Out of Hell

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Well hello, I am alive and well fear not.
You may recall I was headed for a hotel so I could get involved in some gainful employment and the last few weeks have been...interesting. On the way into Haast I had to cross a river (by that I mean the bus went over a bridge) and there was a sign saying "Gates of Haast", well my first thought was how Lord of the Rings that sounded and my second thought was a clever play on words by way of "Gates of Hell". 3 weeks later I realise how accurate of me that was. Seriously, this job stinks.
Well actually I've got a bit more used to it now and have a good laugh in the evening with a couple of the guys here so it's bearable but it was pretty hellish for a while. And I don't really know why it was so bad, it's not like I haven't already done housekeeping on this trip....Personally I think the main problem I had was how I'd gone from a cushy office 9-5 job, to 3 months of basic unemployment to doing 50-60 hours a week. To say it was a shock to the system would be an understatement.
Being so cut off didn't help either. It's 115km(ish) to the nearest town and even that doesn't have a cashpoint, but one thing it does have is phone reception. Never before have I felt so aloof from the world and I didn't like it too much!! There was some light in the otherwise rather dim tunnel though. When the sun is out and I get up and look at the mountains around me I can't help but smile and think I'm pretty lucky to be seeing it all.
So what have I been doing? Well I've made countless beds, cleaned a few more toilets, washed more dishes than I care to think about (turns out dishes induce rage, who'd have thought?) and become somewhat skilled in the art of coffee making. Oh and I've got better at pool and been incredibly funny.
I've had 2 days off since working at the hotel and on my first I borrowed a car and drove to Fox Glacier. That was pretty cool having never seen a glacier, but due to it being summer I got the impression that it will be a lot cooler (no pun intended) in the winter. You could just see where the ice had scraped against the rocks and so it looked really grubby. On my other day off my buddy drove us to the Cascades Valley where we hung out looking at the river, chewing the fat and drinking large bottles of beer. Then we cruised round a couple of other spots and I saw just how picturesque the west coast is. Seriously I could drive the South Island all day, I love looking out the window here. I've also taken a walk to the beach which is only 4km from the hotel and those waves were pretty big. The only trouble with this part of the world is all the damn sandflies that keep biting me. I've still got the marks on my feet from when I worked at the festival, they are horrrible horrible creatures that never fail to ruin a good walk.

So what now? Well I'm taking a holiday from my holiday and sit here in Queenstown ready to catch up with my little Isle of Wight friend tonight, then it's a bus all the way back to Christchurch tomorrow ready for Sunday when I'm going to be....wait for it.....flying to Sydney!! It's only for a week, but I know someone there so I can hang out and get shown around and it's sooooo much cheaper than doing it from England. Unfortunately I then have to go back to Haast til Easter. Well I guess I don't but I like having money....

So until next time folks, enjoy the photos and I'll catch up with y'all soon.

P.S. Keep your fingers crossed for me getting a ski season job....

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Photos

Cruising view
Otherside of those mountains is some more mountains then Milford Sound

Comments

[Walknz]

Walknz.org.nz
Some great photo's of the glacier hope you had a awesome time there it's one of my favourite places in the country.