Weekend in Taupo
With Granny and Bilby leaving on Friday, we decided that actually we should get out the lovely big (well, huge) Tent that Dad bought for us for Christmas and go for a couple of nights camping in Taupo. The first being with Granny and Bilby too!
So Friday afternoon I got off work early (thanks, work!), came home and loaded up the final bits and pieces into the car. Mum and Bill had already gone ahead with the tent. We got to just past the airport when we realised we'd forgotten the pumps for the kids blow up mattresses, so we turned around, grabbed those and were off again. We arrived in Taupo about 5pm to the campground, to find that the tent was already up. We were a bit aghast at how long they said it took to put up, but then again we realised out estimate was without pegging everything, or putting on the fly.
Granny and Bilby cooked us up some dinner on the BBQ while we got everything sorted out, the new airbed blown up (it's got an electric fan, you just plug it into the wall and it blows itself up) and the kids airbeds sorted out. Good thing we went back for the pumps! Once everyone was fed we went over to the hot pool and had a nice swim for an hour or so. Everyone had a good time, Beth's really confident now with her floaty thing on (and even very good with it off, happily diving under)
After the swim it was time for everyone to go to bed and sleep, which of course Beth and Theo didn't finally do until about 10:30 or so! They were just so excited to be sleeping next to each other, in a tent, in their airbeds. Finally everyone got to sleep until about 5:30 or so when heaps of noises etc started up outside. It was the Ironman event in Taupo and a bunch of the people at the campsite must have been in it because they all headed off about that time. That's the great thing of camping in a tent of course, there's zero noise shelter, so you hear everything! And there was some sort of high pitched whine. The kids woke up about 6:30 so we all got out of bed. Granny went and make the kiddies breakfast and then cooked us a lovely couple of bacon sandwiches.
Once breakfast was over we all went for another swim in the hot pools, then had to say goodbye to Granny and Bilby who were heading off on their way to the Coromandel. We got out ourselves, got changed and went for a visit to the Prawn Park! We spent a couple of hours trying to catch a Prawn (nothing! You used to catch at least a couple) and exploring the park, having a bite to eat and amazingly, running into Tim Flemings Parents who amazingly remembered me! That was pretty neat. Then we headed back to camp, Theo had a big sleep (he was knackered) while Sarah took Beth for another swim. We had some dinner, went for one more big swim and then went to bed. The kids were a bit better at going to bed, but sadly Beth woke up about 10pm and wet her bed, which really upset her because she loves her blowup mattress thing. We had to take the cover off though (it was soaked) and she was really upset by this! After 30 minutes of calming her down we eventually got her back off to sleep with the big doona wrapped around her instead.
The next morning we had some breakfast, Sarah took Beth and Theo over for a morning swim while I packed up the campsite into the car. Amazingly we got it all to fit, we were a bit worried because Granny and Bilby had brought the tent in their hire car, but we managed to fit everything. When I checked out I was politely, but firmly told checkout time is a hard 10am and that means everyone out of the pool and off the campsite! Oh. So I had to go back and tell everyone get out time to go time, which of course Beth and Theo weren't super excited about.
But off we drove back home, Theo sleeping for most of it because man was he knackered. Beth was really good for the drive home too, at least until the end where she was starting to flag. Once we got home we put Beth to bed to sleep (She kept asking to go!) while Theo, who'd already had a big sleep, played by himself while I unpacked all the things, got the tent out again and dried it in the sun etc.
Then we headed over to Holly and Adrian's for dinner, it was Maggie's last night in NZ so we said goodbye to her too. I hope everything goes OK for her when she's back in the UK.
Overall a pretty good weekend! The kids loved it and have said a few times since that they want to go again. The place we camped at was great. We learnt a few things for camping next time (take a power plug, take dishwashing liquid) but had a really fun time!
Thanks Granny and Bilby for all the help you gave us, cooking and washing things etc while we juggled the kids.
Tim