City Mini 2

+ 1 for Baby Jogger - they are great. We had city mini 2 with our first. -1 for bugaboo - we bought a 2nd hand one initially for our first. Biggest pain in the ass to fold. Hated it and sold it within a couple of weeks (and 2 out of house trips with it) of getting it

We had a Baby Jogger City Mini 2 and loved it. It is fairly compact and light (as in compact and light for everyday use but it’s not a travel stroller and would not fit in an overhead locker of a plane). It folds easily but unsure if it’s technically a “one handed fold”. I know the City Mini GT2 is marketed as a one hand fold and looks very similar so would be worth having a play with one at Baby Bunting 😊

Cot - ikea Sniglar. Cheap, good quality, safe, converts to a toddler bed with no additional pieces. Whatever cot you decide to buy, make sure you get a fixed side one. Our safety standards are outdated but drop side cots are banned in some countries because of the risk. Car seat - make sure you get one that offers extended rear facing. We like britax. We have the britax millenia which is no longer sold but they do a similar more compact seat - britax Graphene. Pram - you need to test drive these. We bought a bugaboo off marketplace and absolutely hated it, so glad we didn’t buy new. Ended up loving our Baby Jogger city mini 2 which is easy to use and no frills. Make sure you can fit the pram easily in your car boot.

Capsules are convenient but you can absolutely get away without one. We didn’t have one with my first and it was fine. I would go for a good, new, extended rear facing seat. We used a Britax Millenia and only just turned our 4yo forward facing. They don’t offer the Millenia anymore but Graphene is similar, though more compact and we found slightly shorter rear-facing (grandparents have one, turned to FF about 5 months earlier). But, you have more options in NZ as seats that meet AS/NZS, EU, ASTM are allowed – Australia only allows AS/NZS. With strollers, I would absolutely suggest a 3 wheeled one over a 4 wheeler. Far more manoeuvrable, easier to go up and down kerbs. We bought a 4 wheel stroller to use with our second and I hate using it when I take my oldest to the park or for walks – so much so that I ended up buying a secondhand bassinet attachment for our baby jogger city mini 2. We got the second hand bassinet attachment off marketplace for $20 – people often sell these attachments pretty cheap as they don’t need them for long. I’d opt for a second hand bassinet attachment over a second hand carseat any time (including capsule hire tbh). You’re right about the vtech being rubbish, we have a wifi video one and it constantly disconnects. It’s the worst. We now use an ikea audio only monitor. It’s fantastic. Very reliable and I like that it also vibrates if it is activated for too long (at the loudest setting only). Parent unit never seems to run out of battery and can also be charged using USB-C (in addition to the top of the baby unit). I especially like that the baby part has a battery also (rechargeable AAAs but charge through the monitor rather than having to remove them to charge), this means we can unplug it and use it in different parts of the house – or when we visit people and want to put our youngest down for a sleep. In my experience, while video monitors are nice to have, what is really necessary is a reliable monitor with good vox. You want to know it will wake you up in the night when baby is crying – rather than just disconnecting. I haven’t used either of the monitors you’ve suggested but I’ve heard positive reviews.

Look for a hire for baby, I had a similar situation happen when I traveled to Cairns and was able to hire a fantastic pram, it was dropped off the next day and picked up when we left. It was a different company up there, but I have personally used Hire for Baby in Sydney for carseats and I know they have prams too x https://www.hireforbaby.com/product-category/prams/ ETA For example, the Baby Jogger City Mini 2 is $70 for a week hire, available from the Sydney airport office, but they have a bunch of locations around Sydney so they could probably be one even closer, just need to call and check stock x https://www.hireforbaby.com/hire-products/baby-jogger-city-mini-2/

We love our Austlen Entourage for a double This one isn’t necessarily a travel stroller but it’s light, folds fairly small and very easily - fits my 4 year old without an issue. Baby Jogger Mini City 2

I’m still using my citi mini 2 jogging stroller for my 7 year old. I get some looks but the ease of mind from not having him elope is just huge for me

We used the baby jogger city mini tour 2 and loved it.

My baby jogger City Mini G2 is definitely not the fanciest option but the but when fully loaded is at the $600+ mark. We’re still using it, toddler prefers it and we’ve used it from month 1. I’ve seen 4 year olds in it. Where we live has a mixture of sidewalk and very rocky type paths, our stroller can take it.

I will say if you can either try something out/look at it in person first, or get it either free or used for cheap, I would do that. We’ve tried so many and none feel perfect. We got a used Uppababy Vista with all the bells and whistles for cheap. It has been extremely modular, allowing us to click in the car seats, or newborn bassinets, or regular seats. It is also huge, heavy and not very portable. We got a snap n go for free and used it once, because it is huge and difficult to maneuver. We have a free Babyjogger City Mini and it’s also quite a beast. And a tiny jeep umbrella one that has no storage. I’ve been eyeing the Zoe Twin in my ongoing search to find our ideal double stroller…