Leaving for Auckland

The plan was to travel up to Auckland and stay there for a few days, whilst I met some people to travel up north to the Bay of Islands with. Having a car meant that my options for hostels in Auckland were pretty limited because I needed parking. So I checked out a suburb, Mount Eden, and found a great hostel called Bamber House which had rooms available and a car park. Perfect!

I arrived in Auckland at about 7pm, checked in with the lovely Claire on reception, and made my way to my room. It was an awesome hostel - I was in a dorm of 4, but they were all single beds - no bunks. And it was so clean! I went off for a drive and a wander around the area, and went up Mount Eden. Just like Mount Maunganui, I am not sure why they call it a mountain... it's pretty tiny!! But the views from the top are amazing. You can really see the lush green-ness of the city of Auckland. There is so much green space and so many trees! And it's on the water too. Yep, it's a beautiful city!! Me likey a lot!

That night, I sat out on the back porch and played 'who am I?' with some fellow travellers (you have some paper stuck to your forehead with the name of a person on it, and you have to guess the name on the paper by asking questions which require yes / no answers). One of them told me that they cleaned at the hostel, and got their week's accommodation in exchange. I thought 'I can do that!' - maybe not here, but I figured that it sounded like a great way to travel around!

Playing 'who am I?' at Bamber House

The next morning when I went to pay for my room, the hostel manager, Dawn, told me that 'a little birdie' had mentioned to her that I might like to clean for them. She asked if I'd be interested in running their sister hostel instead! Aparently they needed a new weekend manager, and Claire had already ear-marked me as perfect for the job! I felt flattered, but wasn't willing to commit to 3 months in Auckland, so turned the job down.

But then I had time to think about it...
How often does an opportunity like this literally fall into your lap?
How useful would experience like this be for my future travelling plans?
How much fun would I have meeting so many cool new people?!
I have to work at some point, so why not now?

I slept on it, with all of these questions buzzing around in my head. I knew that I would have to work, but I never thought I'd be working within a month of arriving in New Zealand. But by the time I woke up the next morning, my mind had been made up. I was down at reception even before it opened to tell Dawn my decision that I wanted to know more about the job - I was scared that they'd offer it to someone else if I didn't get in there!

Dawn was genuinely thrilled. We arranged to go over to Oaklands Lodge in the evening after she finished work to meet the other Manager(s) and look around. That evening I went and met the current mamagers, Tessa and Martine, and they were lovely. The hostel looked great too, with a really nice, relaxed vibe. I got my own double room, free internet, free laundry and weekly bonuses. I told Dawn I'd sleep on it and let her know in the morning, but I already knew my decision. When I awoke, my decision hadn't changed, so I told Dawn and she shreeked and hugged me - lovely :) I was to be the new Oaklands Lodge Weekend Manager... and  still didn't even know how it had happened! They hadn't seen my CV, they hadn't interviewed me... all they were going on was a gut instinct. I felt very special - especially when I realised how many people they'd interviewed for the role! :)

I packed up my stuff and moved over to Oaklands Lodge that afternoon - Wednesday 10th November 2010. I was home.