What I did on my holidays...by Grace Jack, 9

When my mum told me we were going skiing I was very excited. I hadn't seen snow since last year, when my mum and dad made me do the Tongariro Crossing. A short walk, they said. It took longer than a whole day at school.

When I saw the chateau it was like a big, huge house. It was foggy when we got there, but it was very posh inside. My room was nice, my bed had wheels on it and we could see the mountain out of the window. It was covered in snow.

Dad dropped us off at the top of the mountain so we could see it before we went skiing. There was a lot of snow. I threw a snowball at dad. It was fun.

We had dinner at the cafe across the road and then had dessert in the Chateau. The next day I had two bowls of Coco Pops for breakfast, because I'm not allowed them at home.

We got some trousers from a shop behind the Chateau. Then we drove up the mountain. We got some boots and skis at the top. My mum thought I would be scared, but I wasn't. The boots were really hard to walk in and kind of hurt my feet. But they felt better once I had my skis on. They are not as hard to stand up on as I thought. I thought I might slip over, but I didn't.

Then Erica came and helped me ski. She was nice. She taught me to walk up the hill sideways. She taught me to ski with one ski on, that was hard. Then we did the other foot. I fell over once or twice but it didn't hurt. She skied backwards and I followed her. I thought she might fall because she was going backwards, but she didn't. Then she told me to make an icecream cone with my skis and she put her hands out and stopped me from going too fast. The icecream cone made me slow down. If you made a medium icecream cone you can go slow but not too slow.

After my lesson I went skiing with my parents. My dad is a better skier than my mum and he goes a bit faster.

When we were in the snow we skied down the hill and I made an icecream cone to stop at the bottom and me and dad rode up the chairlift.

That night we went to another hotel. Mum said it was just past the giant carrot. Truly, there was a giant carrot. Weird. It was a nice place, like a house. I had my own room and a DVD player.

The next morning we went to Turoa. I had another lesson, this time with Michelle. She was nice, too. I wanted to go up on the Movenpick ski lift and ski down, like my dad. I went up on it, but it was too steep and I decided not to.

It was very pretty when it started to snow. After a few more goes down the Alpine Meadow, I made a snowman.

I almost forgot - there was a thing called a Magic Carpet on the Meadow. You stand on it and ride it to the top. It looked really weird from a distance, watching people glide up the hill.

I really liked skiing and want to do it again. I think you should get a lesson because if your parents tried to teach you they would probably yell at you.