Life On Pause

16th May - 7th June 2014

I overheard a conversation in the hostel between the new owner and a woofer asking him to stay and work for a bit longer as a night manager. He didn't sound too keen and as I'd heard that there was zero jobs in Queenstown at that moment, paid or otherwise, I thought I'd stick my ore in. I told them I had worked in similar roles before and they seemed quite happy so I ended up staying in Dunedin a few weeks rather than just a few days.

Manor House Backpackers

Whilst this was great, as I would be saving a lot of money on accommodation and any potential nights out and activities in Queenstown, it did mean I was incredibly bored. There isn't a lot of stuff in Dunedin and as my foot was still causing me to limp everywhere, I couldn't go on any long walks. This meant I mostly did nothing for the 3 weeks I was in Dunedin.

View from 'my' office

The hostel itself is a very unique one. It was essentially an old house that had been converted which meant it felt more like a communal house than a hostel. It even had a super old till that you had to wind to open. This made me laugh when it pinged open the first time!

Stone age till

My hours where 5-9 everyday plus I had to keep the phone on me all night in case of emergencies like if someone is locked out. In exchange for this I got my own private room with a double bed! I mostly watched TV and played Lego Harry Potter whilst I was "working" as there was very little to do. The boss was quite happy for me to do this. She told me my main responsibility was to 'be available'. I'd have to check one or two people in everyday, take the bins out once a week and the rest was just handing out internet cards. Very easy.

The Octagon

Other than that it was just a case of trying to fill my days. I explored the city on my first day before I even started working at the hostel. Dunedin is gaelic for Edinburgh and there are a lot of ties to the city's scottish routes. When graduating from Dunedin University, for example, the guys must wear a kilt as I found out when the centre of the city was cut off for the graduation parade.

Whats all this?

Band playing some scottish music

Probably the most iconic building in Dunedin is the railway station which is quite impressive inside and out.

The railway station

That would take some effort

I went to Otago Museum which was described to me as second only to Te Papa in Wellington. It was a good museum with lots to see but to compare it to Te Papa is miscalculated as its nowhere near that good. Auckland museum would probably be the one that's second to Te Papa. I had a look around the ship section and the natural history bit. I was surprised by the size of birds that used to roam around the South Island relatively recently, easily over 8ft.

A boat for the borrowers

Whale

Huge birds!

I met up with Emily for a few hours whilst she was in town. We drove around the peninsular for a bit and went for a KFC. It was nice to catch up and hear the goings on in Franz Josef - not much had changed!

On my last night before I started work I got chatting to some people in the hostel and we attempted a night out. That failed when we found there was no one in town and all the bars shut early. I thought this was a student city?! We ended up drinking a few beers in a campervan that a couple of them were staying in.

Picture of a selfie

I went to the Settlers Museum which tells the history of the city of Dunedin. It was interesting but I didn't spend very long here. My favourite bit was the box that contained a smart phone, a USB and an Ipad! Apparently these things are in museums now!

Old campervan

Makes you feel old!

There was a day of real excitement when I woke to find a couple of centimetres of snow on the ground. I hadn't seen snow in 2 and half years so this was very exciting indeed! I walked to the shop and back but that was it. It was already really wet and slushy so it wasn't too fun but it looked nice! Queenstown had had about a foot!

Snow!

Snow snow snow!

Dramatic sky

I did my medical at the doctors in town so that I can apply for my second year visa. My first year will expire about half way through the ski season so I needn't to extend. It cost me nearly $500 and the visa will cost another $165 so it was pretty expensive. I'll only get another 8 weeks use out of it but at least I'll earn back what I spent.

My foot was slowly getting better. Well it was getting a lot of rest! I decided to test it and went for a walk around the botanic gardens. There had been some decent weather for a while and it was another fine day. That seemed to go well so I walked to the beach a couple of days later. It may have been sunny but it was far from warm so there was no chance of going for a swim.

tree

St Kilda Beach

In my last week in Dunedin I went for a much longer and harder walk up to Signal Hill lookout. This was quite a climb along BMX tracks through a forest but it was worth it. The view from the top was really good. It nearly killed me getting there and back as I had basically been sat on my arse for weeks. There was a rock at the top that had come from the very hill that Edinburgh Castle is built on which I thought was cool

The forest

Dunedin from up top

Rock from underneath Edinburgh Castle

War memorial at the top

That was my time in Dunedin. I said I didn't do that much! All of the above could have been done in three days but I managed to spread it out a bit. It served its purpose though. I didn't spend any money and I left closer to the start of my next job. I still have a few weeks but it was time to see what there is left to see on the South Island then head north.