After leaving Portabello on the Otago Peninsula I walked into Dunedin a distance of 17 km, all of it on winding roads with often little room between the sea wall and the road (a few weeks before two different vehicles had ended up skidding off the road into the sea), while in other places there is a shared pedestrian & cycle path. It was a pleasant walk looking over the estuary to Port Chalmers, made even more pleasant by once again not having to carry my large pack as I had left it behind at my lodgings and once I'd reached Dunedin I caught the bus back to Portabello.
The next day (Friday) Bill and Orma drove me back into Dunedin and I stayed at a back packers for the night. I had a restless sleep as not only was my knee throbbing but late night revelers outside kept me awake until the early hours. I was probably not the most popular dorm mate when I got up at 5.30am so that I could catch the bus south to the Youth Hostel at Owaka. As there is no public transport to Owaka I was fortunate that my daughter Naomi was able to arrange transportation with Bottom Bus which is part of the Kiwi Experience network. A big thanks to Ralph from Bottom Bus for providing free travel to Owaka. This is another example of the indirect sponsorship I have been fortunate to receive during my journey so far.I was picked up from in front of the Dunedin i-site at 7.30am by Mike the driver and after picking up other backpackers we headed south. If any of the other backpackers were surprised to see an elderly man traveling (I was probably 40 years older than most of them) with them they didn't show it but then most of them spent a lot of time sleeping and not taking too much interest in the scenery. I suspect some of them could have been the ones keeping me awake the night before. As this was a backpackers service we did not travel directly to Owaka but called at Kaka Point, Nugget Point and Surrat Bay, all places I had previously visited on my walk north, but nice to visit them again. Once again saw 3 sea lions at Surrat Bay. Arrived at Owaka at lunchtime and Mike dropped me off at the YHA.
Started my training looking after the hostel on the Monday. The building is an old hospital and offers dorms, budget and en-suite rooms as well as powered sites for camper vans/mobile homes and tent sites. Training consisted of learning the check in procedures, taking web and phone bookings, laundry, cleaning etc. There is also a coal fired boiler which needs to be turned on and off twice a day and cleaned out once a day. Training lasted 2 days with Craig and Jan leaving on the Wednesday. I was grateful that it was not high season as I was on my own. My day started with the alarm going off at 5am when I would turn the boiler on and then back to bed until 6.30am and open the office at 8am, as the guests departed sheets are washed and dried, beds made, kitchen showers & toilets cleaned, there was usually a break of 2 or 3 hours in the early afternoon before the next lot of guests started checking in but the bell could be rung at any time and usually when I had started to eat. I usually closed the office about 9pm.
My first challenge was when a Taiwanese couple locked their keys in their car. As we had a shearing gang staying I delegated that problem to a shearer and asked no questions about where he acquired the skills to open a car with a coat hanger. My biggest challenge was when the clothes drier packed up on my 2nd day and it was unable to be repaired until my 2nd to last day. In the meantime all sheets, pillow cases, towels etc had to be line dried and when I ran out of room I used the gazebo and even shut off the dining room to dry sheets draped over tables and chairs. It also meant that pillow cases had to ironed (usually they came out of the drier good enough to be placed straight back onto pillows) a task I found time consuming & tedious.
Because of the variety of accommodation there was also a variety of people of many different nationalities and I found that to be the most interesting part of the job. Although it is called a Youth Hostel the average of the guests is anything but youthful, although there were all ages.
I must confess that I also fell in love all over again. There are 3 resident pets at the hostel, two cats and a dog. While I am normally a cat person it was Jett a 2 year old female black terrier who captured my heart. She was my constant companion, following me around everywhere, sitting on a chair in the room as I made a bed, racing up and down the corridors & even crawling into my bed at night and getting not just between the sheets but crawling down to lay at my feet. In the afternoon I'd play with her for half an hour or so by hitting tennis balls with a racquet and she'd wear herself out racing after them.
After a week Craig returned home and gave me a couple of days off. He loaned me the car and on the first day I did a road trip which took in Balclutha, Lawrence, Gore, Balclutha, about 200km. On the second day I took Jett on a beach walk and after taking her home I went to Surrat Bay again. I had already visited twice before and seen 3 sea lions on each occasion. Whenever guests asked advice on where to visit I'd recommend Nugget Point and Surrat Bay. Several had returned from Surrat Bay to say they'd seen 10 or 12 sea lions. On this my third visit I saw ..... 3 sea lions! However it was good to get off the property and not be beholden to the bell. Craig then went away again for 4 days and he and Jan returned last Tuesday. It was great experience which I would be keen to repeat in the future. Jan & Craig have a hotel in Christchurch which was closed by the earthquakes but expected to reopen in about a years time after being rebuilt. Craig has suggested that they may need some help initially when it reopens so you never know.
On Wednesday Jan (accompanied by Jett) drove me to Dunedin Airport and I flew to Auckland. Charissa picked me up from the airport and I am spending 2 weeks back in Hamilton before recommencing my walk in early March.
