WELCOME SWALLOW BACKPACKERS - NEW ZEALAND

I couldn't find the accommodation so the owner had to come and pick me up. It was half an hours drive from Kerikeri which was why I couldn't find it. Now this was the place I was going to be staying at for several months while I worked and these were the people who had told me in an e-mail "the job is yours".

I can't say that my first impressions of the place were good. It was in the middle of endless farmland with the exception of a small patch of native forest at the bottom of the hill. There was no TV, internet access was double the cost of anywhere else in the country. The nearest town was half an hours drive away, and the coast was about 20 minutes drive in the other direction. If I was traveling normally this would have been one of them chill out for 2 days and leave places.

If we wanted to go anywhere we had to go where and when the hostel owners were willing to take us. The only highlight of being in the hostel was at night time when they had a big fire down the campsite. There was a good crowd of people down there who like myself were also about to start employment.

The rest of the time got very boring very quickly. To pass time I went a walk to the nearest shop and back which took just over 4 hours. A lot of time I would walk to the top of the driveway and back It was like an exercise in killing time more often than not. A few times we did go to the coast where I would spend the day watching the others go fishing.

I knew when we started work it would be the perfect place to stay. Very quiet and easy to get to sleep at night. No town centers, shops or bars to spend your money on. But that was of course when the work started......................