Hostel Life

I entered the NZ hostel system thinking I was an old hand at this game - the strategy for claiming the best dorm bed, sussing out the best hostel, accustomed to shared living space and unisex bathrooms. So, it took me a few days to work out that accommodation in NZ is quite different to the other places I've travelled.

The first difference is that NZ is essentially a self-catering place...I stopped asking whether the hostel had a kitchen early on, after receiving strange looks and an answer to the affirmative. Obviously, when you're living on the cheap in Asia it's a simple walk out of your guesthouse door to sample your choice of fried noodles / soup / rice dish for less than a dollar - so kitchens are rare around there. Here...your budget runs out very quickly if you choose that option (refer prior 'sticker shock' post), so self-catering it is. I gleefully ran out to the shops and bought the usual staples - capers, anchovies, garlic, chili, couscous, rhubarb, extra virgin olive oil & full cream butter - prepared to cook up a storm.

The next surprise is that I thought I'd be back to the 21 year old backpacker crowd that I'd left in Rome, one spring break later. The first three hostels I stayed at seemed to indicate that was the case...I cringed at Franz Joseph when 2 large green Kiwi Experience buses rucked up and my kitchen was overrun with about a hundred people in their early 20s (who, incidentally, seem incapable of cleaning up after themselves and really can't manage to have a chat with anyone not in their immediate friendship group). By Wanaka, however, I worked out that there are so many hostels catering to budget travellers of all ages, that there is a different hostel culture depending on which hostel chain you go to - YHA, Base X, BBH.

Avoid the Base X at all costs, FWIW.

So, once I worked out which hostels to seek out (and which to avoid) I ended up meeting lots of people capable of having an adult conversation, and staying in some cozy old homes with herb gardens and wood burning fireplaces and DVD movie nights. Most of the places had long termers residing there - working as cleaners / reception staff in exchange for accommodation, or living out their working holiday visa as they seek to work the upcoming ski season or vintage. And, many have been run by lovely older couples who were probably intrepid Kiwi travellers themselves, in their heydey.

Because New Zealand has such a camping/outdoorsy culture to it, travellers of all walks of life and all ages end up seeking out hostels - or hostels with campervan spaces. It provides a fantastic communal atmosphere in which you can walk into a room and suddenly be having a conversation with Dutch, French, Brazilians, English and...let's not forget since they're 50% of the travellers here...Germans. I've taken for granted this international culture for the past year and I'm starting to appreciate that this, too, will be something of the past when I settle back into real life...and I will miss it a great deal.