Wellington: Windy Enough to Blow Your Nose For You

People refer to New Zealand's capital city of Wellington as "Windy Wellington". Yeah, I can see that. We only spent one night here, but despite the shortness of our stay and the wind, we really liked the city. We liked it except for the hostel that we stayed at. I speak for both of us here when I say that Roweena's Lodge has been the worst place that we've stayed atin all of New Zealand.

First off, our tour bus driver had never heard of Roweena's (there's a ton of backpacker hostels here), so he wasn't able to drive us right there. Instead, he phoned up the lodge who told him to just take us to the ferry terminal where he (the Roweena's guy) could pick us up. Sounded simple enough. Well, as soon as we met Mr. Roweena (not his real name...we don't care what his real name is frankly), all he did was complain that our bus driver didn't know where the Lodge was. "Why'd he take you here?!? At the least you could have walked from the main downtown backpackerhostel, it's only 500m away from there!! Well, now you have to wait til all the passengers get off the ferry before I can take you to the Lodge". Our internal (ie. non-verbal) response:"Well, he took us here because you told him to, ya dink". After thatall he would do was mutter swear words under his breath. We couldn't tell what all he was saying, but based onall the "f" sounds we heard coming from the front seat it was pretty obvious.His mutteringwasn't all about our bus driver though. Wewas pissed offbecause nobody coming off the ferrywas interested in his free shuttle service, because traffic leavingthe ferry terminal was crazy and maybe because it was windy that day. I think that's the case cause it's apparently always windy in Wellington, and he seemslike the type of guy that's always pissed off about something.

We couldn't tell what all he was saying, but based on all the "f" sounds we heard coming from the front seat it was pretty obvious.

So we finally get to the Lodge. It's in a nice enough neighbourhood, nice view of the city, we had a double room...things are looking up. Then Heather decides to try to phone her Mom for her birthday. There's one phone in the house, but for some reason the #1 button doesn't work. Not even after Heather jabbed it with her pen. It's kind of an important button, the #1. They're all important come to think about it. In any case the call couldn't be made. We tell the guy at the front desk, a different guy from the shuttle driver, about the broken phone. "Well, that's the first time I've ever heard of that!" "Where's the nearest payphone?" "Three blocks away".

So we walk three blocks to the payphone. Thankfully all the number pads work here and the call can go through. Unfortunately Heather's Mom isn't at home, let alone the country. She was in Los Angeles instead (we kind of forgot that). "Jenny, tell Mom happy birthday from us when you see her".

We walk the half hour to the nearest grocery store, buy some salmon and rice and walkback to start cooking our supper. Next adventure: the grossest kitchen in the Southern Hemisphere.

Now, all backpacker hostel kitchenshave signs up telling guests that their mother's don't work there, so clean up after yourselves. That doesn't mean that all backpackers do though. Even those that do are often forced to use filthy dish rags to clean and dry their dishes. You're lucky if people even botherwiping off the counters. At Roweena's the kitchen was not clean. As a health inspector I wondered if I could "shut it down" and force the shuttle driver to come in to clean. If only I could......

After dinner we decided to check our emails and do some web surfing. Cool, there's computers at the hostel. They're kind of likearcade game machineswhere you have to keep inserting coins to keep them operating. Before too long we realize that we're going to need another dollar to keep going. We have no coins, so we need to break a five dollar bill. Guess who's behind the counter, muttering to himself about the doorknob that he's fixing? That's right, the shuttle driver. I ask if he can make change for me. "The front desk is closed" he tells me. No, 'Sorry mate, I wish I could help you', just, "The front desk is closed". It closed at 8:00, and it was now 8:05.

To make a long story short (too late, I know), we were more than happy to check out of Roweena's Lodge, even if it meant having to catch another drive in the morning back to the ferry terminal with the same shuttle driver.

If any of you are ever in the Wellington area, and are looking for a place to stay, it should come as no surprise that we wouldn't recommend Roweena's Lodge.

Michael & Heather