Before going to the right hostel we walked around town. Another cowboy town with the overhangs and sideways parking. We went to two bakeries to sample the pies. One quiche was great - voted among the best in New Zealand and the sausage roll was right up there too.
Once we got to the other hostel we entered a different galaxy. This used to be an old hotel and true to the cowboy look of the town there was a shootout back in the 1800's. The owner, Craig, and his mother run it and have a whole crew of people who clean and keep it up. There's a nice common room with a pool table, tv and books. The kitchen is clean and the whole place is warm. This may be the only building in New Zealand with some kind of central heating. Our room has towels - unheard of so far - and two pillows. Who are the inhabitants of this planet? We could learn many things from them.
We went for a few walks in the National Park on the Coromandel Peninsula. The trails take you through beatiful tropics in a valley between two steep mountain ranges. The diversity is just amazing.
We got to talking with the hostel owner and found out the place is on the market. He has a lot of problems with kids - I'll let Toots fill you in on that. One of his workers is a young woman from the UK. She's been travelling since high school - she's twenty three now and will head home soon to make some more money and hopefully move to New Zealand. A lot of young people come here for the work visa - you can stay a year and work wherever you want or can. Most seem to find jobs at hostels where you work for three hours and get free room and board, a lot like Wwoofing on farms. They stay as long as needed or until they want to see somewhere else, go online and find another hostel that needs help.
toots here with more tidbits....
okay... craig also does huge bus tours through europe and russia.. the expensive ones... but he did tell us that if we email him before we get to russia he would connect us with tatiana who give tube tours in moscow.. he says they are great...
craig told us stories of all the kids that try to get into the hostel for free, even though most use their parents' charge cards... for them to stay in a dorm room it is under 25 bucks and they still try to get in free or get free internet, free whatever... most aggravating is that one will pay and the van waits outside and after 10ish that person will try and let his gang of van people in ... craig is on the lookout though and because he calls them on this they whine and say they will give him a bad review in backpacker world... perhaps this is why he is trying to sell... too bad because it is a nice one... not all places have this problem because it's not a real destination place where people stay... one night and off to next place... some of these vanigans sleep on his stoop... they are demanding and abit spoiled... craig refers to his place as faulty towers... but that was funny... this isnt't..hey, and alot of the kids are american... one group came and said they were with green peace and deserved free everything.. ha.... good luck bubba
they have a box of free stuff here... food too if needed.. but we didn't need any... we had our pasta to make 100 different ways... going for the sardine sauce next.. rah.. your recipe... but i did find an extra fleece... much better than mine.. ha.... and there were nice hiking shoes too.. but i have shoes and so does my husband the shoemaker... hahahaha..... later... craig off to russia and we are off to taupo... sounds finnish eh... but taupo is really "area 51".... stay tuned....
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