lifestyle

What did you do on your holidays?

Kate's kids on holidays

 

 

 

 

 

Our family drove from Adelaide to Brisbane, with only one spew (8 year old beside the Great Ocean Road) and one screaming row (between self and husband) outside a bakery. Apologies the good people of Berry, NSW.

This was the first big driving holiday our family has done, our first Christmas away from home and (aside from the barf and the barney) it was fab. And yes, we did it without the aid of on-board DVD or iDevices. The kids did have Nintendo DSs but the rule was no headphones and they could only be used after 3 hours driving. Motherhood, thy name is compromise.

These were the highlights:

Houseboat on the Murray River. If there’s a better family holiday, I’d like to know what it is. It was like camping but with air-conditioning and a flushing loo. It was about swimming, gum trees, yabbies, board games and sunsets.

Visiting family: I’m serious. I reckon the old-fashioned drop-in-on-cousins-you-haven’t-seen-in-years-and-sleep-on-their-rumpus-room-couch is a blast. It was for us anyway. I’m hoping our visitees feel similarly.

Motels: I love a country motel. I love an ugly bedspread and enjoy my toast being served in a white paper packet. The strip of paper diagonally across the toilet lid makes me feel nothing less than confident.

Audio books. It was either stories or test cricket on the radio. Hmmmm. Highly recommended for kids between 6 and 10 are the books by David Walliams (you might know him from Little Britain). The Boy In The Dress, Gangsta Granny and Billionaire Boy. Intelligent, touching, hilarious. Each book will take you 800km and wishing you had further to go. Okay, not quite, but they are seriously good.

Conversations. Normal life means Jim and I are like relay team members, except not athletic. We exchange bits of information like batons and keep running. A long drive gave us a chance to talk properly. We made some big decisions. Gulp. Perhaps we were inhaling fumes.

What did you get up to over your holidays?