Grab Your Harmonica, We’re In Wanaka (May 15 – 28)

Greetings from lovely Wanaka! After trying unsuccessfully to stop here in March (remember... no room at the inn), we finally made it back and, making sure to call ahead, were able to secure a room in a hostel. All along, our grand plan for our trip around NZ has been to tour around the country while the weather was warm, and then to work at a ski area for the winter, to make a couple bucks and maybe improve our skiing/riding. Though it’s only autumn here at the moment, Becky’s interview for work at Treble Cone Ski Resort was set for the middle of May, so here we found ourselves for the time being.

Andrew gets a hardy handshake to welcome us to town

Just from an aesthetic standpoint, Wanaka really is a beautiful area. It’s situated on a mountain lake, with huge mountain ranges all around. While not as spectacular as Queenstown, it’s been fortunate in that it hasn’t been built up like its nearby sister city. Still, as we’ve been learning, Wanaka is a very popular skiing destination, making it really desirable for ski season visitors and workers.

View of Wanaka from Mt. Iron

Arriving in town in mid-May a day before Becky’s interview, we figured we’d be able to get a jump on finding accommodations, jobs, and getting situated in the area before the crush of the ski season in mid-June. However, it seems our plan is not so novel; many other backpacking-type folks have also had the same idea. For example, the manager of the hostel we’re staying in here told us that May is typically the slowest month of the year for the area. However, in our first week in town the hostel was full up for several nights, the first time that’s happened in his four years here.

Housing has proved to be a trickier-than-expected issue here in Wanaka. In getting here so soon before the season, we thought there should surely be a good amount of reasonably priced housing to be found, especially for such pleasant and clean-cut folks as ourselves. Ahh, not so much, as we’ve seen. On the day we arrived, we printed off a copy of the Messenger, the local announcement and advertisement paper, and started calling all the places on the list. Unfortunately, the paper had already been out nearly a week at that point, and by the time we called, all those places were already taken.

Undaunted, when the new Messenger came out a day later, we began calling all the possible renters at 9 am, setting up a number of visits. We visited a handful of places, a number of which were out of town and therefore less desirable. The places that were in town were either pricey, had already had heaps of other people through, or both. Most of the visits had the feel of a job interview mixed with a popularity contest. With so many people to choose from owing to the tight market, landlords could afford to be as choosy as they like. The visits require a tricky behavioral calculus: must seem friendly, but not too friendly as that could creep some people out. You try to figure out if they’re looking for quiet tenants, or more party-hardy ones, or whatever, and then act accordingly. And at the end of the visit you don’t even know if you’ve made a positive impression. It’s fun.

So, obviously, it is definitely a seller’s (or landlord, I suppose) market in Wanaka, and realizing that, some landlords have quoted us some ridiculous numbers. One guy wanted NZ$370 a week during the ski season for a double room in his house! We declined on the phone, but figure that he’ll almost certainly get that from some hapless couple who arrive later in the season, the market is that tight.

As for work, competition for jobs is pretty strong here, as there are apparently heaps of people willing to work here for low pay and pay high rents for the pleasure of being close to the slopes. That would explain why I couldn’t get an interview for a lift job. In hindsight, I perhaps should have gone with a less corporate jargon-heavy resume and foregone detailing what I did at my last job at an intellectual property strategy consulting company. Definitely a Bad Idea Jeans moment, live and learn!

On the bright side, there are many restaurants, bars, and other stores catering to winter visitors here in Wanaka, but unfortunately most of them aren’t hiring until late June. Most places won’t even take a resume (make sure to call it a CV here), and if they do, they’ll likely throw it out in the next week anyway. So wanting to stay here pretty much entails hurrying up to getting here early to secure housing, then hanging around for a month until they start hiring and the weather turns cold.

One of the many local establishments not yet hiring for the season

Well, from the above statements I realize it looks like a truly dire situation for us here, but it’s not so bad. Becky interviewed well and got an offer from TC, so we’re set on at least one job for the season. I’ve also been around to most of the places in town, and have resigned myself to having to wait a few more weeks until I can do anything from a work standpoint. However, I may get to do some brewing work for a local brewery in Wanaka, which though unpaid could be quite educational.

Most importantly, we were able to find a place to stay. Scouring the message boards at the grocery store and local internet cafés, Becky found one that sounded good, and we gave them a call. We visited and a few days later we were moved in! Now it’s certainly not the most flash place to stay, but it sure is cheap, has free wireless, is close to downtown, and has a washer AND a dryer (quite novel for NZ we can assure you). The only downside is that the house makes my fraternity house from college look pretty clean in comparison, so many of you can picture just what that must mean. Ironically, the woman we’re renting from is a housekeeper, by profession – truly, I couldn’t make that sort of thing up. We’re hopeful, however, that we can set a good example and convince her and her daughter to repent and change some of their severely messy ways while we’re here.

Final thoughts: we’re going to stick it out in Wanaka a bit longer to see if we can make it work for the season. Our housing situation is not ideal, but it is workable. The work situation is not ideal, but hopefully it will improve. In the meantime, we’re spending heaps of time at the library (free entertainment!), making up for missed online time perusing our free wireless Internet, and taking advantage of the abundant outdoor opportunities the area has to offer. We’re definitely in the midst of some downtime right now, but we’re trying to make the best of it. To be continued…

Hiking with Rachel, another backpacker seeking work, housing, etc. There are lots of us around!