except for coffee group) because DP takes the car unless we have a big changeover at lunch time, so its easier for me to just hang out here, so im always happy to have visitors round for a cuppa coffee or tea and I know my boy would find it interesting to have another bubba around
(btw the offer for coffee/tea/visit stands for any mums/mums 2 be in Dunedin, moving to Dunedin or visiting Dunedin. wont make friends keeping to myself  hehe. and i have baking lol)
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LittleBug
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Joined: 29 July 2007
Location: Dunedin
Points: 4277
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 3:35pm |
Wish I could come today and score some of those yummy sounding muffins, Kahlia  don't want to give you all a vomiting bug though. Hopefully Ollie makes a quick recovery so we can get together later in the week
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Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years).
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MyLilSquishy
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Joined: 25 July 2009
Location: Dunedin
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 6:28pm |
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yeah poor little guy!!! i also made a peppermint slice from scratch today. yum! going to bake a cake tomorrow. maybe a caramel slice too. mmmmm
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mrsturtle
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Joined: 02 July 2008
Points: 1472
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Posted: 12 July 2010 at 7:05pm |
Yey more dunedin mums
I have a list of activites playgroups ect somewhere ill dig out and can email them if either are interested.
Like others have said depends on what area you move to for daycare options ect. St clair has little wonders (my sister is a head teacher there) i can get info from there pretty easily
Jane - hope your feeling better soon!
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grrrgrrrr
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Joined: 15 March 2008
Location: Wellington
Points: 234
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Posted: 13 July 2010 at 8:23am |
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Thank you Shannon that would be great! Feels quite daunting to move somwhere I have never been and know no one. But we did it a few years ago when movign to Wellington so I'm sure we will find some cool firends down there :)
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Mattias 2yo
Henrik almost 1
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curlykat
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Joined: 12 July 2010
Points: 24
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Posted: 13 July 2010 at 8:48am |
Thank you all so much - i cant believe how welcoming you all are! I feel infinitly better about coming over and am really looking forward to getting involved in the activities you mention - we live in the middle of nowhere up here, so it will be fantastic to have some more structured things for the kids to do. Since Hamish arrived ive struggled a bit finding enough hands to do crafty things with the girls, and the weather is often too cold and wet to go far outside. A bit of adult company now and again would be much appreciated aswell!
I'll be in touch once we get over - keep your fingers crossed for us on those flights. Any top tips for keeping kids entertained on planes???!
Thanks again
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grrrgrrrr
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Joined: 15 March 2008
Location: Wellington
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Posted: 13 July 2010 at 9:25am |
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I'm just researchign keepign kids happy while on a long haul flight. (we are goign back home to visit my parents for chirstmas and they live in Sweden)
Wrapping up small inexpensive toys as presents and givign them 1 each hour, pipe cleaners (can make lots of stuff), stickers, drawing books, pens, sticky tape, magnetic doodle pad, dvd player, snacks in little containers.
Those are the things I have down so far, good luck for your flight!
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Mattias 2yo
Henrik almost 1
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MyLilSquishy
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Joined: 25 July 2009
Location: Dunedin
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Posted: 13 July 2010 at 11:14am |
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maybe if you got a bit of info about planes you could make a little activity scrapbook? if either of you are arty, you could do a connect the dots, draw a couple of colouring-in pages maybe you could paste in a world pic and if you do stopovers they can see how close they are getting? a page for postacrds from each stopover, and a story about each leg of the journey (ie. on leg A(scotland) to B, have a postacrd of scotland and together on the plane you can write a story about memories of home... then when you stopover at location B, grab a postcard from the gift shop, then while you flying from B to C, write about what you did on the plane from A to B if you get what i mean? and so on)
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LittleBug
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Joined: 29 July 2007
Location: Dunedin
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Posted: 13 July 2010 at 11:44am |
Good luck for the flights... there are a few ladies on the forum that have been on long haul flights with their kiddies. I know there were threads about that, too, somewhere!
Look forward to meeting you both
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Chloe (4 years) and Oliver (3 years).
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moving to Dunedin