Road trip to Ruapehu
It's been so long since our last holiday I've almost forgotten what they're like. Going out and doing new things, relaxing, eating yummy dinners... Mum and Dad would say that's what we do on weekends all the time, but holidays are different - especially when Grandma and Grandad are there too.
This year has forced us to spend so much more time stuck at home. But now that annoying coronavirus has gone and the lockdown is over, it's time to celebrate with a few days away somewhere new. So we packed our bags, took our travel sickness pills and loaded up the car for the long drive down to Taupo.
And what's the first place we visit when we get there? Smoky craters and stinky mud pools - it's Rotorua all over again! Maybe I'm getting used to it, or maybe the smell isn't as bad at Orakei Korako, but I enjoyed it this time. Some of the colours of the ground and the pools of water were just amazing.
One of the main reasons for us choosing to holiday in Taupo was so that we could go to the snow. I'd never seen or touched real snow before... and it turns out the real thing is quite different from how it seems in cartoons.
We hired some thick clothes and boots and drove up to Mt Ruapehu. It was pretty cold when we got there, but not as freezing as I expected. Real snow is much harder than I expected, as I found out when I tried to make a snowman or when I threw some snowball missiles at Mum, Dad and William. Making snow angels was a lot safer for everyone.
We also thought we'd test how hard the snow was, and how tough our clothing was, by sliding down the snow on our bums. We found a great little slope where you could get a bit of speed up, without sliding way down the mountain and tearing a hole in both your pants and your bum.
The good news for the day was that the weather was beautiful, with clear blue skies, but the bad news was that the gondolas were closed, so we couldn't get up to the top of the mountain. But we did get to see snowing falling all around us and try to catch some on our tongues, which was pretty cool.
When it was time to relax at our resort, and ease the hurt of our snow-damaged bums, we had plenty of pools to choose from. There were three pools spread across the resort, so over our four days staying there I made sure we visited all of them.
One of the things Dad was most excited about was the all you can eat breakfast. I think he planned to eat enough for the whole day during breakfast and save money later. But he must have pushed the pigging out too far, because he was horribly sick lots of times one night. No surprise that he didn't come for breakfast the morning after that!
When the time came to pack up all our stuff again, I was really sad to be leaving. It was so much fun and I was going to miss our holiday house. Luckily I think it'll be pretty easy to convince Mum and Dad to take us away on another holiday soon!
