We had been asked to work at Kings café/bar/hotel/lodge. Our jobs mainly consisting of cleaning, varnishing, gardening, making beds, all in preparation for opening night the Friday 19th June. Boy, was there a lot to do. It was difficult to imagine how on earth everything was going to be done on time. The building is set on a hill, with a fantastic view of the Mountain (when it’s clear enough to see it). There are 50 rooms in total, some in the main building and the rest in the out buildings that look like they might have been stables once upon a time. Kings was originally used when they were building the North Island Trunk Railway (NITR), which is the railway line that connects Auckland and Wellington over the Central Volcanic Plateau. Because of New Zealand’s terrain being so extreme and varied it is the only train line running the length of the North Island. The NITR is used mainly for tourists and transporting freight. New Zealanders very rarely get the train anywhere, instead relying mainly on their car. When the building of the train line was first ‘completed’ there was a gap in the line due to an extremely steep grade from the Whanganui River valley onto the Volcanic Plateau. So most of the passengers stopped off in Ohakune and got a stagecoach beyond the gap and continued on the train where the track restarted. Eventually the “engineering miracle” known as the Raurimu Spiral was completed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raurimu_Spiral
So we spent a few days mowing lawns, sweeping leaves, weeding, clearing away dog poo (eeeww), varnishing tables, moving beds/sofas/chairs, cleaning toilets, making beds, and anything else that needed doing. We were all very grateful when we made it to opening night as it meant all the crap jobs had been completed, and we could relax with jobs in the bar and café from now on!
However, on our first day at Kings, as we walked into reception, we met Tracy (one of the owners) and before we were able to ask what needed doing, she asked us what we had planned for the next day. Nothing, we replied, but obviously we were hoping that more work would be available. Well, how did we fancy going on a day trip to ‘Gravity Canyon’? Errm, yeah, ok……..what’s Gravity Canyon…..?
Cripes. Gravity Canyon is the local extreme sports adventure playground. Gravity Canyon offers a free day out to local businesses in the hope that they will encourage their respective customers to pay a visit during the season. So we took two of the three spaces given to Kings, the third space was taken by Sara our new Irish friend. We got on the bus in the morning chatted for the hour-long journey; all slightly nervous about what lay ahead of us. Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable, but to be honest, this didn’t really come into our minds once we saw what ‘adventures’ lay ahead of us. The first activity was the ‘Flying Fox’, which is basically a glamorised zip line. You can fit up to 3 people on the zip line and you are attached horizontally in a flying position to get the full Superman effect. The start of the line was about 200 metres above the bottom of the canyon and stretched for a kilometre along/through it, and the ‘passengers’ experience speeds of 160km/h. We were third up for this, and had already seen 2 groups ahead of us. It is all incredibly safe (!), as there are harnesses galore strapping you into position. It wasn’t actually very scary and was very exhilarating as the smooth ride really made you feel like flying. As we came to a rest after a few back-and-fourths at the other end, we looked down upon the small stream, (which in fact was the Rangitikei river but it looked like a stream from where we were!) at the bottom of the canyon where we would later be hurtling ourselves towards.
The second activity of the day was the Bridge Swing. This is an activity that you can choose to do on your own or in a couple. Meg and me did it together. It involves getting strapped in together to hang from a rope and then we are dangled off the bridge about 100 metres above the canyon. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, just hanging there with nothing supporting you, and the only thing holding us up was a small pin that was in the possession of the operators on the bridge. The operators were obviously very experienced at giving their customers the best possible ‘experience’ and pretend to talk to you while you’re hanging there, and then just pull the pin out as you’re mid-conversation.
And you just DROP.
It really feels like someone has just pulled the floor from underneath your feet, and the free-fall sensation is something that we won’t forget for a long time, and I wont forget Meg’s screams for even longer. After free falling for about 60 metres, the tension on the rope kicks in and you start to swing underneath a further rope where it is all attached to, and you swing back and forth for another 30 seconds or so before coming to a gentle stop, and finally winched back up to the bridge. It was really scary, and most people seemed to think that this was definitely the scariest (and therefore best?) experience of the day. However, I was definitely more nervous about the last activity.
The Bungee jump. This was obviously saved till last as it requires everyone to build themselves up to it. There was no pressure put on anyone to do it, but some people in our group clearly weren’t fazed and volunteered straight away. We happily watched them throw themselves off as we all avoided making the decision as to whether we would do it. After about an hour of watching people jump, I decided that I just had to go ahead and do. I mean, all these other people could do it, they were all fine, and they all said it was amazing, so why couldn’t I do it too? The other reason, which is always a factor, was the fact that the whole day was FREE. We hadn’t paid a cent and were getting about $300 worth of activities. If we ever wanted to do any of these again, it would certainly be a dent in our wallets.
So I gulped a few gulps and went to get harnessed up. To my surprise, Meg was one step ahead of me, and had decided to get her harness on as she could ‘always decide not to do once I’m on the bridge if I want’. Quite right too. A couple of people ahead of us didn’t manage to summon up the strength in their legs to hurl themselves off, so there would be no shame in not completing the jump if we found we couldn’t do it.
[Note from Meg: Actually (Phil) I had been accosted by the woman in the harness place as I nipped inside to get warm- I’d already taken one harness off as I’d changed my mind, so she was gunning for me from then on I had NO choice but to jump. She would have got me otherwise! She was a scary lady, scarier than the bungee jump.]
We decided that I would go first, ahead of Meg, just to test the water (though not literally). The girl immediately ahead of me had spent far too long deliberating at the edge of the bridge and decided that she couldn’t do it – she’d looked down too much and thought too much about it. The key to success seems to be to just walk up, look straight ahead and jump, not giving the worst consequences much thought.
So I ambled [more like shook] out of my seat, and towards my destiny. From the edge of the bridge there is a small plank that sticks about 3 feet out. Walking the plank felt very frightening. Especially as I had a large bungee cord attached to my legs and I could feel the weight of it pulling me over –it is very disconcerting and unnatural. One of the operators holds a handle on a strap on your back until he knows that you have decided to go, and they are all very encouraging and patient. Once I had reached the edge I knew that I couldn’t take my time as I’d end up not doing it, so when my toes touched the edge of the wood, I just jumped.
It still sends a shiver through me when I recollect that feeling of seeing absolutely nothing below me except a pitiful stream and lots of rocks, and then that amazing falling feeling. According to the onlookers watching above, as I jumped my feet started to move around as if I was trying to run backwards. I’m not surprised. I have never been so scared – there was a real sense of, ‘what the hell was I thinking?!I wasn’t ready!’ But it didn’t last long. The 80metre free-fall was over in a flash, and the resulting sense of exhilaration was immense. You really feel glad to be alive! Once the bouncing has stopped, you get lowered to a boat on the water below and then winched back up the bridge in a clever water-powered seat contraption thing. As I arrived back on the bridge, I was still buzzing and saw Meg preparing for her jump. I assured her that she would love it, but that it didn’t matter if she didn’t want to go ahead with it. As I made my way off the bridge ( I wasn’t allowed to stay on while Meg jumped), I made my way to the viewing platform. Everyone there was shouting words of encouragement and we could all see the nerves visible in the face and body of Meg. But she knew that she was going to do it (she’d done a skydive, she’d been telling everyone all day, so why couldn’t she do a bungee jump too?!), and after making sure that the operators were still there holding her, she decided to go. There is a video
on youtube (it was too big to upload here), the link is here where you can watch her jump. I think she did fantastically well, and think she enjoyed it. Whether or not she would do another one, I don’t know. I would do it again. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
What was quite interesting is that some operators who offer bungee jumps offer different levels of ‘fear’ to their customers, who can ask for a certain amount of scariness (albeit still safe) to be added to their jump. I don’t know the full details of how they do this, but one account we heard involved the operator to shout ‘Oh no! You’re not strapped in properly!’ to the jumpee just as their feet have left the platform. I won’t be asking for that ‘level’ of scariness.
Since that day, we have had tonnes of work at Kings, and we are now getting into a proper routine with work. It does feel slightly (no, very) weird to be working again after having all our time to ourselves for a couple of months. And our shifts don’t clash too much, so we are having less time together. However, we think we have managed our shifts in such a way that was get Sundays and Tuesday off completely and also Thursday daytimes (up until 4.45pm) so we do get that time to spend together. Meg has so far tended to get shifts in the café doing breakfasts. This involves taking orders, payments, delivering meals, etc. She works with the café manager, Bridget, and a Dutch girl, Linda. Also on reception, this involves greeting and welcoming guests, taking bookings, organising the cleaners. -[Yep you heard it here first, me organising other people!] She has done a days photography for them as well and we hope there'll be more of that on its way.
I have been doing afternoon-evening shifts at the bar. This involves opening up at 3pm, doing stock-takes, looking after the bar area etc. And on a Friday/Saturday night will go on til about 1 or 2 in the morning. At the moment I am doing 4 shifts like that a week, and also one other shift at Mountain Rocks at the other end of town.
I am also becoming the local Quiz-master! I have been asked by Mountain Rocks to do their weekly Thursday night quiz – they buy the quiz in from a supplier and it is in a powerpoint format, but they need someone to operate the computer and read the questions out. I have so far done 2 weeks of this, and the last week, we had 14 teams and I have never shouted so much in my life! But it is quite enjoyable, and I like reading out questions and answers and marking everyone’s sheets.
And I have also been asked to do the Monday night quiz at Kings! However, they also need me to produce the quiz myself, so I have been spending quite a bit of time on google/wikipedia, putting questions together. However, I am going to have to keep this up for about 12-14 weeks, so if anyone has some good ideas/facts/trivia that I could borrow/steal, then please let me know!
Meg has been given full use of a hair dryer and is much happier!
We have also been skiing
2 weeks ago we had a day off together and the weather was good, so we made our way up the mountain. Simon (Lodge owner) has arranged for one of the local hire companies to provide us with the gear, so we just need to pick that up each morning that we go up and return it in the afternoon.
When we got to the ski-field (about 30mins drive), we had to queue up with everyone else to get our passes. It has since been agreed that Simon will purchase ONE of our season passes (he initially said he’d buy both, then had second thoughts. So we have compromised on one), and we are going to have to purchase the other one, but it will be half-price, so it still works out a bargain, seeing as we get all the equipment provided.
So after getting our passes, we arranged for a one hour private lesson. I have never been skiing before, so definitely needed some guidance, and Meg also wanted some refresher tips as she hadn’t skied for a few years and the ski equipment has changed from when she was last skiing.
The whole experience was great. I found it very nerve-wracking how easy it is to slide everywhere – as soon as my ski’s were on, I found myself slipping down the hill! Of course, the snow-plough (or wedge, as the call it in NZ) was the first thing that I learnt and used that to control my speed down the hill. The hardest thing was getting back up the hill – using the button lifts took me about 3 or 4 goes to get back up without falling over. The boots that you wear are so massive and rigid that you can’t really do anything with your lower legs/ankles, so falling over is very ungraceful. Anyway, after an hour’s lesson, we had another half an hour to quickly practice what we’d learnt (Phil: stopping slowly and having control over the ski’s, and Meg: learning the difference between the new modern Calving skis and the old straight ones that she used to use – turning was the main difference).
On the next day, we also managed to get up to the ski-field, and had about 4 hours to practice. We were on the beginner’s slopes again, and Meg was very patient with me, despite her probable desires to go further up the chairlifts.
I managed to perfect getting down the hill without falling over, and have pretty much got the hang of basic turns. At the end of our 4 hours, Meg thought I was doing pretty well, so suggested we just go up to the first chairlift and see how I go coming back down. The actual chairlift ride is scary in itself – just the kind of thing I don’t like – a rickety seat hanging loosely from a cable high above some icy rocks.
At the top of the chairlift we skied off and surveyed the slope that we were supposed to go down.
Well, it was a lot steeper than the beginner’s slope! I could not stop myself from sliding down, and ended up falling over twice in order to stop myself going over the edge (to a rocky demise the other side). Getting up from a horizontal position is incredibly difficult, a) because you have 2 long skis stuck to your feet, which as soon they are flat on the snow want to slide further downhill, and b) because of the boots, which mean you can’t use your ankles to get up at all, the strength is all on the thighs.
So while I lay on the ground, I ended up causing a few scares to other skiiers coming quickly down the hill towards me, who mostly did a good job of avoiding me. However, one of them did manage to ski straight into the back of Meg who was helping and keeping watch over me as I struggled to my feet. This time it was Meg on the ground, so after helping her up, I swallowed my pride and made my way back to the chairlifts to come back down without causing any further accidents. Meg skied down, and quite enjoyed it, but did say that the slope was quite narrow at times, and it probably was best that I hadn’t come down after all. I think a few more days are needed on the beginner’s slopes for me!
Since then, we have had quite a few guests staying at the lodge, which has meant having to be around to check people in, and also to clean rooms in the morning of any check-outs. The busiest time was Mardi Gras weekend, which is really just a big piss-up for a load of rich kids from Auckland and Wellington. They all descend on Friday night, and fill up the bars and lodges/motels for a couple of nights. It is supposed to celebrate the start of the ski season, and fortunately on the Saturday daytime the weather was good the skifields were open, meaning most people went up for a days’ skiing/snowboarding. If it had of been closed due to bad weather, then the town would have been full of people drinking all day, and that would inevitably lead to trouble etc.
In our lodge we had all the rooms full, but each night the occupants were trying to sneak extra people into the rooms. Luckily Simon was here for the weekend, so we kept a close eye on all the registration plates and people coming and going, and on Sunday morning, we knew that some rooms had far more people in them than they had paid for. So Simon managed to get some extra payment from them, despite a few protestations.
Usually the work in the lodge/motel just involves checking people in, taking payment, cleaning the rooms and making sure people have everything they need etc. We have also got some work for a local newspaper delivering them! Every Tuesday we go to the local travel agents Nigel and his wife (who’s name I can’t remember, she likes Simon and Garfunkel) and pick up The Central District Times. We have a day and a half to deliver it to approximately 150 houses. I liked delivering the paper more when we both do it, but recently either Phil or I have been at work so we’ve had to do it separately. Today it was me and I didn’t really like how heavy the bag was! Other than that I enjoyed been given a reason to walk around and be nosy. I have noticed the Ohakune residents are very garden proud and I think there might be a bit of competition to see who can make the best post box. Their post boxes are at the gate so you don’t have to deal with angry dogs or walk out of you way to deliver the paper. I know which design of post box is my favourite but I won’t bore you with the details. I will just take photographs for next time and maybe you can tell me which you prefer. A bit of interaction on the blog.
So we have a few jobs! It pains us to work out how much we are earning per hour in pounds… so we don’t think about it and just look at our account through the eyes of a Kiwi and forget the exchange rate!
It’s really easy to forget where we are when we’re working and then you look around and remember how different everything is. For a start it’s freezing cold and it’s July. When you walk outside the first thing you smell is the wood from the wood fires. Nearly all of the houses are wooden and one story. Today when I was doing the paper round I noticed a cute little white and blue building. I stopped and asked a local man (Bill) mowing the school lawn what it was. He said it was a catholic church, but not many people go to it any more. Apparently Ohakune used to be very catholic. We had a chat about people coming here for the skiing and he said the locals don’t really like it. He said they think the mountain ( Ruapehu the volcano that everyone skis on) is spiritual and it makes him sad to see the lights on a night up the mountain. The lights he was referring to are that of the snow groomers, making the snow and trails for the following days skiing.
“The Legend of Tongariro
In Maori legend, the mountains were once gods and warriors of great strength.
Seven mountains once stood next to each other around Lake Taupo. All were male except for the beautiful Pihanga.
One night the mountains fought fiercely for her attention. There were violent eruptions, smoke and fire as the land trembled under the violent battle.
In the morning Pihanga stood next to the victor, Tongariro, who became the supreme leader of the land. Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu stood a respectable distance behind but Tauhara – unable to completely leave his love - sat smoldering at the northern end of the lake. Putauaki (Mt Edgecumbe) headed north towards the dawn, and ended up 160 kilometres away, while Mt Taranaki dragged himself south, his tears creating the great Whanganui River as he went.
The active volcanoes around Lake Taupo - Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Ngauruhoe - are treasures so precious, that local Tuwharetoa Maori gifted them to the nation over a century ago. The Tongariro National Park was the first national park in the world created by gift from an indigenous people.
Mt Ruapehu was the last of the trio to erupt, as recently as 1996, throwing rocks, mud and ash high into the air and temporarily closing its ski fields.”
He went on to say that the locals didn’t really agree that there were more jobs in winter and when I asked what jobs there are here in summer, he didn’t have an answer, ie. There aren’t any. I mean we saw how quiet it was before the skiing season kicked in so goodness knows what it’s like in the middle of summer. Although, saying that, the lodge we’re looking after is very busy in summer with the canoe trips so there must be some work. Maybe it’s all for out-of-towners.?
Even though it is frustrating Phil and I having to work opposite shifts, I am enjoying getting to know somewhere so well. Lots of the people we’re working with are from New Zealand and most of the people visiting here are also Kiwi’s. It’s funny spotting the Aucklanders, you can tell them a mile off… they are so much fussier than Wellingtonions!! Isn’t a coffee a coffee?- Oh no, no, no!!
I have learnt how to make:
Flat whites
Long Black’s
Cappuccinos
Moccachino’s etc. etc. Hadn’t heard of half of them before. I will now always be nice to people working in cafés/bars and restaurants!! It’s hard work!
I have been feeling rather home sick and missing everyone incredibly, I suppose that’s the down side of staying put for a while. I was especially home sick last weekend when it was the Wedding of one of my bestest friends Bek Bradbury to her lovey Fiancé Matthew Prigmore! They are now Mr and Mrs Prigmore.
So on Saturday the 11th July, I went to meet Phil at work and his boss let him off early so we waited until Bek and Matthew were getting married 12 noon in the UK and 11pm here and then we had bubbly… and drinks and danced with some friends Phil had made whilst working the night before, which was quite good because they wanted to celebrate Bek and Matthew’s wedding with us.
So lets hear it for Bek and Matthew. Hooooray for Bek and Matthew!!!!
I have pinched these pictures of Bek and Matthews unknowing friends :-D
Us Celebrating Bek and Matthew's Wedding.
