Hi!
My son and I returned to live here in January after being in New Zealand for the last five years (I am a kiwi) and my son who is 8 is really missing his friends and doing outdoors kiwi stuff like climbing trees, building huts ect. I would be great to meet some other kiwi familys to hang out with go to parks, bike rides, picnics. We live in Amsterdam.
Cheers!! Narda

OMG and its such nice weather today and we are sitting home wondering what to do.... Where do people go on days like today and what do they do? I dont want to go cycling as we have no baby seat yet, and I anyway dont like doing anything aimlessly (walking biking etc) I need a purpose and a destination....

If we were back in NZ on a day like today we would have just popped over to any of the many beaches near where we lived, or gone to a cafe (on the beach) for lunch, or wandered along the waterfront in town before having lunch at a nice restaurant, or visited the Botanic Gardens for a picnic and the playground, or parked up in a mates backyard for a few drinks while the kids play, or visited family to do the same...

What do people do in Holland on nice sunny days? We dont live in Amsterdam so Vondelpark isnt an option - is if it you live in Ams anyway? Tried to get to Scheveningen a couple of times on a nice day, but if youre a Kiwi it just looks impossible and unpleasant, if you can even get close.What do people do here apart from go bike riding? The only thing I have found here that is 'done' is many many people cycle through the forest to a nice little village in the middle of it, sit on a terrace (if they can find a free place) and eat a pancake, then go home. How can that be fun for kids? I also dont want to drive hours or pay a fortune for a day out. Any ideas anyone??

By the way Narda, my kids are really different ages from yours so wouldnt make the best playmates I am afraid, but if you ever want to get out of Ams and visit us (Amersfoort area) let me know, I am always up for a cuppa

Hi Narda,
I have an 8 year old daughter and 4 ( almost 5) year old son... we are in The Hague and we have a great park nearby if you are ever visiting this neck of the woods.
Sorry we aren't closer to you.

That sounds hard, the lifestyle here is so different for children I think. I'm a nanny here and the way kids live compared to in NZ is really shocking to me somtimes. If you ever want a young kiwi babysitter (Shameless self promotion begins here) to spend some time with him out and about in Amsterdam then flick me a message - I'm always looking for casual babysitting, and I'm young, fit and active. As is my boyfriend actually, who also has childcare experience and works as a children's music teacher, in case another boy to muck around with outdoors is what's called for. Ok, haha, that's my spiel, sorry about that!


There are some nice areas in Amsterdam though, you just have to find them. I mean, it's not the same as NZ anywhere in terms of outdoor spaces for children, but you can find some places where you can just kind of run around if you try hard. Whereabouts in Amsterdam are you based?

Amsterdamsebos I love it.