Tuesday evening (Jan. 20) - Hokitika
Mariah and I befriended a German girl from our hostel, who agreed to join us to see the sunset and some glow worms. We stayed at Sunset Point until the sun dropped below the horizon, and then headed to the other side of town to the forest where the glow worms could be viewed.
We found the path that led into the pitch black forest, then viewed the twinkling glow worms. Well worth the walk!
Wednesday (Jan. 21) - Hokitika & Franz Josef
After breakfast we packed up our things and took to the streets to give hitchhiking another try. After maybe 15 minutes a young Australian couple picked us up. The great thing was, since they were also tourists, they wanted to stop for pictures of the scenery just as much as we did!
They took us all the way to Franz Josef, within an easy walking distance of our new home: the Rainforest Retreat.
Our first glimpse of the Retreat and it's amazing location
We checked in, learned where to meet for work the next morning, and were told where we could find our rooms. We walked through the grounds and into our room, and our jaws dropped. It was absolutely disgusting in there. If you know me, you also know that I'm not one of the tidiest people in the world... But this was horrendous even for my standards. Crumbs all over the floor, old beer bottles and used dishes all around the room....you get the idea. We found a vacuum and cleaned it up as soon as we got the chance, and suddenly it felt like a lovely place to stay. We met our British neighbors across the hall, Mike and Chris, and then went to the supermarket to get some groceries for the week.
This job was a pretty sweet deal; 4.5 hours of daily work in exchange for free housing, free dinners every night, and 2 free drinks every night. This would begin the next day, but for now we had to cook a dinner for ourselves. We made our way to the backpacker kitchen to make some rice and chicken. We found ourselves shocked for the second time that night.
The kitchen, though huge, was absolutely packed with backpackers. And these weren't the typical backpackers that we were used to; there were about 30 Swedish people, all younger than us (as far as we could tell), and they all knew each other. We later found out that the Rainforest Retreat regularly has busloads of backpackers who come there to stay during their bus trip across the country. In other words, they're not the rugged backpackers who we knew; they were backpackers who had activities organized for them, brought their cutest clothes, and apparently never learned that it's rude to leave their dirty dishes lying around.
When Mariah and I walked through the door, we were greeted with a blast of heat, the smell of cooking (or burning) food, and lots and lots of loud conversations. People were bustling about, speaking loudly in Swedish or German, and making all sorts of different foods. No one but us seemed perturbed by the situation. We were absolutely overwhelmed. We did our best to cook our food on one of the 10 different stove tops, stole some bowls and spoons, and got out of there as fast as possible.
"I just don't understand how people can be okay with that!" exclaimed Mariah.
"Thank God we don't have to do that again," I said.
We did our best to shake it off and headed back to our room. We concluded the evening with a game of cards with Mike and Chris, which turned into a game of headlamp cards because apparently the lights go out every evening. It was certainly the beginning of an interesting experience at the Rainforest Retreat.
Thursday (Jan. 21)
We woke up and headed straight for the laundry facility to be assigned our first jobs. I was placed with Mel, a friendly Australian who loved telling me all about the epic parties that the staff has. She was also a great teacher and I learned everything one needs to know when making a bed in a hotel room. But first she taught me a few important lessons:
"Lesson one: start by heating up the water," she said, offering me one of the complementary coffee packets.
"Lesson two," she said, opening the mini-fridge, "check the fridge for free stuff." She pulled out two bottles of milk and handed them to me. I suddenly knew that I wouldn't mind 10 days of housekeeping.
The day passed quickly and nicely until around 1:45, when I was assigned to another housekeeper to help him out. He had me vacuuming until 2:30; we're only supposed to work until 2pm. Luckily one of the bosses came up and told me to leave, and that I should only work until 1:30 the next day.
I returned to the room, where Mariah was sitting in her bed.
"I had to work late!" I exclaimed, ready to complain for a while.
"I have bad news," Mariah responded. She had a sour look on her face. "We have to work the evening shift."
Aww, man! We had been so excited about having the afternoon free to explore and do some hiking.
"It gets worse," she said slowly. "We have to monitor the bathrooms, clean our kitchen here, and.... we have to monitor the backpacker's kitchen."
The world spun around me, and I fell to my bed in shock and misery. Flashbacks of that hot, loud, overcrowded room popped into my head. It was our worst nightmare. I wouldn't wish such a task on my worst enemy!
Okay, it's possible we were being dramatic. We complained for the next three hours, and then did the evening shift. Despite some seriously disgusting dish-washing, it wasn't as horrific as we'd expected.
We rewarded ourselves by meeting up with Mike and Chris for some free beer and a show (aka the frozen t-shirt contest that the bar was hosting).
And thus ended our second night at the Rainforest Retreat.
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