Wanaka... My Amazing New Home

I arrived in Wanaka on Sunday 24/04/2011, to start my new job on Monday the 25th. The backpackers was small but nice, and Steve, the owner seemed like he'd be a pretty good boss. My room-mate, the weekend manager (Barbara from Ontario, Canada), seemed really lovely too.

I settled in and started work the next day. It was the most 'cushty' job I'd ever had. Literally just sitting on reception between 5pm and 9pm, watching TV / reading a book, and occasionally dealing with a check-in / request from a guest. This was sweeeet! 5 days per week. But the catch (which would prove to be very annoying) was that I had to stay on the premises all night long to act as 'fire marshall'. Should the smoke alarm go off (which it frequently does), I had to be there to turn ot off. So my social life revolved around the people in the hostel. But that was ok - I made some great friends, and we frequently had fun nights in the hostel.

Wanaka has proved to be amazing. It's very small, completely encircled by mountains, and situated next to a huge lake. It doesn't have any of the commercial fast food chains that can make a place feel generic... no McDonalds. No Starbucks. No Burger King. It's refreshing. The town has about 4,000 people residing in it, which aparently goes up to 15,000 people once the winter hits. It's going to be an epic season. I reeeeally can't wait!!!!

Wanaka : )

Wanaka has some amazing walks. I have to be truthful and state that I'm yet to experience most of them, but I'm here for the long-term, so why exhaust them all now? I'll be here in the summer too, so I think I'll do them then. Yup, that's right... I plan to spend at least 6 months here, in sleepy Wanaka, Queenstown's little sister. Talking of Quenstown, I went over there a couple of weeks ago to have a bit of fun... see the video below =D

Back to Wanaka... The plan was to potentially stay at the hostel for the season. But then I found out that the hostel was being rented out to a Korean ski team for the season. I would still be able to work, but it wouldn't have the variety that attracts me to working in a hostel. I like meeting new people every day. I like chatting to them and helping them find new places. I have no doubt that the Koreans would be lovely - but it just wasn't the 'ski season' experience that I craved. I figured out that I want to live in a house. With friends. And have friends over whenever I want. And go out in the evenings. And chill out on the sofa with friends after a hard day on the slopes. And have my own bedroom. This was the Wanaka experience that I wanted. So I was going to set out to achieve it.

I set about revising my CV. I managed to get it down to 1 page, highlighting my hospitality experience. I went to university for 5 years, graduating with a First Class honours degree and a good Masters degree. But none of this matters here. Management skills don't get you work... it's all about how well you can pull a pint or clean a bathroom. But I do have good customer service skills. And I did used to work in a bar... about 10 years ago... ;p

So I set about hunting for a job, along with hundreds of other people who had arrived for the season. The constant replies of 'we're not accepting CVs at the moment - come back in a month' was getting tiresome. Once the season starts, there'll be jobs... but at the moment, they just weren't hiring. Whenever I'd meet someone, the first thing we'd discuss was how the job hunt was going. It was getting rather uninspiring.

I'd met an awesome guy called James at the hostel, and his friend, Liam, was in Wanaka too. I then met a lovely girl called Hayley, introduced her to James and Liam, and they decided to get a house together. They tried to talk me into living with them too, but without a job, I'd be stupid to give up my free accommodation.

L-R: Hayley, Liam and James (at Fergburger, Queenstown)

  

The 4 of us (and Benny)... at the cinema! 

They looked for a house together, and then the most amazing thing happened... I got a job. It's at a cafe that was to be opening in a few weeks time. Persistence paid off!! I was over the moon. So now I needed to find a house, as I couldn't work at both the cafe and the hostel. So I joined the other 3, to make up an awesome mix for a house - 2 girls and 2 boys, all in our mid to late 20s. So we had the housemates... now we just needed the house. This was to prove to be difficult, as Wanaka has an abundence of 3 bedroom houses, but very few 4 bedroom ones. And they weren't willing to just do a 6 month lease.

We looked at lots and lots of houses. Got excited about some, and disgusted by others. But when we'd apply to live in them, the response was always that we needed to sign up for a longer lease. Grrrrrrr! Then we looked at one, and it was perfect. Everything about it was perfect. It didn't feel that cold inside. I should explain a Kiwi phenominon here... they don't have central heating in their homes. Central heating, radiators and insulation are completely foreign concepts to New Zealanders. Instead, every home has a woodburner which heats the entire home - you just leave all of the doors open. Or you have a heatpump in the main living room. One or the other. Winter is aparently very cold in a Kiwi home!! So when this house had double glazing and felt warm, it was an instant winner. And it was beautiful inside. Unfurnished, so we'd have to supply our own furniture, but beautiful. The kitchen and living room was huge. And it had a huge balcony off the lounge with the most beautiful view of the mountains I'd seen. It was perfect. And affordable. But someone else had just put in an application for it, and they all had jobs. What hope did we have? But we put an application in all the same, and hoped for the best. Visualising living there every day.

The day before yesterday, Hayley got a phone call... we'd got the house! Aparently the other group were all boys, and the owner preferred the fact that we were 2 guys and 2 girls. We were so so so so so happy. Completely over the moon. So we signed the agreement yesterday, handed in our bond and rent money today, and are moving into the house tomorrow. Life is sweet.
So tomorrow's a busy day - we're moving into the new house, AND it's the first proper day at my new job!! I've actually been offered 2 more jobs yesterday and today at different places, but my cafe is so amazing, I wouldn't want to work anywhere else. It's exactly the type of place I'd hoped to work. And it's finally opening tomorrow! I did a bit of barista (coffee making) training yesterday, a bit of last minute cleaning and decorating today, and tomorrow is the real thing! 7.30am start! It' all happening for me, and I'm in a really happy place. Good friends, an awesome job with great coworkers, an amazing house... I love Wanaka, and can't believe I'm lucky enough to actually be able to call it my home. Just one thing's missing: bring on the snow!!!