Tag: backpacker

The Carrot Capital

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I woke early Thursday morning excited to get ready, catch the shuttle and hit the slopes, much to my disappointment due to high winds and rain, the mountain was closed. I left the hostel and went to the ski rental shop I had rented my gear from, I explained the situation and they said that there is no charge for the rentals if the mountain isn’t accessible, so that was brilliant. I then decided to hire a bike and cycle the Old Coach Road, this is something I had planned to do whilst I was here. My original plan was to ski on Thursday and Friday and cycle the Old Coach Road on Saturday before my time here was up and I move on, on Sunday.

I rented my ski gear from TBC, its in the Centre of the town and was recommended by the hostel I’m staying at. I’m staying at LKNZ Lodge and it gives you a 10% discount on rentals if you show your hostel key. So that was a bonus. It was also pretty cheap already compared to other places I had looked at, $80 per day for the whole package: skis, boots, poles, jacket, trousers, helmet, goggles and gloves. And then it obviously gets cheaper to each day you add on to it. Its a lot more expensive on the mountain, costing $148 per day fro the whole package.

On the Thursday I also rented my bike from TBC, I paid $50 for a full suspension bike and then a further $15 for a shuttle transport from Ohakune to Horopito. The Old Coach Road starts at Horopito but you can start in Ohakune and cycle there and back. It took me around 2.5 hours to cycle, this included stopping to take photos and sightsee and having some lunch. It’s a pretty easy ride, lots of downhill and only a little uphill, that being if you start in Horopito anyway.

Starting point: Horopito

The story of the Old Coach Road began in the early 1900’s with the arrival of the railway in Ohakune. The North Island Main Trunk Line had made its way north from Wellington and south from Auckland until just 35km separated the two railheads. Until the tracks were completed a small bridleway through the dense Tongariro Forest became a vitally important connection between the two major cities on the North Island, hence the Old Coach Road.

Carrot Park is located at the entrance to the town and features carrots and a collection of vegetables brought to life with arms, legs and faces. They have a potato, a brussel sprout, a parsnip, a swede and a carrot. You can visit yourself to find out their names. There’s also a carrot themed playground, a small outdoor gym, a picnic/ BBQ area and a bush walk along a little stream. Towards the end of the park there is a BMX track to show of your skills.

The weather wasn’t to good on Friday and the mountain was closed again so I had a lie in and relaxed in the hostel for most of the morning, it gave me the chance to book the next place I plan to visit. I went out for something to eat and then took a walk along the river. A route which leads down towards the train station and lower part of town, it seems almost a ghost town down there, a few hostels and motels, a nice looking restaurant and then a few of empty shops and bars. There’s also a museum but it was closed when I got there.

Ohakune Station

Saturday, I awoke at around 5am and eagerly checked the mountain report, obviously I was up to early and there wasn’t an update yet, at around 6:30 it said that half the lifts were open and when I arrived at the mountain around 9:00 they put out on the speaker that all the lifts were open to which there was a huge cheer from everyone queuing for the first lift. I took the mountain shuttle from the far end of the carrot park, you can purchase a ticket from the parking meter before you board and they leave every hour. There’s also another stop further down the other end of town close to the train station.

It takes around 20-30 minutes to get to the Turoa Plaza from Ohakune. When I arrived at the mountain I bought my day pass and started to queue for the first lift. It was such nice weather and very sunny so I made sure I applied plenty of sunscreen, I was way to warm in my jacket so after the first 2 runs I took it off. I started to get warm in just my fleece so In the end I was skiing in my t-shirt, a little chilly whilst going up in the lift but not really that cold. Everyone else was still wrapped up in their jackets and warm clothing.

Turoa ski field

I haven’t skied in around 6 ½ years and I was curious to whether I would be a duck to water or Bambi to ice. Luckily for me I smashed it with only one fall due to going to fast down an icy run at the start of the day, it wasn’t until lunchtime that I realized I was bleeding due to a scrape on my arm from the ice. I bought myself lunch at the ‘Giant Café’ and treated myself to a gin and tonic. I skied for the rest of the day until my shuttle ride back down the mountain at 16:15, by that time the clouds had covered the mountain and I could barely see more then 2 feet in front of me so I wasn’t too fussed of having to leave. It was an amazing day and I was so glad that I got the chance to get up the mountain. It really rounded of my trip to Ohakune.

Where to eat in Ohakune?

The Chocolate Éclair Shop, the shuttle driver that took me to the start of the Old Coach Road told me to go to the dairy (local store) closest to the BP garage, he told me to go and get myself a chocolate éclair as in Ohakune everything is big. When I got my éclair I’m sad to say it wasn’t much bigger than the average éclair you would get, but it was the nicest I’ve ever had, if your in Ohakune then this is a must!

I’ve sort of treated myself since I stopped working and eaten out rather than cooking for myself, I always seem to struggle what to choose in a restaurant and always seem to go for a burger, I’ve had 3 since I got here! The best and obviously most expensive was at ‘The Blind Finch’ it was super good and they have a large range of choices named after different countries. I had the USA because I’m pretty boring when it comes to food, although I could really do with changing that up. The chips (fries) however weren’t that tasty and there were so many of them, possibly too many as I only ate half the bowl. The other places weren’t that bad in all honesty but in one ‘The Mountain Rocks’ I went to add salt and the top came off, pouring salt and rice all over my plate. I’ve always thought of playing this prank on someone but now I will never do that, I ate some pretty salty chips that day.

Mountain kebab shop, the kebab was ok but I found a hair in my kebab, luckily it was towards the end so I enjoyed my kebab before realizing I may have eaten a bunch of hairs.

After spending the day skiing I decided to go to ‘Cyprus Tree’ for my dinner, a rather posh looking place, I had a lamb rump with roasted vegetables and a caramelized onion and blue Stilton sauce. It wasn’t too expensive for the quality of the food. It cost me $45 for the meal and a drink.

I leave Ohakune late afternoon tomorrow and continue with the rest of my adventure!

“A pair of skis are the ultimate transportation to freedom”

Warren Miller

Packhouse in Palmy

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I arrived in Palmerston North or Palmy (as the locals seem to call it) around 4 weeks ago now, when I first arrived I dropped of my bag at my accommodation and then went straight to sign a contract and learn more about the job. The owner asked if I would like to start that day and with me having nothing to do, I agreed. Little did I know that I would then be working for the next 9 days.

My job is in a Pack House, My role is to cut and pack vegetables, now your probably thinking, well that’s easy? It is I guess, unfortunately they need them a certain way, a certain amount of leaves or a certain weight or size. After almost a month now, I’m pretty sure I’m getting the hang of what they want.

EARLY MORNING START WITH PUMPKINS

This job is the same everyday, so when I first start at 5-5:30am we do around 2 hours of cutting up pumpkins into halves and quarters, then we cut the butternut squash into halves for around 45-60 minutes, we then take our break for 10-15 minutes, after the break we cut the squash in halves and quarters and then go back to the pumpkin and make pumpkin pieces, moving on we start to cut up the green, savoy and red cabbage into halves and quarters (the red cabbage is possibly the toughest, one guy lasted 2 days at the Pack House before complaining that he thought his wrist was broken due to the red cabbage, he never came back) all that’s left after this is the cauliflower halves and florets, this is personally the worst vegetable to cut, they require you to cut off the bottom leaves and then half it. They constantly ask for more leaves even when it’s a particular bad cauliflower and has no leaves to start with. They manager doesn’t appreciate little jokes like “the farmer didn’t grow enough leaves”.

They have another section of the company where they pack Pea Straw and Lucerne into bags, its very tiring and tends to hurt your back due to the constant bending up and down. First we have to pull apart the bales of straw and then we have to mix up the two types, then we have to push them into 20l and 90l bags, it gets terribly tiring especially as all you seem to hear is “faster, faster” from the manager. I also came out with hundreds of cuts/ scratches on my wrists due to the straw and the sharp edges on the bags. I have not had to do this job for two weeks so I hope that stays the same.

WORKING WITH THE PEA STRAW!

They have recently started to create a new product which is vegetable noodles, an alternative to pasta, they are currently starting with small orders per day but due to the reaction from Countdown (a supermarket in New Zealand) this will be a good product. They have a few choices, they are making Butternut Squash, Zucchini, Beetroot, Kumara and Carrot noodles.

It is pretty tiring being on you feet for 10 or more hours a day. When I first started I was doing your basic 9-5 shift, however now I start around 5:30am and finish when the order is complete and this tends to be anywhere between 3-8pm. The breaks are pretty poor in my eyes. If I start at 5:30am I get around 10-15 minutes break at around 8am or 9am for a quick breakfast and then between 15-30 minutes at around lunchtime and that’s it, I have discussed this with some of the newer guys that have just started and they seem to agree that were missing a break and that its against the law. If I end up working till 8pm, all I can think about is going back to the hostel and going to sleep to recharge the batteries ready for another 5am start. I started working with one day off per week, I have since changed this, as working 6 days in a row can get a little tiring and when it comes to my day off I have little energy to do anything.

You have to have good balance for this job, your working all day around vegetables and once the early morning pumpkin seeds and excess pieces miss the bins and hits the floor, it becomes excessively slippy, even more so when you start to add in the cabbage leaves. I have slipped plenty of times, luckily I have maintain my balance and not hit the floor.

My second day on the job, not being used too holding a knife for so long I came out with around 4-5 blisters between my thumb and fore finger which became problematic when cutting for the rest of the week.

The manager, he’s one of those guys who seems to have a need to control everything, I’ve had a couple of head to heads with him due to his certain management style. Its definitely different to what I’m use to and when I brought up that there could be cultural differences due to him being from india, he ignored this and started swearing at me. He’s very impatient and rude when it comes to training, he shows you once and then only lets you know when you’ve done it wrong. He also belittles you by talking to you like a child and shouts for no reason whatsoever, I have wondered several times about going to the owners of the company but then think that I’m only a backpacker staying for three months so my concerns may just be invalid. I just tend to pass it off and know that I only have 2 months left and then I can continue my adventure.

Update: after dreading coming into work for the last week I finally decided to go to the owners after being fed up of treated like shit, the owners were very sympathetic with the issue and mentioned that its not the first time he has been spoken to about the way he talks to and treats people. Also confirmed some of my suspicions of a possible god complex.

Strangely I haven’t cut myself yet which seems a little strange for me especially handling a large knife all day. I did how ever accidently stab one of my colleagues on my first day, I was pushing some scraps off the table and into the bin whilst I had a knife in my hand, I mean it wasn’t a massive cut but he certainly felt it. I also recently “accidently forced my knife into my managers finger”. He definitely wasn’t amused. It was a genuine accident but due to the way I’m treated by him I’m quite happy it happened.

The owners of the business are extremely lovely. I’ve recently had a bad case of toothache in which I had an infection. I explained to the manager my current situation and asked for the earliest day off I could have so I could book in for a dentist appointment, this was on Saturday and the guy offered me to have the Thursday off. On Sunday I explained that it had got a lot worse and I would need a day off sooner, I even compromised and said I could come into work at my usual time and just leave earlier. He said this was a possibility. Later that day the owners were in and obviously noticed I was suffering a little. I explained the situation to the owners, the owner then said to me that he would ring his dentist on Monday morning and see if there was an appointment available for me. On Monday at around 11am he came to me and asked if I was ready, he had found me an appointment, he then took me to the appointment, waited for me and then took me to the pharmacist to collect my prescription of antibiotics and then returned me to work. He then said to me that if there was anything I needed or if I just needed to talk to someone that I could call him. Genuine guy and definitely worth working there just to meet him.

“Jobs fill your pockets, Adventures fill your soul”

Hostel 101

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It definitely feels that I’ve been here more than a week, I feel like living in Auckland isn’t much different to my norm, now don’t get me wrong, I’m on the other side of the world but it’s a large city and apart from the few daytrips out to different islands on the ferry its no more different to a city in the UK. I guess the only thing that really makes the city stand out from any other is the notorious Sky tower.

I guess when I came here I was expecting something else, perhaps something totally different but I think there is a lot of British influence here in Auckland so perhaps thats why its not the place for me. I read loads before I came and there were definitely mixed opinions on Auckland but I didn’t want to come in with a negative attitude, I came in positive and now I have my own opinion. I do hope that during my travels I get the chance to visit a real Maori village and experience their culture.

I’m in Auckland for another week yet but I’m looking forward to the arrival of my IRD number, I will then begin to move further south, out into smaller towns and away from the cities, somewhere less busy but still full of interesting people and places to visit.

So far into my stay here in Auckland I have ventured out to Waiheke Island and zip lined over vineyards and forests, I have visited the area of Devonport and viewed the defences from WW2 on North Head, I’ve walked along Cheltenham Beach and around Takapuna Head. I have walked to the top of Mt Eden, I have visited the War Memorial Museum, Walked along Mission Bay, visited the Harbour Bridge, spent a good amount of time whizzing around on the electric scooters and photographed the city skyline from several different angles. Along with all of this I have also managed to set up my NZ bank account, sent off for my IRD number and Kiwi Access card. I am now awaiting these items to further my adventure into New Zealand.

Apart from the non-stop squeaky beds and people entering the dorm and banging about at ungodly hours, Hostel life is pretty good, well when I say pretty good I mean its okay, well when I say its okay I mean its cheap and that’s always a positive which you cant complain about, not that I’m complaining about anything. Below are some of my experiences so far…

So on one of the first evenings I had here, it was early evening, I was still overcoming the jet lag and it was only around 6-8pm, I had already got ready to go to bed. I was in bed, eyes slowly drifting to sleep when all of a sudden the fire alarm begins blaring, I roll over and ignore it until others in the dorm begin to leave and I hear hundreds of footsteps clambering down the stairs. I consider to myself whether this is a real alarm or a fake one, I decided to leave the building as I assumed no sane person would want to evacuate over 100 people for a simple test. It was real, someone on floor 6 set it off, the fire Department was extremely efficient and here within minutes, they checked inside but within around 10 minutes everyone was allowed back inside. It was an experience though.

Cleanliness is pretty key anywhere you go, not in this hostel kitchen it seems, I mean when I first cooked in the hostel I made a chicken curry, I spilt some curry on the hob so obviously I cleaned it up, when i wiped it i must have cleaned up days worth of muck. People just don’t seem to do this. Most of the hobs are encrusted with fat and food, the sides are greasy and unclean, Plates and pans are left in the sinks, nothing that is washed is put back in its original place so it’s a real hunt to find the utensils that you need.

Lads, what the f**k, lift the seat before you take a slash, its not hard, every time I have gone to the toilet I’ve had to clean it before using it, its so grim, who knows what the girls think? Absolutely no need for it. I think I need to invest in some toilet covers!

Several times this has happened which makes me believe that this is just a regular occurrence in a hostel which when you think of it, it does seem pretty correct. Anyway, these people have like the least respect for anyone or anything, bashing and banging around the dorm room, coming in to the dorm and turning the lights on like its 6pm rather than the 3am it actually is. Not the nicest experience when you’re trying to sleep, but just another night in a hostel.

So it was about 8am in the morning, around the time I’ve been getting up and having a shower. Today I finished my shower and switched it off. Whilst I dried myself and got dressed I heard an uncontrolled fapping and panting sound coming from the next cubicle, obviously some guy was tugging him self off. I mean good for him, but quieten down with it, you don’t need to let the whole hostel know mate.

Privacy, there is absolutely no privacy unless your taking a hefty dump. But this is what I’m paying for, I’m paying roughly £9 a night so I can’t moan too much, I knew what I was getting myself into. Security, everyone needs it, I have a locker under my bed to store my valuables but I have everything in it because “I don’t trust no bitch”. But its true, who can you really trust these days. It’s an 8-person dorm and people go in and out throughout the day. The WIFI is free, although if you want to use it and get a good connection anytime between 11am and 6pm is best.

This being said, with all these experiences Iv’e had so far there are so many positive points I’ve left out about living in a hostel. The main one really is whom you meet, whether it be passing in the hallway, whilst cooking in the kitchen or just people you share a dorm with. It’s such I diverse place and such a feeling of togetherness here, living with strangers in a multicultural environment, literally amazing experience and I would definitely recommend it.

Whilst editing this post before making it public I received an email with my IRD number on it, the excitement really brewed up inside, so I now need to make my decision on where to go next. I can finally get a job! Watch this space!

“If its endurable then endure it. Stop complaining.”

Marcus Aurelius