The Jugglers Rest

After a night at a hostel in Wellington (lovely; watched a trashy film and drank too much NZ wine after the kids went to bed) we took the ferry over to the South Island. The trip was sunny and pleasant, and magically we all spotted a big school of dolphins swimming alongside the ferry which was amazing. We slid in through the Marlborough Sounds and arrived at Picton around lunchtime to find our hostel. The Jugglers Rest was at the other end of town - and walking there was no small feat (even with our modest luggage), but it was worth it.

The hostel was tucked away behind an ivy covered fence, and had lots of great juggling toys, pois and hammocks. Nikki, who runs it, is a Yorkshire girl who has settled here and as well as running the hostel she gardens organically and makes home made jams & marmalades. In the mornings she makes her own bread which the hostellers can help themselves to and the hostel itself (which only sleeps 15) is a lovely old (70 yrs - ancient by NZ standards) house which still retains a homely feel.

Archie & Stan played Scrabble obsessively - quite often playing with their own phonetic spelling which made for some interesting score cards. Jack, an American guy who worked there, was very patient with them and played Scrabble as often as they asked (a lot) and the large number of Israeli back-packers meant that we all celebrated Hanuka on both nights we were there.

The full day that we spent in Picton - meant to be spent on long walks culminating in a glow worm hunt - turned out to be an incredibly windy day (plants went south, christmas trees got blown away and there was rumoured to be a tornado in town which Jont was gutted to have missed). We decided to go with the flow and spent the day chilling out in the hostel playing more Scrabble, drawing, writing and reading. It was actually just what we needed and we really enjoyed the homely vibe, man.