Taupo v/s Us

The sun, mischievously peeked through the car window as I woke up to rays of sunlight glimmering in my eyes.

The leather seats cushioned my throbbing head, consequential to spending an eternity in my dad’s car.

As I slowly turned to observe our location, my eyes met with what I could only describe as a glimpse of an unimaginable dream.

It was a luscious meadow, framed by a verdant forest with a sun-dappled floor.

Behind it, through boulders and rocks, flowed a quiet stream.

In the centre of this tiny paradise, stood a cabin, not the boring type that barely even had enough space to fit luggage.

I meant the luxury ones, that had full on ‘Polished’ front decks, crystal chandeliers, and WHOLE second storys.

The door slammed behind me, as I bolted out of the car, my heart raced as I was the first one to claim the almighty... Deck!

I had finally won, sadly, worldly pleasures were momentary, I heard my friend’s cars pull in, I stood on the deck, ready to boast.

But when I heard the echo of their 'vivacious' squealing, I knew there was no other way to survive but to… RUN!

I hadn’t made it very far when, Out of nowhere Arnav and Ezabel emerged… They 'hugged' me so tightly, I couldn’t even breathe.

"This is what you get when your best-friends of 7 years, can basically read your mind” I thought to myself.

After all the sappy reunion stuff, Our families settled in, the dads really seemed to like the place.

We had been consumed by boredom, so we decided to go out on a 'little adventure', without the parents…

'Trying' to be sneaky, we jumped out an open window near the front entrance..... Even though the door was WIDE open.

We travelled across the small meadow into the streams of sunlight peeking from above the trees.

Minutes later we arrived at the waters edge, we dashed into the stream, but the calf-high depth hid slick stones that had us sliding all over the place.

After a few minutes of fooling around, the stream seemed so mesmerising to Arnav, that he decided to face-plant into it.

Causing him to get soaked and look like a deflated water balloon with legs.

Which Ezabel and I considered an absolute comedy.

Later that day, we went on a scenic boat tour to the Māori Rock Carvings, during which Arnav consumed chunks of what he guessed were 'sugar cubes' that formed on the side of the boat.

Ehh, whatever. That matched my math i guess. I figured his IQ was about equal to the number of brain cells a goldfish donates to charity.

That night, while the parents played poker, teasing each other with every hand, meanwhile we were upstairs binging random movies and shows on youtube like the poor people we were.

For example, Dhar Mann. Cringey videos like "Dad Won't Let Teen Wear Crop Tops" or "Nerd Goes On Date With Hot Girl"

Basically these cringey video's:

We were hogging the TV and not letting ANYONE get close. *Cough, cough* "more like I was" *Cough*

We dragged an unused mattress from a spare room and placed it in front of the couch.

After 2 hours of being trapped in an almost infinte loop of doom scrolling we decided to play UNO and make bets.

I won every round, but in comparison, Arnav ended up losing them all.

Even after he promised a win, but at least he gave us a masterclass in how to lose every single time.

So, being the 'lucky loser' and all, he was forced to eat this 'weird' tasting, burnt brisket the dads 'attempted' to make.

That was lathered in MUSHROOM, (he HATED Mushroom)

I would know that it tasted -lets just say... Odd. Because he stuffed a spoonful in my mouth while i was laughing...

As revenge for the unfortunate -well could you even call it 'food'?

He dared us to swipe beer from the downstairs fridge, and we reluctantly agreed...

I almost internally collapsed, but somehow, we managed to safely arrive upstairs with the beer.

Unbelievably, Arnav finished four ENTIRE bottles, meanwhile me and Ezabel, were already feeling motion sick after sharing a single one.

We ended up falling asleep there, me on the leather couch, Ezabel on the mattress, and Arnav on the bare, wooden floor.

Ultimately when Arnav attempted to venture downstairs at midnight, he managed to front flip and land on his stomach.

We couldn’t stop laughing for the life of us the next morning, because, he had a HUGE lump, on his forehead.

Therefore, when he attempted to notify the parents, they just told him to man up, unaware of the incredible feat we executed just the night before.

We 'swore on our lives' to keep it a secret until we graduated or… at least until we moved out.

How long could we trust each other with our doomed souls, especially after Ezabel’s boundless desire to spill tales, with her running faucet of a mouth.

Unfortunately, after breakfast, like a carefully calculated explosion, we had deranged levels of remorse.

Our stomachs felt like they had accidentally clicked a self destruct button.

Nevertheless, we all strived to power through.

Somehow, by the will of God himself, we all survived that psychotic holiday, and stayed in one piece, without a single hospital visit! Yay!

In conclusion, my friends were (and are) VERY idiotic, (More like mentally unstable) but that’s why, they’re my best friends.

~And for some REALLY STUPID REASON, I wouldn't ever trade them for anyone else ❤️

-Ann Nazareth