So, its bye bye Queenstown. We had some good times here, but unfortunately this place couldn’t give us a darn job so it’s off to the middle of nowhere…..Roxburgh! We get the bus at 9.45am and we all manage to check out and get on the bus in plenty of time, despite certain people being a little fuzzy around the edges!
It takes about 2 hours to get to Roxburgh and it’s a tiny, tiny place! We’re staying at The Commercial Hotel / Backpackers hostel on Scotland Street – haha – how random! Oh and look, there’s a Teviot Street and a Cheviot Place – this place is a mini Scottish borders place! I’m not sure what our accommodation actually wants to be…..a hostel or a hotel – but anyway, it looks quite good from the outside and we get introduced to Pat (one of the owners).
First impressions, she seems quite nervous, speaking very quickly and yittering away about all sorts of information – bit full on really! She wants the rent upfront, which is fair enough but doesn’t accept credit cards and only takes cash or NZ cards……..argh!!!!!! We haven’t been paid yet so there’s no money in the BNZ account – oh well, we’ll just go to an ATM (sorry, cash point).
Bad news….there isn’t an ATM in this tiny village. Hmm…ok….we get told all about the history of there being an ATM many years ago but then it got taken away, but there is one in the pub next door but that only takes NZ cards….yabber yabber yabber….she don’t half talk a lot…..however, there is a cash point in Alexandra which takes all other cards. Phew! Okdoke, ‘how long will it take to get there?’ we ask. ‘ah, about half an hour by car. It’s 40km from here’…..GULP…..’ok, when’s the next bus there?’ we ask. ‘Oh, there isn’t one. But don’t worry, we have a great system which works all of the time.’ Cool, I think, she must be getting us a lift or putting on a minibus or summat……and at that point, she pulls out 3 pieces of cardboard stating ‘ALEXANDRA PLEASE!’ on one side and ‘ROXBURGH PLEASE!’ on the other side…..eeeek…..is she implying what I think she is?!
We have to………HITCH-HIKE there……….what would my folks say if they knew?! I mean, come on!! We get brought up saying in no uncertain circumstances must you take a lift from strangers, talk to strangers and get into dodgy cars……argh…….get a grip Hayley, if this is the way, then it must be ok…..plus I have Aaron and Dave to fend off any baddies…..hmmmmm.
So, we dump our rucksacks and hit the street out the front. It’s just after midday and we each take turns holding the notice to the passing drivers. I start to get a right sinking feeling after the first hour, as no one has stopped! A few have waved and acknowledged us but still, no one has stopped!! RAAAAA!!!! Will we ever get there? What happens if no one stops!?? Panic is slowly rising.
Pat comes out and I think ‘yay, she feels sorry for us and is going to give us a lift in’ but alas no. She says that we should split up!!! What on earth!? She tells Aaron to go up the way and us to go down the end of the street as no one would pick up 3 hitchers at once. Great! Well, I tell Dave in no uncertain terms am I hitching by myself and just stick with him walking for a good 10 minutes out of the village.
As we’re waiting, I look at the surroundings and see a Baptist Church and I silently say ‘Please dear God, make someone stop and give us a lift. I promise not to slag off telesales reps again and will let them spraff their script to me on the phone instead of hanging up on them. Oh and I will pick up hitch-hikers back home if they need a lift, instead of driving by – only if they’re backpackers tho…..’ and as if by magic, a car pulls up!! Weird huh!? I have never been so grateful to see someone! It’s a middle-aged couple from Wales who are doing a tour of New Zealand – bless the Welsh! I now have a restored faith in humanity and enjoy the ride to Alexandra.
They’re a dead nice couple and we tell them all about our travels and how we’ve been made redundant so making the best out of a bad situation. They drop us off and we wish them happy holidays. Alexandra is a tiny town and I recognise it from last year when we stopped with Dave’s parents. I bought my hoody here – random! However, it’s a local holiday so everything is shut – argh! However, there are numerous cash points and so we get enough out for rent for 2 weeks (as we find out we get paid every 2 wks) and we quickly check our emails before hitching a lift back.
We bump into Aaron, who managed to get a lift off some Maori dude. Again, we split up when trying to hitch again; however, I aint as down as before. I now know people do actually stop for backpackers! The sun is belting down and we’re topping up our tan whilst waiting for a lift. This time, it only takes about 45minutes and we get a lift from a local guy in a yute. As we drive over the bridge, we see Aaron still waiting so ‘Bruce’ pulls in and gives him a lift too! The Roxburgh Express he says – yup, it sure is!
All is good and we head into the ‘hotel’ to pay and finally check in. We get introduced to Pat’s husband John, who looks very much like Dennis Hopper – seriously! He’s much quieter than Pat but still very friendly and likes the fact we live in Edinburgh as they went there last year. We get shown around the place, which is massive including a huge sweeping staircase. Dave and I have our own room –yay – and it’s sooooooooo spacious!! I mean, we have a a cupboard and drawers and everything!! Even a TV mounted on the wall – sweeeeeeeeet!!! The kitchen is a fair size and doubles up as a living room as well – all very comfy looking. We get handed a yellow box which contains all of our crockery needs and he leaves us to it.
As we’re on major budget from now until we get to Auckland, we decide to buy our groceries as a couple and leave Aaron to his own devices. He has too much of a love for onions, to be fair – really, he cooks them with everything!! Funny boy! So, it’s going to be pasta and sauce every night and cheese sarnies for work everyday – bring back the student days! We get chatting to a lad, Tom who is in Aaron’s room, who’s also starting at the apple packing factory tomorrow as well. He’s from Manchester and unfortunately, supports Man Utd…..oh well, it breaks the ice when I start saying 4-1 in his face – haha. He also tells me that Jade Goody died today and its all over the NZ new…..crazy stuff.
Every one in the hostel seems dead nice with a lot of peeps smiling and saying hi to us. I notice a lot of Japanese people in the kitchen, cooking yummy looking dishes – there’s even a rice steamer machine here – nice one! It’s all very homely and we head to bed early as the bus is picking us up at 7am – eeeeeeek – so to ensure we get a shower and breakfast, we should be getting up around 5.50am. Just like being back at home!
It takes about 2 hours to get to Roxburgh and it’s a tiny, tiny place! We’re staying at The Commercial Hotel / Backpackers hostel on Scotland Street – haha – how random! Oh and look, there’s a Teviot Street and a Cheviot Place – this place is a mini Scottish borders place! I’m not sure what our accommodation actually wants to be…..a hostel or a hotel – but anyway, it looks quite good from the outside and we get introduced to Pat (one of the owners).
First impressions, she seems quite nervous, speaking very quickly and yittering away about all sorts of information – bit full on really! She wants the rent upfront, which is fair enough but doesn’t accept credit cards and only takes cash or NZ cards……..argh!!!!!! We haven’t been paid yet so there’s no money in the BNZ account – oh well, we’ll just go to an ATM (sorry, cash point).
Bad news….there isn’t an ATM in this tiny village. Hmm…ok….we get told all about the history of there being an ATM many years ago but then it got taken away, but there is one in the pub next door but that only takes NZ cards….yabber yabber yabber….she don’t half talk a lot…..however, there is a cash point in Alexandra which takes all other cards. Phew! Okdoke, ‘how long will it take to get there?’ we ask. ‘ah, about half an hour by car. It’s 40km from here’…..GULP…..’ok, when’s the next bus there?’ we ask. ‘Oh, there isn’t one. But don’t worry, we have a great system which works all of the time.’ Cool, I think, she must be getting us a lift or putting on a minibus or summat……and at that point, she pulls out 3 pieces of cardboard stating ‘ALEXANDRA PLEASE!’ on one side and ‘ROXBURGH PLEASE!’ on the other side…..eeeek…..is she implying what I think she is?!
We have to………HITCH-HIKE there……….what would my folks say if they knew?! I mean, come on!! We get brought up saying in no uncertain circumstances must you take a lift from strangers, talk to strangers and get into dodgy cars……argh…….get a grip Hayley, if this is the way, then it must be ok…..plus I have Aaron and Dave to fend off any baddies…..hmmmmm.
So, we dump our rucksacks and hit the street out the front. It’s just after midday and we each take turns holding the notice to the passing drivers. I start to get a right sinking feeling after the first hour, as no one has stopped! A few have waved and acknowledged us but still, no one has stopped!! RAAAAA!!!! Will we ever get there? What happens if no one stops!?? Panic is slowly rising.
Pat comes out and I think ‘yay, she feels sorry for us and is going to give us a lift in’ but alas no. She says that we should split up!!! What on earth!? She tells Aaron to go up the way and us to go down the end of the street as no one would pick up 3 hitchers at once. Great! Well, I tell Dave in no uncertain terms am I hitching by myself and just stick with him walking for a good 10 minutes out of the village.
As we’re waiting, I look at the surroundings and see a Baptist Church and I silently say ‘Please dear God, make someone stop and give us a lift. I promise not to slag off telesales reps again and will let them spraff their script to me on the phone instead of hanging up on them. Oh and I will pick up hitch-hikers back home if they need a lift, instead of driving by – only if they’re backpackers tho…..’ and as if by magic, a car pulls up!! Weird huh!? I have never been so grateful to see someone! It’s a middle-aged couple from Wales who are doing a tour of New Zealand – bless the Welsh! I now have a restored faith in humanity and enjoy the ride to Alexandra.
They’re a dead nice couple and we tell them all about our travels and how we’ve been made redundant so making the best out of a bad situation. They drop us off and we wish them happy holidays. Alexandra is a tiny town and I recognise it from last year when we stopped with Dave’s parents. I bought my hoody here – random! However, it’s a local holiday so everything is shut – argh! However, there are numerous cash points and so we get enough out for rent for 2 weeks (as we find out we get paid every 2 wks) and we quickly check our emails before hitching a lift back.
We bump into Aaron, who managed to get a lift off some Maori dude. Again, we split up when trying to hitch again; however, I aint as down as before. I now know people do actually stop for backpackers! The sun is belting down and we’re topping up our tan whilst waiting for a lift. This time, it only takes about 45minutes and we get a lift from a local guy in a yute. As we drive over the bridge, we see Aaron still waiting so ‘Bruce’ pulls in and gives him a lift too! The Roxburgh Express he says – yup, it sure is!
All is good and we head into the ‘hotel’ to pay and finally check in. We get introduced to Pat’s husband John, who looks very much like Dennis Hopper – seriously! He’s much quieter than Pat but still very friendly and likes the fact we live in Edinburgh as they went there last year. We get shown around the place, which is massive including a huge sweeping staircase. Dave and I have our own room –yay – and it’s sooooooooo spacious!! I mean, we have a a cupboard and drawers and everything!! Even a TV mounted on the wall – sweeeeeeeeet!!! The kitchen is a fair size and doubles up as a living room as well – all very comfy looking. We get handed a yellow box which contains all of our crockery needs and he leaves us to it.
As we’re on major budget from now until we get to Auckland, we decide to buy our groceries as a couple and leave Aaron to his own devices. He has too much of a love for onions, to be fair – really, he cooks them with everything!! Funny boy! So, it’s going to be pasta and sauce every night and cheese sarnies for work everyday – bring back the student days! We get chatting to a lad, Tom who is in Aaron’s room, who’s also starting at the apple packing factory tomorrow as well. He’s from Manchester and unfortunately, supports Man Utd…..oh well, it breaks the ice when I start saying 4-1 in his face – haha. He also tells me that Jade Goody died today and its all over the NZ new…..crazy stuff.
Every one in the hostel seems dead nice with a lot of peeps smiling and saying hi to us. I notice a lot of Japanese people in the kitchen, cooking yummy looking dishes – there’s even a rice steamer machine here – nice one! It’s all very homely and we head to bed early as the bus is picking us up at 7am – eeeeeeek – so to ensure we get a shower and breakfast, we should be getting up around 5.50am. Just like being back at home!
Hayley
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment