Making memories for Molly

By David Culpan, May 2010

I remember fondly the holidays our family used to have when I was a child. The trip to wherever we were going, spent fighting in the back of the car for what seemed like an eternity. Eating the ‘charcoal’ sausages we cooked over an open fire, swimming in the lake or river until we were forced to come inside to go to bed.

I am sure we all have memories of holidays like this. Unfortunately many children today seem to miss out on these experiences.

It was with this in mind I decided to take my eldest daughter, Molly, away for a week before she started school this year.
Just her and her Dad for a week of uninterrupted, old-fashioned fun in a motorhome.

We spent five days together exploring the country side; wandering through the Karangahake Gorge; swimming in rivers and lakes each day; cooking outside; going through the glow worm caves and trying to convince Molly that Rotorua really did not smell that bad!

We had an absolutely fantastic time. The highlight of my trip was undoubtedly spending such quality time with just Molly. This was closely followed by seeing the sense of achievement on a little girl's face when we had successfully negotiated a long dark tunnel in the Karangahake Gorge with a particularly inadequate torch.

Without question I achieved my goal of giving Molly some of the experiences I had as a kid. What’s more, there was not one mention of TVs, DVDs or computers - we must have had fun!

I'd like to think this is a trip I will be repeating with Molly - as well as with her younger sister - so that they too will have cherished memories like I have of when I was young adventurer.