Surf's Up At Waipu

William's first family holiday

Originally published 12 March 2017

It had been a while since we went away somewhere for a few days; all the way back 18 months ago when we went to Australia, in fact. So it was high time that Mummy and Daddy took me away on an adventure of chaos and glorious misbehaving. In other words - a family holiday.

And just to ensure that we all set our chaos meters at maximum, it would be the first such holiday for baby William. How would he take to sleeping in a different cot? Sitting through long car journeys? Not having all his things around him? Only time and Daddy's rising blood pressure would tell.

The destination this time was somewhere called Waipu. I was immediately suspicious that this was a silly made-up place. Why poo? Sounded like a trick was being played. But turns out it is a real place with a big long beach, and Mummy had booked us a holiday house there. So we packed up our togs, sunscreen and summer clothes, got in the car and headed north.

Naturally the first afternoon we got there it rained quite heavily. Excellent - no umbrella or wet weather gear packed at all. Could be a long holiday... Luckily as soon as the clouds went away, the sun came out for the whole rest of the time. Perfect weather for swmming and playing on the beach.

Waipu's a pretty small place, so there's not heaps to do there, but there was a cool waterfall. We had to drive for what seemed like ages down this rocky road, then walk through a forest track, but the waterfall at the end was cool. Absolutely freezing in fact - the water collected in the pool made my feet feel numb when I splashed into it. There were a few other people exploring at the same time as us, though not all of them were dressed quite like we were; one lady's clothes must have shrunk in the cold...

When we weren't out and about, there was a goldmine of toys and books at the holiday house. Tucked into a cupboard were a couple of big boxes packed with toys. Two minutes after discovering them, the boxes were promptly unpacked and spread across the floor. Now it's starting to feel a bit like home. There was a passionfruit vine in the garden, so we raided that and enjoyed some yummy fruit too.

We had a fun dinner out one night too, at a place called Pizza Barn. It serves pizza and is decorated a bit like a big barn, with huge stuffed animals and fish mounted on the walls - what's not to like? I found the stuffed animal heads fascinating, just imagining them out in the fields a long time ago.

So that was our holiday in Waipu. And we were having so much fun I almost forgot to misbehave. William slept, well, like a baby in his new cot, and didn't mind the car journeys at all. We had a great time and managed to still be friends at the end of it. Pretty good for a family holiday - many weekends aren't that successful!