When I was a kid, I lived in Germany and my grandparents resided in Australia and New Zealand. Every two years, my family would get on a plane and fly to the other side of the world to drop in on them (= visit them) for a couple of weeks. The flights were exciting, but long and exhausting and we often transited in Hong Kong or Tokyo for a few days so it always felt like an adventure getting there.

My grandparents on my father’s side lived on the outskirts (= in the suburbs) of Melbourne and had a nice house and we used to play hide and seek in their big garden. One morning my older sister woke up and screamed because she found a huge spider just above her bed! We loved it when Grampy entertained us by taking out his false teeth and Grammy’s delicious curry was one of the highlights (= special moments) of every trip.

In Auckland, we would visit my mother’s parents who lived near the beach. The grass on their lawn was prickly (= spiky) so it hurt to walk on it with barefeet and we would often wonder down (= walk at a relaxing pace) to the ocean to look for crabs and other sea creatures. Nana had a great sense of humour and painted beautiful landscapes. Grandad enjoyed playing lawn bowls and we had fun watching and talking about cricket with him. 

Above is a photo of my mother’s parents, Nana and Grandad. As you can see, I was not good at posing for photos.

Have you ever been to Australia or New Zealand? If so, tell me about it in the comments section below. What did you do there? Did you have a good time?