Half Nelson - Blogabond

Our bus from Blenheim ended in Nelson. This time we were prepared for there to be no Naked Bus and managed not to miss our transport again. We hadn't originally planned to stay in Nelson but the bus timetables made it impossible to avoid, however we were arriving after dark then leaving first thing in the morning, so we weren't going to see anything anyway. We had booked a dorm room in a YHA hostel but staying there convinced us to avoid YHA in future. The contrast after the friendly and helpful hostel we had just left was incredible. Also, when we had stayed in Paihia, the hostel was not very busy and we had ended up with a dorm to ourselves. Here, in Nelson, the hostel was maybe even emptier but they managed to fill the dorm we were in, leaving many others totally empty. I understand that it saves them a bit of hassle to fill each dorm up, rather than space people out, but it is indicative of the kind of attitude you encounter at a YHA place versus an independent hostel. The laundry and internet were both dearer than anywhere we had been, yet they still had signs up boasting about how reasonable it was.

Joanne cooked us both nice big steaks for dinner but the kitchen got a bit smoky in the process, and there was no extractor fan, causing the manageress to run through and make a huge fuss, coughing, fanning the air, and apologising to everyone, much to Joanne's embarrassment. The steak was delicious though. New Zealand supermarket pricing policy was turning me into a dedicated carnivore. Other than the steaks we had also stocked up on loads of other food and whisky because we had heard that the glaciers, where we were heading, were so far from any large towns that the prices were ridiculous.

It was a terrible night's sleep. A full dorm makes loads of noise, everybody coming back at different times, but the worst was two girls next door, talking really loudly until very late. Of course usual “no noise in the rooms after 11pm” rules applied, but they didn't seem to care and I was already too determined to get to sleep to get up and tell them to shut up. On top of that, the bed was too short for me to be comfortable and double glazing doesn't seem to have hit New Zealand yet, so the fact this hostel was on the main road meant I was listening to lorries all night. Definitely the last YHA we stay in!

Useless!

written by

The Happy Couple on August 24, 2009 from Nelson, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Michael's Round-the-World honeymoon

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