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We arrived in Christchurch yesterday, after the final “car journey” on our road trip, from Kaikoura, and we are now in jail.
Which may sound a little confusing, but we are actually staying in a place called “Jailhouse Accommodation” which is actually a refurbished, decommissioned Prison that closed in the year 2000. Which is a kinda’ cool and interesting place to lay our hats for a while! I must admit, the first thing that I thought when I walked in was “Larkhall” if anybody is familiar with Bad Girls!!!
Its not really a big prison, and has been refurbished, as I said, but there are a few original things that have been left here for the character value, such as the massive iron gate at the entrance, some of the outer walls (I think those 2 are here because the building is listed,) the solitary confinement room, an original cell (complete with artwork on the walls by one of the last inmates before the closure, detailing his “thuglife.” It did make me laugh that he had the distinctly non-Gangsta name of “Willy 2 Worlds” and that he could not spell for toffee!) But, the graffiti is quite good! And there is also a little room of memrobilia such as an original cell toilet (I assume that it has been cleaned…) and locks and stuff along those lines.
Although, there is one drawback to staying here, which is that I have been given my own cell (good to have a bit of privacy for a little wee while) but, as the place was obviously never intended to be comfortable or homely, the room consists of a bunk bed and a chair…that is it. Which gives me a pretty good idea of what it may have been like to be in prison! (Actually, come to think of it, it’s probably a bit bigger than my old room in the Coach House, if anybody who went in there recalls!!hahaha.)
Subsequently, I frequent Mum and Pauls’ room most of the time, because it is SO boring having nothing to look at, and nobody to talk to!! (I’m a voluntary, and it’s already put me off the idea of prison! Not that I was ever planning on going there, of course!!)
It is really strange at times, because the walls are so thick, and the doors are big and made of steel, you hear all the muffled noises like you see people on TV doing, and because they have kept the original locks on the doors to the cells, they clunk just like they do on Bad Girls!!lol.
Anyway, we went to get the car valeted, as it was returned today, and then went to the Quantas office in the town to change some of my tickets.
Which was surprisingly east compared to all other times that I have attempted to do this, as we walked in, told the guy the dates, he tapped it into the computer, stuck a little label on my ticket, and that was it! The whole thing took less than 3 minutes! There was no printing of new tickets, or calling everybody in the phonebook! And, as the guy was especially nice, he didn’t even charge me the fee for the ticket change! Which I was very happy about indeed!!
So now, I am leaving Christchurch 4 days earlier than scheduled, on the 6th of December to get myself along to Sydney, and to start earning some dough!
Anyway, back to the Hostel…we were a little bit concerned by the presence of approximately 3000 rowdy teens who are also staying here, for a Volleyball Tournament, as I gather, although we were assured by the management that they would not be a problem, and the teachers seemed to be controlling them pretty well. (Although we were skeptical about that as I had a little Peruvian de ja vu, and trying to navigate the kitchen or get yourself a shower was sometimes a little problematic!)
Anyway, onto today now.
The day started problematically, as we had to make a joint effort to sort out my Australian Bank Account, as it hadn’t been arranged for numerous reasons, mainly attributed to the imbosiles that I chose to deal with in the UK who obviously are unaware of what we payed them to do, despite them telling us that they had done it (all very confusing!) But, eventually we got it sorted, and I just have to do it myself when I get to Oz. (Even more confusion as to what we were actually paying them to do followed…)
But, at least it is all sorted now, and it means that I probably won’t have a nervous breakdown when I arrive in Oz, as I may have if the whole thing still would have been a big mess (but, it is still a possibility!)
Then we popped out in the rain to get a few bits and bobs from the nearby shops, and I made an appointment at the nearby Hairdressers for later in the day to have them attempt to somehow improve on the current Justin Hawkins state of events!!
When I returned at 2pm, I was the only person there, so I was quickly in the chair, and she was snipping away. Luckily, she only had to take about an inch off the bottom as it wasn’t actually that dead at the ends, which I was glad about, because I had visions of coming out of there with a number 2 after they had said “I’m sorry, all this backpacking has taken its toll, and you hair is just dead.”) It was quite a fast cut, about 5 minutes, although it did feel a damn site longer, as the Hairdresser kept on asking me the same bloody questions!! “So…how long ya been traveling for?” “Met loads of interesting people?” “So, how long ya been traveling for now?”
She either just wasn’t listening to a word I say, or a I suspect, her controls had become stuck on repeat! (She looked rather biotic and mechanical come to think of it!!!)
Then, she went to blow dry my hair…..oh.my.God.
I am so glad that there was nobody else in that shop to see what she had done to me! (Unlike when I received the famous Blue Rinse in the company of Amber!) It was horrific!!
She had said to me, “I’ve got curly hair, so I know how to dry it, don’t worry.”
Which gave me a little confidence in her to let her get on with it….
But her programming must have messed up, because I ended up looking like something out of bloody Fraggle Rock by the end of it!! So as soon as I had paid, I ran outside and tied it up on the top of my head as fast as I could!! Normally, I would have complained, and asked her to sort it, but I was scared as to what the hell she would do next, and the flashback of the number 2 came back, so I thought I had better just wash it again myself and sort it back at the hostel!
The rest of the day was quite uneventful, as we couldn’t be bothered to brave the elements, and we ate a lot of noodles, and watched Cayote Ugly in the TV room in the evening.
After Cayote Ugly, Mum and Paul went off to do the washing, and I stayed to watch some random crap called Dark Water. (I was so disappointed with Jennifer Connolly as it was no way near as good as Laberynth, the all time classic!) But, I should have gone upstairs, damn it! As during the time that I was sat there, I missed no end of drama between Mum, Paul, the Hostel owners, the teachers and the kids!!!
I don’t exactly know what went on, but as I take it, the kids were being little b******s, and the teachers were letting them get away with it, so in some order, there included a b******ing of the teachers and the students by Mum, a confrontation between Paul and a really smarmy teacher who told Paul to shut up as he didn’t know what he was talking about, until Paul informed him that he had been a Head of Year.
Then, there was some kind of threat to involve the Headmasters of the Schools with the complaints, and then there was a lot of smiling and nicety and backtracking and brown-nosing by the teachers towards Mum and Paul!!
That’s what I get for watching a rubbish film!!! Tssskkk!!
Anyhow, after “Lights out” for the KiddyWinks, the teachers all made a point of keeping vigil around the balcony to make sure that there was no more noise, and to evidently make a point, which just make them look even more like arse holes, as they were all asleep by then!! Yeah. Good one! Hehe.
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