Not a massively eventful day today. Early doors, Lou was packed off into a taxi – destination Qatar. I loafed in the common room at the hostel, reading and tapping rubbish like this into my laptop and then moved to my new home for the next 6 nights – Nomad’s Fat Camel on Fort Street.
Another hostel without wireless (although a quick snoop shows they do have a secure one – grr) but with way more atmosphere than the place I just left. Also, free dinner every night! OK, the portions turn out to be tiny but it’s better than nowt. To upgrade to a full (Kiwi-style) serving is only NZ$4, so either way it’s great value.
The rooms are typically hostelly, that is rather scruffy but fully functional. 4 bunk beds to a dorm, secure lockers available and the showers are nice and hot. Each floor has its own kitchen area, reception is 24 hours and it takes three uses of the keycard to get into the rooms (front door, fire door out of the lift and the room itself).
They also run a lot of activites in the bar from quizzes to gameshows and killer pool. I don’t think there’s a night where they’re not doing something. All free entry and all for prizes such as bungy jumps, coach tickets, bar tabs and the like.
I ended up with a top bunk on the shakiest bed in the world ever. Every time I moved, it felt like a force 2 on the Richter scale. Still, it was comfy and the bedding was clean.
There was a really nice girl in the bunk opposite who I got talking to – I never did get her name, though! On her gap year before university and doing what more people should do. She worked for the first 6 months, saved like mad and is spending the second 6 months travelling to the envy of all her friends. She departed the following morning with the aim of heading for Cambridge and other spots on the northern island until her friend flies over from Oz so they can go have snowy fun down south.
Aside from moving accomodation, I popped up and saw the new mom and pop again. Lisa’s looking better already, but I believe they’re taking her off her painkillers in the next 24 hours so that might change! Megan is still looking gorgeous, but wants fed every 60 minutes or so. As a result, sleep is at a premium. Indy managed to press the right sympathy buttons with the matron again and managed to spend a second night sleeping on a mattress on the floor.
On the way back to the hostel, I managed to find the Central Library. I only intended to pop in to see if they had wireless (not that I could spot), but ended up sat on my backside reading comics for almost 2 hours. Great stuff!
Other than that, just dinner and nattering with Mystery Girl before bed.
