Chapter 3: In Which Haast is Introduced

So I promised I'd write about being in Haast, thing is there's not a lot to tell and so I've been having trouble coming up with a blog post. The township of Haast is really small: Three Hotel/Motel/Backpackers, One Grocery Store/Cafe/Laundry, One Cafe (where I work), One Tavern/Restraunt (which is open later than the cafe), One tourist store, and houses enough for ~40 people who live here. Walking across the town on the main road (which is a loop just off the highway) takes 10 minutes. Oh and there are also 2 payphones because there is no cell reception, no is there free wifi anywhere though there is a hotspot for which I pay to use about every week at a rate of $10/24 hours of access with a cap of 500mb of data. The township is just off of the Haast River (which is really wide) and there are some small mountains/large hills around.

Generally speaking I work 6-5 days of the week, finishing around 4:30 or 5pm at which point I usually eat dinner and watch TV (yay TV!), practice, read, and recently chat or play cribbage with my new roommates. Oh new roommates you say? Well yes, Ooh! I can tell you about the actual places I've been staying!

When I arrived it was cold, raining and pretty...disappointing, compounded by being told I'd be living here:

 As it turns out, it was better than I thought once I got situated and figured out when and how to open the windows for maximum airflow and minimal bug entrance. I got pretty well situated with my food in the “kitchen” although I used the kitchen in the container which was much better.

I also spent many enjoyable hours with my computer typing stories and whatnot at this lovely table

The bed was where I spent a lot of time reading and sleeping when I was not at work because sleep is nice, and bed is comfy :P

Overall the place wasn't that big but it was well suited for me given the bathroom and kitchen/living room in the container and lack of time outside of work.

The container was occupied by Jill, one of my coworkers, from Germany and she was lovely to share space with, and watch TV with. We got 4 channels and then the same 4 channels at an hour delay, ok, there were a few more but we never watched them cuz they were BOOORRRRIIINNNGGG, and/or in Maori... ANYWAY...Here are some pictures of the container:

 

When Jill left to go have grand adventures I was going to move into the container but then I was able to switch places with Davaniel (another coworker, from Canada) who was living in the staff house with Stuart and Tammy (the last 2 transient coworkers, from Northern Ireland). Thus I am now living in my own room in a shared house which is win because the kitchen is bigger, it is closer to work (2 min walk instead of 5 min) and I am living with other people which I very much enjoy.

There is a marked lack of shelving which is unfortunate, but luckily I am brilliant and my aunt sent me a VERY useful length of fabric:

 

This is the entry way, bathroom straight ahead, bedrooms to the right, kitchen to the left

The very large kitchen

 

which leads to the living room and TV (with the same 4+ channels)

Other news....I bought a car so that I can more easily travel around for my remaining time in Haast and because I want to have one for the second half of my year here with the thought that being more mobile will allow me a greater flexibility in job searching and ability to see more palces where a bus does not go as easily.

I bought it used from a guy named Sam in Queenstown when I visited there over a long 3 days off. I saw it parked on the side of the road with a sign listing a price that was within my budget so I called the number, did a test drive and then registered with the post office for $9 and drove away all sorted. It was surprisingly easy and now I have a car!

On that exciting note I will leave you for now with the promise of another post soon with more pictures of some of the walks around Haast that I can get to now that I have a car to get to them :D