Wow... 6 weeks has gone past since my last blog post! But I can happily report that they've been a pretty epic 6 weeks!! I love love love my life here in Wanaka. And the people are pretty damn special too :) This post is mostly about these special people who are helping me to enjoy my time in Wanaka so much - get ready for lots of character descriptions!
I moved into my house with Liam, James and Hayley and from day dot, we had loads of friends coming to stay. It was like a really big family, and at one point, there were 11 people sleeping in the house! One of these friends, Clare, stayed with us in the house from the first day, and we decided that she wasn't allowed to leave us, so she's become our 5th housemate, sleeping in a room that's probably smaller than my walk-in wardrobe. But she's more than happy with it, and it's just added to the happiness within our home. The dynamics within our home are so amazing:
There's James, 25, the creative genious who's always happy and smiling, always with a funny anecdote... the most laid back guy I've ever met... even more laid back than my brother Adam! :) He's a real go-getter, and if he says he'll do something, you can be sure that he'll do it! Being around him just lifts your energy, and makes you feel content. Yes, he's a bit ditsy, but that's part of what makes him great. He works at a local bar as pot-washer/ kitchenhand, which was the job he'd really hoped for when he came here to Wanaka! Strange dream, but I'm really happy that he got the job he wanted!
Then there's Liam, 28. He's the music man. He lives and breathes music - whether it be making it on his guitar (at which he's seriously amazing!), or researching and playing it on our stereo. He's a really great guy too, and seems to be quite a hit with the ladies of Wanaka! He's the only non-English in the house... he's Scottish. He's helping out with some research into snow-blowing technologies up the mountain at the moment, as well as doing some removals work for a local company.
Hayley's just the best. She's 24, and so creative, always finding new and exciting things to make. Between her and James, we've made our unfurnished home into the most amazingly furnished place ever! From cardboard table and lamp stands, to lamps made of melted old vinyl and driftwood, to rocking chairs made out of old electricity wire-drums and pallets! It's so much fun to come home and see what they've created from this day or the next. Hayley's very petite, and you just want to pick her up and carry her around in your pocket (although she'd hate me saying that...). She's got a true heart of gold, and will always make me smile... often without meaning to! Hayley works in the town's 'locals' bar, as well as the town's only club, and managed to blag us the biggest TV I've ever seen in return for 2 jugs of beer, from a local guy who drinks in her pub. We only use it to watch DVDs though, and keep it covered up with a throw at all other times - it seriously dominates the room. It'll be fantastic for the Rugby World Cup though!
Clare is the youngest in the house, at 22 (23 next week!). She's a happy, scatty and fun hippy, who makes the BEST curry! Like the rest of us, she's always laughing and smiling, and helps to bring the creativity level up in the house. And she's not scared of anything, grasping at every opportunity she can. She's one of the least materialistic people I know, and I enjoy making fun of her for her bizarre dress sense! She's heading up a kid's holiday programme which starts in a few weeks, and is housekeeping at the moment.
I know it's really really corny... but we decided a few weeks ago that we're kind of like the sitcom 'Friends'. We're all 20-somethings, living in each others' pockets, and loving living together. James is definitely the Chandler of the group, always cracking a joke, and Liam's definitely the slightly cynical yet lovable Ross. We have 2 friends fighting for the title of Joey: Lars is the good looking, dark-skinned and floppy-haired friend who comes over loads, and Shay is our next door neighbour who is always around. We love both of them, and they both eat our food ;) If you make an amalgamation of the two, you've got Joey. We couldn't really compare us girls to the ones in the sitcom, as none of us fit their general personalities. So we went more on physical looks and jobs: we decided that, as she's so creative and a bit ditsy, Hayley would be Pheobe. Clare's a great cook with black hair, and so is Monica (although I seem to have developed Monica traits regarding house-pride, apparently). As I'm a waitress and a bit ditsy, I was deemed Rachel. It was a funny realisation to think that these really are some of the happiest days of my life, and they're only just beginning. I really wish my travelling buddies from days gone by could meet my new friends here in Wanaka - now THAT would be a good bunch of people!! :D
Living with these people and their creativity has been inspiring. It makes me feel very uncreative, but it is helping me to develop this area in which I'm severely lacking!! I recently found out that some of my new friends here in Wanaka hold a ukulele group every fortnight, where they meet up, play the uke and sing their hearts out!! I went the other week, and it was SO MUCH FUN!! I was revelling in it for days afterwards! It's held at different people's houses each time, and the host makes soup for everyone (about 10 people), and we all drink wine. I LOVE it! Next one's tomorrow... yay!! Then there's the knitting get-togethers, run by another group of friends, at which I learnt to knit last week. I'm now addicted (but still rubbish!). For Clare's birthday next week, we're having a house party. It'll be our 3rd one in 6 weeks - we've got the best party house!! It's going to be a fancy dress theme of 'circus / circus freaks and fairground'. I'm going as a lion, so have started knitting myself some bright yellow wrist & leg warmers. I really should have picked something a bit less challenging for my first knitting project... it's taking FOREVER!!!! Ah well... I'll just have to see how well I go, and improvise if I don't get finished in time.
I'm also working full time at The Creek Cafe and Bar. I truly do love it. I work there full time (about 35 hours per week), and work with the most amazing crew. It's a big cafe with a roaring fire in the middle of it, and a deck outside with a creek running beside it. It's got brightly coloured walls and a mis-match of tables & chairs, with great retro posters on the walls - it's all a kind of retro-chique design. But it works really well. And the food is amazing too. One of the perks of the job is taking old food that won't be sold the next day home to my housemates. Walking in with lots of goodies for them makes for a very happy greeting, I can tell you!!
So the Creek is not only a great cafe (open from 7.30am throughout the day), but it's also a bar, which means that I get to work nights as well!! It's fab having the variation of cafe and bar - completely different atmosheres and customer dempgraphics, but in the same place. Most of the people who come in at the moment are locals, which really says something about the place. And as the season picks up and tourists come in, it's just going to get busier and busier. I should say... the day I started was the first day of its re-opening from a fire which gutted the place 5 months earlier. Customers say that the fire ripped out the old stale-feel that the building had (it had previously been a restaurant), and it now feels more airy, with better energy. Every cloud has a silver lining!
And onto the snow. The main reason for coming to Wanaka... although probably not as important to me now that I've got such a great life here. The mountains were due to open on 23rd June. But the snow never came. The town wated and waited, and there was a general feeling of disappointment around town. Now it's a differet story. Looking out of my window the day before yesterday, the mountains which had previously been browy-orange, were now pure white. And it's still snowing now, 2 days later. The snow's settling, the mountains are opening, and the vibe in Wanaka's changing. It's strange seeing people walking around in their ski gear!! I've not yet had a chance to go up... it's a 40 minute drive up some pretty tretcherous hills to get to the ski field, so I'm going to wait until the roads are a bit safer. I've got all season to go boarding, after all! For now, I'm just enjoying (yes... you heard that right - ENJOYING!!) going to work and spending time with my friends. 5 years at university, and Ive realised that the thing I enjoy most is meeting new people, working in the hospitality field. And I think I'm pretty good at it... or at least getting better at it! As I said before, I work with an amazing group of people. Everyone's really friendly, and we have a great laugh together. My job and co-workers have helped me to meet LOADS of other people in Wanaka too. I know lots of the people who work in the local bars, which does mean that my life involves rather a lot of drinking at the moment.
Aleishia is my manager at work, and is a beautiful Welsh Maori. She's been fundimental in helping me establish myself within the hospo industry in Wanaka, introducing me to her friends and helping me to improve my work. She's part of what makes me enjoy going to work so much. Stacy, the owner makes all the local ladies swoon. He's a great boss, and is always willing to muck-in with the same crappy jobs as everyone else. In the kitchen there's John, Spanky and Selina. There's always roaring laughter coming out of there! We've just taken on 2 new front-of-house girls, Sarah and Pip, who are both great too, and there's also Sue the baker, a very 'proper' english lady who comes in twice per week. And that's it: the Creek family! :)
In othr news, I went over to Queenstown last weekend to get my Liquor Licence Controller Qualification, which means I can now be a Temporary Duty Manager (and a full-blown Duty Manager in 4 1/2 months), so can be on the premises on my own now. Which will help me to work nights so that I can board during the day. Perfect.
One of the people that I met through work is my good friend Caro (though I don't actually work with her), who is also one of the most amazing people in the world. She always makes me smile and laugh, and has a theory about people born in 1983 (as she is too), that we just seem to land on our feet in everything we do. I like to think it's more about positive thinking and manifestation, but would be happy for her theory to be correct too!!
What else is new? Hmmm... I guess that's kind of it. But I just needed to let you know that, despite the fact that I'm never in contact, that I'm well and having a great time. The best time, in fact. So that's it for now, I'm having a rare day off today, but the mountains are closed because it's too windy up there, so I'm snuggled up in my duvet watching the rain fall outside, knowing that it will be snowing in the mountains. And apart from being with my family back at home ( I really love and miss you all), I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be.
