New Zealand working months 22/01 - 01/05

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During this period we stayed at the holiday park in the club house and worked 6 days a week in the house keeping department. We began these roles as helpers who were going to be stripping the rooms for the cleaning team, making beds and helping out Lynn in the laundry. However, due to the park becoming increasingly busy and some members of staff leaving, within 10 days our roles had changed. We were instead asked to become full members of the cleaning team working all around the park. There were different qualities of rooms from the most basic “standards” usually cleaned by Julie up to the most expensive rooms “the motels” of which 72 year old Sally was in charge. Julie was originally from England and we both warmed to her quickly because she was so kind. She had previously had a tough time at the holiday park with the last boss cultivating some pretty nasty work place bullying. Amazingly she had stuck it out and was finally getting the appreciation she deserved under new boss Marie. Char worked closely with Sally in the motels and over the time we worked there we all became friends and went out for dinner with her and also to watch a rugby game with a couple others in the team Sandra and Aroha. Our absolute favourite in the cleaning team at Top 10 was also called Marie. During our time at Top 10 she, and her husband Mudd showed us such kindness. We often went round to their house to chill and have tea with them. They were so generous and supportive during our time in Christchurch and we became really close. Mudd was a keen mountain biker and he often took us on 50/60km cycle rides around Christchurch. He was an excellent tour guide and knew the city trails like the back of his hand. He also took time to explain about the earthquakes and devastation they had caused to the city.



Whilst working at Top 10 we also both managed to wangle ourselves a pretty swanky evening jobs in one of NZs top fine dining restaurants. Char had previous experience in fine dining but it was a long time ago and Jack had worked in a bar. Amazingly we must have impressed them when we came in for a chat (possibly our English accents) and we were hired on the spot. Chars expertise meant she got more shifts than Jack but we both worked there often. There was a wonderful front of house manager called Mark who gave us both a lot of time and moulded us into part of his high quality team. It was daunting at first because the customers were paying a lot of money for the excellent food (cooked by head chef Darren) and service and we didn’t want to let them down. Char also had to learn the wine list in order to make wine pairings during the 5, 7 or 9 course degustation menu. That was pretty hard going as she knew next to nothing about wine but it was an amazing opportunity to work her way through the wine list 😉. Jack worked in the bar and in the bistro where he had a more casual style of dining but still had to keep high standards, especially when boss Leanne was in! Again we were very lucky to land ourselves such a great job with a really fantastic and welcoming team.





When we were not working or out biking with Mudd we made the most of living on a holiday park by scavenging in the kitchen for food people had left when emptying their hired campers. We also learned the basics of slack lining and played on the huge jumping pillow in the park field. Due to us having next to no out goings and working long days we managed to save a considerable amount of money. This meant we were able to plan Trekking in Nepal and an Eastern Europe tour without running out of cash. Overall we had a really wonderful time in Christchurch and would both love to return in the future once the city has been rebuilt.

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