I can’t wait.

We are off tomorrow, on our long delayed summer holiday. It’s turned into a early autumn holiday, but as we are heading to a remote settlement in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, where apparently people grow macadamias and bananas, the turning of the season should be less of an issue.

A real family holiday – here’s the inventory:

• two small kids
• two parents
• two grandparents
• one great-grandparent
• no dogs (still waiting for my 10 acre block)
• everything but the proverbial kitchen sink

And all this in the two cars we’re taking between us.

I don’t think there’s any mobile coverage, and I doubt there’ll be a phone line I can plug a modem into. But apparently there is a café.

The girls can’t wait either: although Bella has a lingering unease about the seaside (she worries about crabs) she’s pretty interested in the thought that there’ll be a real live volcano across the water. And sandy beaches are a good thing by any child.

Are we there yet?