Lying on the beach or by a pool on a lounger, book in one hand and a cool drink in the other. That's my dream holiday.
But then again, I also like some shopping, a bit of action and adventure, and not too much travel time spent crammed up on an aeroplane.
So it's not surprising that Australia's Gold Coast is one of the most popular destinations for Kiwi families.
The cooler months are a great time for Kiwis to visit, to escape the winter chill while avoiding the oppressive heat of the Queensland summer.
And if you plan to hit the theme parks, a winter visit has the added benefit of beating the crowds.
When we visited in mid-May, there were barely any queues - the most we had to wait for a ride was 10 minutes. Though we emerged from the scarier rides, white-knuckled and ready for a sit-down and a cup of tea, the tweens and teens took advantage of the lack of waiting time to return for an encore ride - or three or four.
And despite the locals complaining of an unseasonable "cold snap" - temperatures were apparently 5C to 6C lower than normal for the time of year - the high of 22C was still warm enough to run up towering staircases at Wet'n'Wild in dripping-wet togs, ready to fling ourselves down a bright orange water chute in search of a thrill.
With news of storms back home, it was easy to put up with a little chill when it was accompanied by the cloudless blue skies and sunshine the Gold Coast is famous for.
If you're planning on visiting the theme parks, the best way to do it is to buy a VIP pass, which offers unlimited entry to Sea World, Movie World and Wet'n'Wild for a set period.
Sea World Resort & Water Park
The brochures say staying at Sea World Resort is like living at Sea World, and I can see their point.
The resort is serviced by a monorail - the first to be built in Australia - which you can catch from right outside. But we soon realised that was quite superfluous, as just a short stroll from the resort took us inside the park.
Which makes it the perfect accommodation option for families with small children who benefit from a nap between cuddling cartoon characters and dizzying turns on merry-go-rides, or those who wish to tantalise their taste buds with something other than the standard theme-park fare for lunch.
You can go back and forth between the resort and the park as many times as you like, and have the added bonus of free use of the water park. Pools with playgrounds, fountains and a raft-style water slide are all part of the fun, which I imagine would be blissfully refreshing in the heat of a Gold Coast summer.
The resort is self-contained, which is just as well as you'll need a car to venture to the nearest shops or restaurants.
A buffet restaurant provides breakfast and lunch, while room service is also available. The resort also offers a lobby cafe and poolside snacks, as well as an award-winning Japanese restaurant, where we enjoyed a reasonably priced set-menu dinner.
The resort is a good choice if you are planning to spend more than a day at Sea World, or want to take in the other attractions owned by the same company - Movie World, Wet'n'Wild or the Australian Outback Spectacular - because of the door-to-door bus services.
Bus services to Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach are also available, as well as to outlet shopping mall Harbour Town.
Sea World
Leaping dolphins and crime-solving sea lions are the stars of the show, but there's plenty more to Sea World than marine mammals.
The spine-tingling Sea Viper roller coaster and Jet Rescue will keep the more adventurous family members happy, while the Viking's Revenge Flume Ride offers a slightly tamer adrenalin burst.
The kids will love Sesame Street Beach, where Big Bird and his friends feature heavily in themed shows and there are rides for the littlies.
Animal enclosures include the spectacular Penguin Encounter, in which you can see the tuxedo-suited birds swimming below the water, Polar Bear Shores, and Shark Bay, where you may not want to get too close.
It pays to plan your day around the show times to get the most of Sea World - the park holds two sessions a day of each show.
Our highlight was the Imagine Dolphin Show, in which the amazing bond between the dolphins and their trainers is showcased.
The Fish Detectives Sea Lions show is a bit of fun as it tells a little "whodunnit" story while showing off the clever sea lions, whose antics have the crowd in stitches.
Pirates of the Caribbean meets Cirque du Soleil in Pirates Unleashed, as "pirates" find themselves in conflict, doing acrobatic flips, riding jetskis, and orchestrating perfect dives into the water from the top of the ship's mast.
Everything at Sea World is slick, well-rehearsed and well performed. The logistics are also well handled, with 1000-strong crowds moved in and out of arenas with ease.
There's plenty to see and do, and if you've got a multi-pass, it's well worth coming back more than once to watch the animals being fed.
Movie World
If a trip to Los Angeles is out of your budget, Movie World has to be the next best thing. Wandering down a street which passes for old-school Hollywood, you'll come across Marilyn Monroe, a singing Austin Powers with a gaggle of 1960s babes, or Tweety Bird himself.
The atmosphere is there in spades, which makes Movie World plenty of fun even for the faint-hearted who intend to hold the bags while the kids ride the roller coasters.
But riding the thrilling Superman Escape or Batman Batwing Spaceshot - a stomach-dropping tower of terror-style ride - is thoroughly recommended if you want to get the adrenalin pumping, blow the cobwebs out and just feel like a kid again. We also had an unreasonable amount of fun by looking at the photos of ourselves after the rides - it turned out I had a signature wide-mouthed roller coaster-rising scream.
The Scooby Doo Spooky-Coaster is mildly less scary, as is the Wild West Falls Adventure Ride - expect to get wet, but you'll dry off within minutes in the Gold Coast sunshine.
An unexpected highlight was the Hollywood Stunt Driver show. Not a petrol head myself, I could have given this a show a miss, but I'm glad I didn't. The skill of stunt drivers as they navigated a small space at high speeds with three other vehicles was thrilling and unforgettable.
Wet'n'Wild Water World
Watching the mighty Warriors get dumped one by one on the Flow Rider surf ride, I quickly decided that particular attraction wasn't for me.
Luckily, there are another 34 attractions at the park to keep you busy.
The rugby league team was enjoying a day of R&R at Wet'n'Wild the day we were there, and it seems that the park is the perfect playground for anyone with a competitive nature.
Race each other on the giant slide Super 8 Aqua Racer, or see who has the guts to go down the Black Hole tube slide. But the beauty of Wet'n'Wild is that it's only as wild as you want it to be.
Rows of white loungers are lined up invitingly in front of a wave pool, where you could easily while away a few hours in the sun or even watch a movie on the big screen, before taking a gentle dip in one of the hotpools at Whirlpool Springs.
There are plenty of mid-level thrill rides - this is where I fit in - or you can take it to the extreme with rides such as the Aqua Loop. These gravity-defying transparent slides start with a fall through a trap door, plummeting you into a massive vertical freefall and up a transparent looping slide.
Australian Outback Spectacular
With Outback-style hats on our heads, toe-tapping music playing and plenty of wine flowing, the audience was well and truly in the mood for the Australian Outback Spectacular.
This is unlike any dinner show I've ever seen before, as horses, cattle and even camels do their tricks in a performance which tells the story of the Australian Outback.
The skill of the riders makes for a thrilling spectacle, and it's not just animal antics - impressive special effects include fire in the ring, and even a helicopter, all set to music and a good old-fashioned yarn.
The show alone is enough to warrant a visit to this attraction, but the dinner is also delicious and good value. A "traditional Aussie barbecue" meal was more like a roast, and we weren't too sure about the "Aussie" pavlova, but it was good hearty tucker.
Drinks are included, with "stockmen" regularly filling your glass with beer, red wine or lemonade.
Fun on the Gold Coast
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